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No longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. Ephesians 4.17

God’s revelation of Himself to humankind through the Scriptures, established the existence of an ongoing battle between life and death. It is a battle in which we all participate, whether we know it or not. For those who have come to know Christ as God and who have accepted His Lordship, the obfuscating veil of the heart that inhibits one’s ability to see reality in its fullness is removed: When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away…. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image (2 Corinthians 3.16 and 18a).

Aware of the way in which the unseen realm is structured according to this oppositional (though disparate) tension between life and death (they are not equal in nature), such souls are granted the authority, as well as handed the responsibility, of carving out earthly lives that support the extension of life on this planet and that draw people toward the Source of the eternal life that unfurls beyond it—I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (Revelation 21.1).

The Church is a living entity—it is the body of Christ: By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.27)—through which run myriad streams of sacred, life-nurturing waters. The Resurrection of Christ, which is a fountain of living energy that is available to all (though engaged only by some), nourishes those who have had eternal life placed in their hands: This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17.3).

The devil wants to gain authority over all creation (and human creation, in particular). He is already the prince of this world (John 14.30) but he wants to become its king, in order that he can exert absolute lordship over all human beings and all creation. To bring about such an end, he releases the power of death into creation. It is an overwhelmingly mighty power that can only be overcome by one thing: divine life. The devil sees the mystical authority that has been given to those who walk in the Spirit and as much as it infuriates him, that the presence of the Holy Spirit dwells in these lovers of God, who worship in spirit and in truth (John 4.24).

In order to counter the power of the Resurrection in worshipers’ lives and bring about his destructive ends, the enemy targets and works into the weak points of this generation—its younger members—drowning them in constant distractions and manifold deceptions. Both evil operations are directed toward the mind, the crown of humanity. The youth are supposed to embody the quintessence of both the Resurrection and Christ’s divine identity as a whole—burgeoning, blossoming, flourishing new life: Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19.14).

As a result of their increasing imprisonment in the enemy’s unseen, yet interconnected, mental webs, however, they are instead losing their ability to discern spiritual, metaphysical and ethical matters, evaluate problems and put forth solutions, think through and make decisions, and rationally respond to the circumstances that make up their lives. More serious than this, however, is the ferocious—and extensive—measures that the enemy has taken to mangle the divine image that exists within every human being.

In stretching his hand over the life-giving image and changing it, the enemy opens a gap between man and God the Creator, and man falls, unwittingly, though willingly, into captivity, as a result. This captivity is a spiritual captivity and it is one to which we are all vulnerable…It is for this reason that the Lord and the fathers and mothers of the Church entreat us to watch: Know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Matthew 24.43–44).

Lord, the love with which You love us exceeds our comprehensive faculties, but we are able to experience it and taste it, through contemplation of Your Crucifixion and Resurrection. Because of the complexity of our psychology and the density of our emotional wounds, we often mistake Your divine dictates for punitive regulations and blind ourselves, as a result, to the fact that they are, in fact, simply laws of love. Please reveal to us each individually the mystery of Your Resurrection, so that we can deeply enter its life, and overcome, as a result, the power of death, that is flooding this world and that seeks to ensnare us.

Amen +

Author of You Are Mine and Apocalypse, Sister Anastasia writes on the role of the ancient, ascetic Church in a rapidly changing, modern world.

Photo by Rostyslav Savchyn on Unsplash