In Revelation 12, we see the great dragon, that ancient serpent who is also called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, the accuser, who accuses us day and night. He tries to kill Mary and Jesus but is unsuccessful and in verse 17, he goes off to make war on the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus, in other words us.
One of the reasons I needed to become a Catholic is I needed the written... prayers of the Church to memorize and pray when the Accuser is coming after me. He often was able to silence my own prayers by intimidation and his accusations. He made me speechless. He also took away my ability to concentrate on the Scriptures.
One of the reasons I needed to become a Catholic is I needed the written... prayers of the Church to memorize and pray when the Accuser is coming after me. He often was able to silence my own prayers by intimidation and his accusations. He made me speechless. He also took away my ability to concentrate on the Scriptures.
But even though I couldn’t muster any of my own words, I could pray the prayers of the Church that I had memorized when I wasn’t under attack. One of the prayers I picked up along the way was the Jesus Prayer.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
There was a period of a couple of months when the Accuser would assault me nightly. This was several years before I came into the Church, maybe more. My own words failed me as did my knowledge of the Scriptures. But I prayed this prayer over and over because I knew Jesus came into the world to save sinners like me. And He in his mercy would come to my aid as I called out to Him with this prayer. And He did which is why I am still here.
I have many more prayers and other channels of grace such as the Sacraments which Jesus is providing through His Church, the Body of Christ. I hope this prayer will help some of you as it did me. May God be with you all.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
There was a period of a couple of months when the Accuser would assault me nightly. This was several years before I came into the Church, maybe more. My own words failed me as did my knowledge of the Scriptures. But I prayed this prayer over and over because I knew Jesus came into the world to save sinners like me. And He in his mercy would come to my aid as I called out to Him with this prayer. And He did which is why I am still here.
I have many more prayers and other channels of grace such as the Sacraments which Jesus is providing through His Church, the Body of Christ. I hope this prayer will help some of you as it did me. May God be with you all.
I love that prayer. I was praying it over and over on the way home yesterday. It is so simple and effective. It got me out of my grumpy,complaining, work-induced, mood at the end of a long embattled day.
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