(IS 60:1-6; PS 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13; EPH 3:2-3A, 5-6; MT 2:1-12)
In preparing for this reflection today, I had an epiphany. No, not an epiphany such as the manifestation of God in human form, of which we celebrate today. But rather, I had a “wow” moment! A revelation. A new perspective.
I was flipping through my Facebook newsfeed and came across an image that said,
“God has a plan for your life. The enemy has a plan for your life. Be ready for both, and wise enough to know the difference.”
We always read in scripture and spiritual reflection, and hear in homilies and from our spiritual guides about God’s plan for us, how he has a plan for each one of us. And this is true. But I’ve never considered that Satan is there, with a plan for us as well – sitting there, plotting and scheming a plan for our lives to accomplish his desire.
Whereas God’s plan is a plan of love, one where we do His will to make a positive difference in the world and in the lives of those around us, loving and being there for one another, helping each other get to Heaven – Satan’s plan is a plan of attack. A plan meant for our demise.
But I guess I’ve never pictured the evil one planning a coordinated effort for each one of us. But he does. He knows our weaknesses and he works relentlessly to exploit them so that we fail. He comes across with many facades and disguises to trick us. And it works extremely well.
But God is there step for step, working to block Satan’s attack, and as God always does, takes what the devil dishes out and twists it into something that can make His plan, God’s plan for us, even better. It’s up to us to recognize it. To be ready for both plans. And be wise enough to know the difference.
I’ve never thought of life this way. I’m constantly seeking God’s will and where He wants me to go with my life – but I’ve never really thought about the plan of the evil one. I know that he attacks me, and each and every one of us, with temptations and tricks that often cause us to sin, and draw us away from God. But I’ve never really prayed to God for the help to understand Satan’s plan and where he is going to attack.
The biggest thing you can do in any type of battle, sporting event or contest is to know your opponent. Know your enemy. You need intelligence. You need a scouting report. You need information about your opponent’s tendencies and what they like to do, and where and when they like to attack and strike, what strategies they employ for someone like yourself. How a team plays you is different from how they may play someone else. The devil is no different. He has a game plan for each one of us, tailored to us, meant to take advantage of and exploit every single weakness. And he’s good at adapting and evolving his tactics.
We’ve got an advantage though. We’ve got Someone on our side who knows our opponents plays. We’ve got their playbook. God knows every step and tactic that Satan is going to throw at us. We’ve got a team of angels and saints that are there to help us understand our enemy. We have to respect the enemy knowing that by ourselves, in our pride, we are no match. But together, in humility with God and with others, they will help us to see the traps and pitfalls in life, and we can overcome.
But Satan’s going to be tricky. His temptations will come across as something that appears to be good. Life is a pilgrimage, and there will be times when there are obvious obstacles we need to traverse, which in and of themselves will test our faith and our devotion to God. And there will be times when we think something is the right thing, but we will fall and be burned. And there will be times when we will be tempted with something that we want to do, but know that it is wrong. We need to be ready for it. We need to learn to identify those times from Gods plan. And we need to have the wisdom to know the difference. We need to know what is true, what is love, and what is God. We know that all of this – is Christ.
The Magi knew this. The Magi represent us – the gentiles – and how we are all on pilgrimage to see the light. Along their way, they went and asked Herod about this newborn King, and Herod played nice. He masked Satan’s deceit and evil, asking the Magi if they would tell him the whereabouts of the Christ Child so that he could also “do him homage”. It was a trick. And fortunately the Magi were wise and knew of the special and holy nature of this Child, realized this Epiphany, this manifestation of God on Earth, and went home another way. They followed Gods plan. They weren’t Jewish, but they new this Child was special and they had complete trust in this Epiphany and His Holiness. Even though Satan tried to thwart God’s plan, God simply changed their way, and they trusted.
We are all on a pilgrimage in our lives to encounter Christ. We are all going to encounter our own “Herods” in our lives – those things that Satan places in our path to trick us into doing his will, and executing his own evil plan for us. We’ve got to be ready for him and his tactics. Satan is going to go all out to fool us and destroy us. He wants to destroy our relationships, our marriages, and our families. And the more we seek Christ, the harder and faster and more relentless he is going to be. We’ve got to know his special tendencies, and then rely on God to help us avoid them, and defend us from them.
But we must have complete trust. We must trust that God will expose the evil intent and we must have complete faith in Him. We must use the tools and techniques He has for us to fight our enemy – prayer and the sacraments – because we need His grace if we want to win.
We must trust in His Epiphany – His Real Presence – that we can encounter and consume every day. The Eucharist is our sacred weapon, the secret play that will help us identify God’s true plan for us. In our life-long pilgrimage, Christ is Who we seek. He came to show us all the way. Every single one of us. We must strive to pay Him homage, and trust in Him to show us the way home.
