Our weapon and our armour in the Spiritual Life

OIKOS, October 17
"Taking up the cross as a weapon and clothed with faith as a breastplate, O all glorious Andrew, thou wentest forth to wrestle with visible and invisible enemies, a self-called Martyr, and thou didst cast down their arrays by the might of the Spirit. Since thou art abundantly filled therewith, O righteous Father, grant even unto me a small portion of grace, that it may enlighten my mind to praise thy  courageous struggles worthily, O light of the orthodox Faith."

I. Our weapon in the spiritual life is the cross.  What does this mean in practical terms? It means that we need to embrace mortification as an essential part of our life.  Our share in the cross is twofold.  First, we participate in the cross passively, by accepting all of the mortifications that come to us through the Providence of God.  We keep in mind that everything that happens to us is either positively or permissively willed by God, and that, in either case, He has only one motive for all the things that He wills-- His compassion for all His creatures.  Whatever suffering we have to endure, if we embrace it in the spirit in which it is given, as a share in the sufferings of Christ to encourage our growth, then we are in a position to profit from it. It is only when we resist it through anger, sadness, etc., that we miss our opportunity to grow closer to God and destroy our passions.  Further, we also participate in the mystery of the cross as our weapon actively by seeking mortification that we can embrace intentionally and voluntarily.  We might, for example, commit ourselves to special prayers, or fasting, or some other penance for the same reasons as a means to greater communion with God and the destruction of our passions.  We need to go out to battle both with our weapon (the cross) and our armour, the breastplate that is the faith. We need to have an abundance of faith, because we cannot make sense of the mortifications that God sends us without faith.  It is only with the eyes of faith that we can understand, even in the limited way that we human beings are capable of, the workings of God in our lives. Whatever we choose to do for ourselves, the penances that God sends to us through His loving Providence are by far more important. We should praise God and thank Him for the opportunity He gives us to use the cross as a weapon for these two purposes.  We should resolve to practice some special mortification, and to always and seamlessly whatever God sends us in the way of suffering.

II. We should remember that our battle is against both visible and invisible enemies.  Our visible enemies are whats rather than who's.  Our visible enemies are the material circumstances that are ancillary to temptation, things like advertising, television programmes, music and specific aspects of the behaviour of others.  All of these things are visible, but they are not the temptations themselves.  They are ancillary to the temptations.  A number of theologians have argued persuasively that the beat itself of popular music aids in arousing certain passions-- a fact that in Christian thinking is always problematic, since Christian anthropology regards the passions as demon-controlled. Added to the visible enemies, we also have invisible enemies: the temptations themselves and the demons who inspire them. Our battle is against both of them.  It is against them that we wear our armour and use our weapon. God is our strength and defense against visible and invisible enemies, and we should concretely resolve to firmly commit our will to resist both temptations to sin and the material circumstances that help them.

III. The arrays of our enemies are cast down by the Spirit.  Well, wait. I thought we said that the cross (that is mortification in communion with Christ) and faith (trust in God that He knows what He is doing in sending us particular mortifications) are the way that we defeat our temptations both visible and invisible.  No, the cross and faith are the ways that we fight against them.  We are required to fight against them, but the way that we fight against them is not the way that they are defeated.  They are defeated by the Spirit.  Our efforts are required as a sign of our bona fides, but they do not, in themselves, accomplish the victory.  The victory comes through the Spirit, Who, in filling us, becomes our Spirit too.  We receive a share of the Spirit in proportion to our ability to receive Him, and it is His portion that accomplishes victory over sin in us through the enlightenment of our minds.  We can thank God and praise Him abundantly, reaching out to Him in renewed love, for finding us worthy of a portion, and an ever-increasing portion, of His Spirit.  We should make a firm resolution to renew and expand our particular devotion to God's Holy Spirit.  Think of specific ways that an increasing portion of the Holy Spirit can assist you in the circumstances of the interior life.