Our Faith, It is the Victory that overcometh the world

"For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory, which overcometh the world, our
FAITH"

- 1 John 5:4

"Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the (1)concupiscence of the flesh, and the (2)concupiscence of the eyes, and the (3)pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof."

- 1 John 2:15-17

And that world is powerful; it offers man immediate tangible enjoyment, it stimulates his ambition, his thirst for power. Once Satan tried to make use of these three allurements against Jesus Himself, but he was ignominiously defeated. Now the fight continues in this world around us, and in the heart of every man.

BUT, take heart! For it was Jesus who Himself said:

"In this world you shall have distress; but have confidence I have overcome the world."

- John 16: 33

We know how He has overcome the world: by suffering and death He entered upon His glory. We have a High Priest who knows our infirmities, and has compassion on them; His Heart also was troubled and He was afraid in the hour of His agony, but He offered up prayers and supplications and was heard for His reverence (Hebrews 5:7), and so He overcame, by the tree of the Cross.

Until the end of time Christ will suffer affliction in His Church, but against her the gates of hell shall not prevail: they may persecute her, close or "disaffect" her sacred edifices, torture her children (and this we have seen happening in our own day on a vaster scale than ever before), but never shall they destroy her.

Whether they refer to the struggle between the "Two Cities", which is raging throughout the world, or to the fierce duel between good and evil which is being fought within our own soul, these words of Jesus must always comfort us: "Have confidence, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). "Abide in me, and I in you" (John 15:4), "He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing." (John 15:5-6).

(Adapted from Alone with God, by Fr. Heyrmann SJ)

and it is HIM - Dearest Jesus, that we receive in Holy Communion. He IS present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is Him alone that desires us (desidero desideravi), giving Himself to us so wholeheartedly, so lovingly, so mind-boggling (that a God would give Himself as food - all for love) since Deus caritas est, infinitus!, and we, inately - though sometimes we feel otherwise, desire Him too, as captured so nicely in St. Augustine's (d. 430 AD) exclamation: "Our Hearts were made for Thee, O Lord, and it finds no rest till it rests in Thee."

Jesus, Mary, I Love Thee, Save Souls!

Regina Caeli, Laetare, Alleluia!