Covid-19 is the Opportunity Satan’s Been Waiting For

“Know thy self.” It’s a saying that goes back to ancient Greece and is a fundamental concept in modern developmental psychology. It’s about knowing your strengths and weaknesses and then addressing those weaknesses and building on those strengths. It’s an important time to build up our defenses against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. The Catholic Exchange ran an article highlighting the attacks Satan uses to exploit our weaknesses. They are:

  1. Desolation
  2. Kryptonite: Our major weak point
  3. Social Environment
  4. Demonic Proliferation of Impurity
  5. Devil of Despair

Many of us are under quarantine due to the Covid-19 virus. Unfortunately, this makes Satan’s tools more effective, especially if we aren’t wise about our weaknesses. Many of us are feeling more isolated from others than we’ve ever been. And this can foster a greater sense of despair because we feel so alone and powerless. We may start to question God’s love for us and maybe start believing it’s not as absolute as we’ve been taught. That’s what Satan wants us to believe so he can infect us with his lies and lead us away from God’s grace.

Isolation can also breed unhealthy habits. Many people may feel tempted to visit impure websites and watch trashy television shows out of boredom and a lack of entertainment options. Again, this allows Satan to creep into your life and influence you. The Covid-19 virus is Satan’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take possession of unprepared and unsuspecting souls.

For many of us, the lack of attending Mass has weakened us. I know that we’ve all been given a dispensation from attending Mass and physically receiving the sacraments. But still, not being able to physically celebrate Mass has left even the strongest of us in a weakened state. Watching Mass online or on TV is okay, but not a substitute for physically celebrating Mass and receiving the Eucharist. And it looks like we may be locked down through Holy Week and Easter which means that even the casual Mass-goer won’t be receiving their yearly dose of God’s grace.

The Catholic Exchange article goes on to highlight five ways we can protect ourselves from Satan’s increased influence. At their root, it’s knowing your weaknesses and building spiritual defenses through:

  1. Fervent Prayer
  2. Practice of Penance and Fasting
  3. Periodic Spiritual Direction and Transparency
  4. Nunc Coepi—Begin Again!
  5. Mary

This time of isolation can be a blessing if you choose to make it one. It can be a time where you build up your spirituality through prayer and fasting. If your bored or feeling alone, use this time to build your relationship with the Lord. Don’t mindlessly watch YouTube clips and binge watch Netflix. Set aside some time to pray the Rosary and read Scripture and other books to build your faith.

Pray the Fifth Glorious Mystery and ask Mary, our queen in Heaven, for her intercession. She doesn’t live in Heaven for her gratification. She’s there to bring souls closer to her son, Jesus. She wants us to come to her and lay down our worries and concerns at her feet so that she can amplify them and bring them before Jesus. She desires us to know ourselves better so that we learn our strengths and weaknesses. She can then work through her son, Jesus Christ, to increase our desire to live for God’s Kingdom. Our queen doesn’t want to lose any of us to Satan.

Ask Mary, Queen of Heaven, to:

  1. help end the Covid-19 pandemic
  2. help comfort those affected by this virus, either directly or indirectly
  3. help medical and emergency professionals on the front lines of this outbreak
  4. help those who have fallen under Satan’s influence in this time of increased isolation
  5. help us use this time to draw closer to God and trust in His ability to see us through this difficult time.

Rosary Meditation: The Fifth Glorious Mystery

Today’s rosary meditation is the Fifth Glorious Mystery — The Coronation of Mary. In this decade we see Mary awarded the honor of Queen of Heaven for having wholeheartedly accept God’s call. This is Her rightful place for having faith is God’s plan in The Annunciation, spreading the joy of God in The Visitation, giving birth to Jesus, and ultimately accepting the sorrow of His crucifixion and death. Mary is now in Heaven and amplifies and purifies our prayers and presents them to Her son, Jesus Christ. Mary’s coronation gives Her many titles — Queen of Peace, Queen of Angels, Queen of Saints, and Queen of the Rosary.

Coronación de la Virgen, óleo sobre lienzo. 17...
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Today’s rosary meditation is the Fifth Glorious Mystery — The Coronation of Mary.  In this decade we see Mary awarded the honor of Queen of Heaven for having wholeheartedly accepted God‘s call.  This is Her rightful place for having faith in God’s plan in The Annunciation, spreading God’s joy in The Visitation, giving birth to Jesus, King of the World, and ultimately accepting the sorrow of His crucifixion and death.  Mary is now in Heaven and amplifies and purifies our prayers and presents our needs to Her son, Jesus Christ.  Mary’s coronation gives Her many titles such as the Queen of Peace, Queen of Angels, Queen of Saints, and Queen of the Rosary.

Mary is the Queen of Peace.  Like many people, when I think of peace I think of a world without war and conflict.  And while that is a lofty goal and something worth praying for, Mary and the saints want us to dig deeper.  We cannot have peace in this world with each other unless we have an inner peace with God.  She wants us to work towards this internal peace by reconciling our ways with God’s ways.  She calls us to align ourselves with the teachings of Jesus Christ as handed to us through the Church.  This means putting aside worldly desires of money, power, fame, popularity, and anything else that might distract us from doing God’s will.  Mary knows that we cannot have real peace as long as there is conflict in our hearts between our love for Jesus and our love for earthly desires.

Mary is the Queen of Angels.  We must remember the angels in our prayers, particularly our guardian angels who protect us.  While we may not be aware of it, angels fight against the forces of evil every day to protect our souls from Satan and his minions.  Mary understands the precious gift of being in God’s grace and desires all of us to be in communion with Jesus Christ.  She directs the angels to fight for us because She does not want anyone to lose the gift of grace, especially for the momentary and trivial pleasures of this world.

Mary is certainly the Queen of the Rosary.  The rosary is our way of communicating with God.  We pray it remembering all the sorrows, joys, and glories of Jesus Christ.  When we pray the Joyful Mysteries we pray for the strength to accept God’s plans for us as Mary did.  When we pray the Sorrowful Mysteries we pray for the strength to remain faithful in the face of great suffering.  In the Luminous Mysteries we pray for the strength to live according to Jesus’ teachings.  And in the Glorious Mysteries we pray for the strength to live for our eventual resurrection and judgment.  Mary gives us a great gift in the rosary because we can use it to reflect on all dimensions of our faith.  It reminds us to thank God for all He gives us, ask for forgiveness of our sins and shortcomings, and ask Him for strength to live according to His Truth.

Let us pray that we take full advantage of the rosary to reflect and meditate on our faith.  May we look to Mary to guide us and help bring us closer to Her son, Jesus Christ.