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| Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1855) by Gustave Doré |
THE WORD OF GOD – JULY 11, 2023 REFLECTION
Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak. (Gen 32:24)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church interprets Jacob’s struggle “as a battle of faith and as the triumph of perseverance.” (No. 2573) Jacob wrestles the shadowy being to a standstill. He is not defeated but is in fact triumphant.
Traditionally, the mysterious adversary is identified as an angel.
Because Jacob prevails in the spiritual combat, he is accordingly renamed. His adversary blesses him with a new name, Israel, “one who wrestles with God.”
Jacob has not emerged unscathed. He is injured in the fight and will limp for the rest of his life. Yet despite his injury he has been transformed for the greater.
Jacob’s struggle with an angel is a universal allegory for the spiritual struggle to which we are all called. It is a struggle to oppose the evil inside ourselves and outside, to serve and to love God by accomplishing good in the world.
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is something to be conquered and the unyielding seize it.” (Mt 11:12)
Our battle is not against human forces but against the rulers and authorities and their dark powers that govern this world. We are struggling against the spirits and supernatural forces of evil. (Eph 6:12)
Our resistance against evil and our striving to live according to the love of God is a daily calling, a moment to moment imperative.
Early Christian spirituality conceived of it as the discipline of the athletes or askesis in Greek, from which the term “asceticism” is derived.
As with any regular physical exercise, the possibility of injury exists. Yes, we all stumble and fall. However, as long as we get up and continue to struggle until the dawn, our Lord Jesus Christ, arrives, we are not defeated. We know that at night’s end he will confirm us and transform us.
The Church has provided us with weapons for our fight—among them, the light of her teachings on faith and morals, her long and proven traditions of prayer, the healing balm of her sacraments, their indomitable spiritual power.
We have to do our part by taking hold of the means generously extended to us and to wield them in spiritual combat.
“You will have
trouble in the world; but courage! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33)
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ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
ON FASTING
ReplyDeleteFasting, along with prayer and helping the poor, is one of the three spiritual disciplines of Lent. These work as a three-fold conversion practice as we prepare for the joys of the Easter season. Fasting adds a serious edge to your prayer life. It is a prayer practice that involves denying yourself something in order to increase your spiritual awareness, strengthen a commitment, or petition God for something you or another person really needs.
Fasting is also about detachment - separating yourself from something that you have become overly attached to. It’s a way of reclaiming your spiritual strength and regaining some balance in your life. Practicing some denial of our wants and needs in small ways can help us grow in self-discipline and the ability to put off momentary comfort for a larger, more important goal.
https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/lent/catholic-fasting.html
—“A Guide to Catholic Fasting,” Dynamic Catholic
All fasting involves self-denial, whether it is from food or drink or some other want or need, for some worthy spiritual purpose. All fasting for our soul’s sake is spiritual exercise or askesis.
Moreover, all askesis calls for an effort of the will, often in self-denial, and in this respect, askesis is fasting.
All fasting is askesis, and all askesis, which invariably entails effort and self-denial, is fasting.
Gonzalinho
Is this the manner of fasting I would choose, a day to afflict oneself? To bow one’s head like a reed, and lie upon sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
DeleteIs this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke?
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”
If you remove the yoke from among you, the accusing finger, and malicious speech; if you lavish your food on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall become like midday.
Then the Lord will guide you always and satisfy your thirst in parched places, will give strength to your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters never fail.
Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins; the foundations from ages past you shall raise up. “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined dwellings.”
—Isaiah 58:5-12
Gonzalinho
Yet even now—oracle of the Lord—return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment. (Joel 2:12-13)
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