Matt Fradd
Spirituality/Belief • Books • Writing
Pray With Me, Friends
May 13, 2024
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Ok, friends, I’m going to lead you in a short time of prayer in which we will surrender everything and everyone to the good Jesus who loves us.

Now, be careful here. When I say Jesus loves us, I do not mean that He loves us, is attentive to us, as a man is attentive to a hive of bees, as a collective blob of humanity. No, He knows you now. He is attentive to you now. He has been present to you since the moment of your conception. How could this possibly be? Ah, friend. Because He is God and you are not. The difference between God and you is infinitely greater than the difference between a parakeet and you. "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD" (Is. 55:8). “In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  

Jesus I believe, help my unbelief.

In these turbulent and frantic days where we find ourselves maxed out by incessant screen time, the 24-hour news cycle, the fear of our aging bodies, wars and rumors of wars, it is so essential that we take refuge in the only refuge big enough for our weary hearts: the good and gentle Jesus, lover of mankind. 

“So we do not lose heart, “St. Paul writes, “though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor. 4:16)

But, without Him, without intimacy with Him we will most assuredly lose heart. We will become like a branch that withers (Jn 15:6).

So … let’s do this. Let’s release everything and everyone to the good God now. It was He who said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And St. Peter who said, “cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Ok, here’s what I want you to do:

  1. In a moment, close your eyes.
  2. Turn the posture of your heart away from the many thoughts and distractions that are right now clamoring for your attention and turn it towards the good God who is always present to you.
  3. Now, tell him that you love him, concentrate the affection of your heart on him. Say, “my good Jesus, you have loved me, I love you in return.” Repeat that as many times as you’d like.
  4. Now say this to him: “Jesus, I surrender everyone and everything to you.” Repeat this calmly and quietly. It may help to name what it is you are in need of releasing to Jesus.  You might even say, "I release the fact that I do not know how to release these things to you." Be vulnerable with Him. He's so good and so kind.

Jesus, harbor for souls tossed by the storms of life, we love You, we take shelter in You. You are enough. You are everything. You’re the only one who can calm my poor, wretched heart. I beg You, Jesus, for the all of the grace and mercy that I so desperately need this day. I trust in Your goodness, Jesus. I trust in Your affection for me. I trust that You have prepared a place for me in Heaven. I thank You for who you are. So good, so gentle, so merciful.

Amen.

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THE ERROR OF ARIUS ABOUT THE INCARNATION

In their eagerness to proclaim the unity of God and man in Christ, some heretics went to the opposite extreme and taught that not only was there one person, but also a single nature, in God and man. This error took its rise from Arius. To defend his position that those scriptural passages where Christ is represented as being inferior to the Father, must refer to the Son of God Himself, regarded in His assuming nature, Arius taught that in Christ there is no other soul than the Word of God who, he maintained, took the place of the soul in Christ’s body. Thus when Christ says, in John 14:28, “The Father is greater than I,” or when He is introduced as praying or as being sad, such matters are to be referred to the very nature of the Son of God. If this were so, the union of God’s Son with man would be effected not only in the person, but also in the nature. For, as we know, the unity of human nature arises from the union of soul and body.

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We indicated above that the reparation of human nature could not be effected either by Adam or by any other purely human being. For no individual man ever occupied a position of pre-eminence over the whole of nature; nor can any mere man be the cause of grace. The same reasoning shows that not even an angel could be the author of man’s restoration. An angel cannot be the cause of grace, just as he cannot be man’s recompense with regard to the ultimate perfection of beatitude, to which man was to be recalled. In this matter of beatitude angels and men are on a footing of equality. Nothing remains, therefore, but that such restoration could be effected by God alone.

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A Practical Method For Spiritual Warfare
 
In this article, I want to suggest a powerful, practical method for spiritual warfare—one that I believe will be a game-changer in your everyday life. We'll explore how consistently announcing what is true and renouncing what is false can become a potent weapon, helping you navigate the unseen battles that often manifest as struggles in our thoughts and emotions.
 
At the Catholic Easter Vigil Mass, there is a significant moment where the congregation renews their Baptismal Promises.

In essence, the priest leads the faithful to announce what is true and to renounce what is false.

For the purposes of this article we’ll begin with the questions that invite annunciations. He asks:

"Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?"

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father?"

"Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?"

In responding “I do” to these questions, we are in a very real sense aligning ourselves with reality. While emotions may be present, they don’t need to be. Simply stating our agreement with the way things are is enough.

Prior to the above questions are a series of questions which invite renunciation:

"Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?"

"Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you?"

"Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin?"

In responding “I do” to these questions, we are renouncing, repudiating, what is false.

To those who may attend Holy Mass once or twice a year they may be surprised to discover just how seriously the Church takes the reality of the Devil and spiritual warfare. But anyone somewhat familiar with the Scriptures and the consistent teaching of the Church would not be. Here I could dump a multitude of Scriptural verses proving my point, but one will suffice. From the first letter of St. Peter:

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

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And given that our lives are situated squarely within a world at war. A world which “lies in the power of the evil one.” in which demonic forces are seeking to blind us to the things of God (2 Cor. 4:4). This is something we are going to be needing to do in one form or another on a daily basis. Multiple times a day.

Let me offer a personal anecdote that will illustrate this. I was about to interview someone on a topic that I knew would get blowback from the Demonic realm. I was going on a walk praying my rosary before my guest arrived. While I was walking I slowly became aware of a sort of oppressive force. I felt sad and restricted, somehow. Anxious. I’m not sure how long I was feeling that way, but at any rate I didn’t become conscious of it until that moment. I stopped walking and tried to sum up what I was experiencing in a word. It clicked. intimidation. That’s was it. I felt intimidated. And so I said the following prayer:

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Life is very, very simple, actually.

There is a lot going on. We are confused about many things. Embarrassed that we are confused. Pretend not to be. Have a few soundbites we can rely on when the conversation turns to Trump or the state of the Church or what is going on in Israel and Gaza or the AI revolution. We hope they don’t press us because we know enough to answer two or three questions before they will hit bedrock and we will have nothing.

All of this can lead us to believe the lie that life is complicated. And since we cannot figure it out, we should either quit, or numb, or pretend, or run ourselves ragged trying to understand everything we think we should understand.

And yet life is simple. Very, very simple. There is very little to figure out.

Love what is good. Hate what is evil. But how? When I have willingly habituated myself to do the opposite. Pray. Repent. Keep turning away from distractions. Don’t hate yourself for failing. Hope in the good God who is better than you think He is. Who cares for you more than you think He does.

What are your duties? Do them with joy and attention. Don’t hate yourself when you fail at this. Pray. Repent. Have a sense of humor about your littleness. You are incredibly loved after all, remember?

Turn away from what is useless and petty and vulgar and think about what is excellent.

Say “Your will be done” 100 times a day, especially when things are bad or seem meaningless. Your headache. Your bad night sleep. The house you can’t seem to get around to tidying.

Be patient and gentle with stupid people who can’t seem to make themselves love or want to love what is good, yourself first and foremost.

Jesus, help me want to want to love you. Help me want to want to hate anything opposed to you or your kingdom.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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