Posts tagged “Devil”

The nun Mechtild was vexed by the devil

Posted on February 25th, 2013

More Luther on how to endure trials and temptations, especially to despair: This picture of the conflicts and struggles in the saints is full of consolation. Elsewhere the example of the nun Mechtild is recounted. She was vexed by the devil, because she knew or experienced absolutely nothing about faith. This was a temptation to unbelief, which is a most bitter grief and torment of conscience. For hearts are consumed by trepidation and doubt, and experience alone shows what this grief is; it cannot be declared in words. Nevertheless, that temptation was not yet equal to this struggle of Jacob. For it was not God who was fighting against her, as was the case here with Jacob, but the devil, who can drive men…

Categories: Theology

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Faith to confront grave matters

Posted on February 13th, 2013

God has not bequeathed us the gift of faith to deal with trivial things but rather to confront grave matters such as: Death, sin, the world and the Devil. For the world is not capable of resisting Death, but, instead, the world is terrified and runs away from Death, but is in the end defeated by him. But faith remains steadfast and resists Death who devours the whole world. Faith gains the victory over Death and then swallow up this insatiable devourer of life. Martin Luther, taken from Luther Brevier, p59

Categories: Theology

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Clinging like a little child

Posted on January 8th, 2013

Luther on praying to “Our Father”: If, like everyone else on this earth, I feel that I cannot call God “Our Father” with all my heart, when saying this prayer (if we could, we would be saints), all I can do instead is to try my best and, like a little child, cling to Him as if he were my father. If my faith is lacking, there is no use pretending, nor do I want to say no to the Father. And if I cannot play this game as it should be played, then preserve me from playing the exact opposite to this game, because that really would be from the Devil. -Luther Brevier, p19

Categories: Theology

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Noah the Bishop

Posted on February 18th, 2012

Luther on Genesis 9: In the first place, Noah filled the office of bishop; and because he had been plagued by various temptations, it was his foremost concern to oppose the devil and comfort the tempted, to restore the erring, to give confidence to the wavering, to encourage the despairing, to shut out the impenitent from his church, and to receive back the penitent with fatherly joy. These are almost the same duties that must be performed by a bishop through the ministry of the Word.

Categories: Theology

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The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist (Brief Reviews)

Posted on September 28th, 2011

Rarely can books dealing with demons or the supernatural be accused of being overly mundane. Matt Baglio’s The Rite is the first book I’ve read on exorcism or demonology that falls into that category. The book wasn’t entirely boring, although it took me awhile to finish; there simply wasn’t the eagerness to turn the page and discover what happens next. Baglio, a journalist, tells the story of an American Priest of the Roman Church who is trained in Rome to perform exorcisms. He pulls back the mystery surrounding how exorcists are trained. Far from unthinking superstition, the priests hear lectures from psychologists, medical doctors, and law enforcement, among others. Instead of finding demons under every knock of a shutter or mewing cat in a…

Categories: Books, Theology

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The crafts and assaults of the devil

Posted on April 21st, 2011

It seems as though Lent is a season of intensified assault by the devil against the Church and her pastors and people. I have experienced increased spiritual difficulties during this season, and I know many of my brethren report the same. It would be easy to chalk our troubles up to stress, grumbling parishioners, expectations we pastors put on ourselves for the season, or the coincidence of other family, physical, or emotional difficulties combined with the church’s busiest season. But I do not think that’s it. Other times of the year are busy. Troubles and heartache don’t follow a calendar. But Lent is different, and I am coming to suspect that as the church reads for the first three weeks of Lent about the…

Categories: Theology

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Judica sermon 2011

Posted on April 19th, 2011

April 10, 2011 +++ Gospel: John 8:42-59 The great philosopher, statesman, and philanthropist, Paul David Hewson, better known as “Bono,” said “Desire” is “like a preacher stealing hearts at a traveling show, for love or money.” Desire is “A promise in a year of election”; the politicians say what it takes to get elected, but rare is the politician who truly keeps his promises. The rite of Baptism has historically had renunciations; you’re familiar with the three that are present in our baptismal liturgy: “Do you renounce the devil, and all his works, and all his ways?” One ancient baptismal rite asks this question: “Do you renounce the devil and all his empty promises?” Our desires are disordered; they are very much like the…

Categories: Sermons

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Oculi sermon

Posted on March 27th, 2011

Oculi (Third Sunday in Lent) – Gospel: Luke 11:14-28 Libya. Syria. Egypt. Houses divided against themselves. Kingdoms divided against themselves. If Gaddafi does not put down the rebellion by force, he falls. But his fear must be, what if the United States sends more than cruise missiles, what if something worse than Canada’s six planes enters the fray? If a united free world were to bring everything it had, Gaddafi could not stand. The image Jesus paints in today’s Gospel reading is of a strong man ruling his kingdom as a tyrant, brutally putting down all opposition until everything is safely inside his walls. Then there is peace, but it is the peace that comes when no one dares oppose the tyrant. So one…

Categories: Sermons

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