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Friday, March 29, 2024

Conquering evil, and moles

LIz Kelly
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Warning: This month’s Your Heart, His Home column is a touch . . . earthy. Pun intended.

We have a mole in our backyard. My husband has been doing battle with this crafty, subterranean adversary all summer. Most mornings at my house begin with “a mole check” to see if any of my husband’s strategies have worked in driving the mole away. They have been myriad.

First, he tried mole sticks. These are long metal tubes—something like mini torpedoes—you place in the dirt. Operated by batteries, they agitate the earth with a little vibration every now and then. The moles do not like the vibration and eventually move away. It worked in our last house, but not in this one, not with this mole.

Next, my husband tried some mole repellent. He would pour these little crystals down into the mole hole, and again, this was supposed to drive the mole elsewhere without poisoning him. But not this mole. This mole remained.

Next — and here’s the earthy part — he tried sending some of our puppy’s poo down into the hole. The mole definitely did not like that! Who would? But being the clever, tenacious mole that he is, he only diverted around the poo, burrowing even more tunnels in the backyard.

My husband — and maybe it’s some of the ROTC training of his youth — only ramped up his determination to drive the thing out.

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“I’m not going to poison him,” he says with resolve, “I don’t want to kill him, that’s too easy. I want him to lose. I want him to suffer a crushing defeat!”

I love this man.

And his mole war has got me thinking about Satan and sin — the strategies we use to defeat evil, and the tenacity, resolve and creativity it takes.

All the world these past months of pandemic and protests have felt like a great sifting, something like Satan’s demand for Peter. At the Last Supper, Jesus announces Peter’s denial, saying that Satan demanded to have him, “that he might sift you like wheat.” And later, when Peter does deny Christ, it seems that Satan has done exactly as he wished: sifted Peter like so much grain.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Jesus went on to say, “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” Luke 22:31–32.

And Peter does. Later, when he writes “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you,” he knows what he’s talking about. Peter continues: “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering” (1 Peter 5:7–9).

Yes, the devil is tenacious and crafty and we’re suffering. Yes, he often works under cover, beneath the surface of things where we barely notice until we fall into one of his trenches. Yes, if one of his methods fails to ruin our souls, he’ll try another.

Fight back. Jesus has left us an unending and powerful arsenal: the sacraments, God’s word, sacrifices and mortifications, the intercession of the Blessed Mother and all the saints and angels, blessings and novenas and fasting and little acts of faith and kindness.

The world is going a little mad right now; it’s not the first time. We have strategies, weapons to protect the faith. Let’s circle the wagons, get a little creative and beef up our resolve. Satan is indeed facing a crushing defeat.

Father, gird us with strength for the battle.

Kelly is the author of seven books, including the award-winning “Jesus Approaches” (2017) and the “Your Heart, His Home Prayer Companion” (2019). Visit her website at lizk.org and on Instagram at lizktoday.

 


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