CATHOLIC SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Do you have a favorite saint? One of my most favored saints is the hardworking and humble Saint Joseph--the foster Dad of Jesus and the husband of Mary. I like him, and I wanted to be like him when I got married because he was a good man who took care of his family. I started reading and getting to know more about him when I picked up a beautiful, Italian-made, 3 and a half foot statue of him inside the garage of one of the houses that I was showing to my homebuyers, in the summer of 2001. It had a $20 price tag on its head from the previous day's garage sale but nobody made an offer to buy it, according to the home seller. He got it from the newly-renovated local church that bought a new statue because this one had a lot of scratches and a dented blessing finger of the Child Jesus. I brought the statue home, put it in my office next to the foyer as the welcoming focal point when someone enters our front door, and had it blessed during the Mass which was celebrated in his honor, on the day before we dropped off our son Osbert to college.
Since then, our family would include him, together with the Blessed Mother, among the handful of holy angels and saints that we asked for specific prayers of intercession, whenever we pray to the Trinity--Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And, every time I had an interesting but unfathomable dream, I asked him to take my dream to the Holy Spirit and reveal to me its message.
But, "Why Saint Joseph?" you're probably wondering. Well, the Holy Scriptures say that he was a righteous man, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him three times in a dream to relay God's instructions for the safety of Jesus and Mary. He was one of those holy men in the Bible who had been given the spiritual gift of dreams by the Holy Spirit to carry out God's plan, for the good to triumph over evil here on earth.
I believe that the Lord continues to send us messages even now, sometimes in the form of dreams which can come as supernatural gifts from the Holy Spirit, in order to instruct, warn and help us overcome the evil forces operating non-stop and double-time in our world today, particularly from Satan. I also believe that there is a spiritual war out there where our souls are at stake. The reality is that so much evil in the world is often tantalizing to us (such as, in comedy, music, theatre, TV, film, video, the Internet, interactive games and non-performing arts) because it is dressed or camoflaged as good, funny, hip, pleasing and beautiful. Evil is so powerfully enticing that even upright men sometimes get caught up with and participate or cooperate inadvertently with it because its goal is sugarcoated with something that is intrinsically good and irresistibly desirable. And, the devil's tricks can be very overpowering that we sometimes fail to realize that it is morally wrong to do evil in order to achieve something good or to choose evil just because it is the least of all evil.
The good news is, unlike us, our Lord Jesus Christ (even though He took on our human condition and was tempted by the evil one) was, is and will never be limited by evil. Hence, "Nothing can separate us from the love of God." Not even the devil. And, no sin or moral evil is too great for the mercy of God if we repent and ask forgiveness from His Son Jesus--our Divine Mercy.
In 2001, before the twin towers of the World Trade Center (they loomed in the background during the "Second Coming of Christ" opening sequence of my thesis film--Perfect Friendship) came down from the terrorists' attack and the horrendous scandal on clergy abuse of children was exposed, I had one of those horrible and undecipherable dreams involving our beloved Pope John Paul II. In my dream, I saw myself with a small group of people gathered around the altar table of the Lord inside a huge church, while celebrating Mass with the great John Paul as the main celebrant. The Pope was about to consecrate the bread and wine when all of a sudden someone opened and banged the main door, rushed towards us and shouted, "Go down the floor! Go down the floor! Go down the floor!" We all did, and sure enough within a few seconds, a bunch of armed men entered the church and started firing their weapons at us. But before they could kill us, an angel of the Lord that looked like St. Michael flew over and swooped down on them instantly and killed them all with his mighty sword. Alas, when I saw the angel's face, I was shocked and awakened to find out that--it's Lilia Misa, my classmate in high school!
Now, of all my classmates in high school, never in my wildest imagination could I ever think of dreaming about Lilia as a flying and avenging Saint Joan of Arc who would defend the Pope from harm. But, I did. And, what did it mean?
So, who do I turn to for help but St. Joseph. And then, one day, I received St. Joseph's answer when I told Bro. Marlon and the two Sis. Cynthia's in our prayer group about the dream while we were eating lunch at the newly-opened Panera Bread restaurant in Paramus. Bro. Marlon, who is a computer programmer and an avid learner about his Catholic faith, thought of something similar that he read about Don Bosco's dream. He recalled St. John Bosco's vision of the Pope steering and anchoring a great ship to safety between two columns while being tossed by the storm and bombarded by enemy ships. On top of one of the columns was the statue of Mary while the other was the Eucharist that calmed the winds and defeated the enemies, after the Pope's ship was secured in them.
Upon hearing this, I immediately thought of "Misa" or Mass in the Filipino language where the Eucharist is celebrated, and "Lilia" which I confirmed later on in Namipedia as a derivative girl's name for Lily--the name that originated from a plant with bell-liked flowers which symbolized purity and perfection. Mary who was greeted by Archangel Gabriel to announce God's favor for her to be the Mother of the Lord with the highest honor of, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" and by her cousin Elizabeth who said to her, "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" because, unlike Eve, she epitomized purity and perfection in the female species for having been conceived without original sin, in order to be the unblemished tabernacle of Jesus in her womb. I knew, there and then, that the Lord was telling me something through that dream. But, what?
It took the events of 9/11 and the succeeding outrage on the sexual abuse of children by priests that rocked the Catholic Church in America, for me to realize as a Christian and survivor of child abuse what the dream meant to my faith, which was badly shaken by those horrific incidents. Unfortunately, the same devotion to Mary and belief in the Blessed Sacrament that was instilled in me as a young boy by my Mom and Sister Marieta and had sustained me at the onset of abuse, were also my first line of defense that got attacked naturally by the devil, every time he tried to destroy my faith in God. And, I must admit that during my philosophical pursuits in college, the devil came close, when my faith in Jesus Christ sometimes wavered, and I stopped praying the Rosary, going to confession and receiving the Eucharist. I was drawn to Oriental mysticism and considered all religions good, as one, and the same. In other words, I welcomed and didn't want to offend other faiths, and I became politically correct before the term was invented.
But, that dream invigorated and strengthened my faith in Jesus because it became uncompromisingly attached to the Eucharist and Mary. In fact, these two pillars have become my wife and myself's weapons of choice in our spiritual struggle against Satan and damnation. Because of the Eucharist, I started going to Mass everyday and confession every week, attending with my wife a weekly Catholic Bible study group led by Father Bill Halbing at St. Antoninus Church in Newark, and serving the Lord as a lector, Eucharistic minister and 1st Friday servant leader of the Holy Hour and coordinator of the overnight Eucharistic Adoration in our parish. And, our devotion to Mary--our Mother of Perpetual Help, brought me and my wife closer to her Son Jesus by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary everyday, emceeing the annual Filipino-sponsored Marian festival at the Blue Army Fatima Shrine in New Jersey where Vangie and I assist as volunteers every 13th of the months of May till October, and asking her to intercede face to face with Jesus (Who can't say no to her Mother) for us, as a couple, our children, relatives and friends, brothers and sisters in our community and the Church--specially for our Pope, bishops and priests, in order to help us overcome the unceasing temptations of the devil, the flesh and of the world.
All of the above, the Sacraments and sacramentals, Life in the Spirit and Spiritual Growth seminars, corporal works of mercy, devotional, deliverance and healing prayers, and a truly faithful, hopeful, loving, humble, contrite and forgiving heart, plus St. Michael the Archangel and all the Angels and Saints in Heaven constitute the vast and impressive arsenal in our constant spiritual warfare against the devil and his legion of evil spirits that permeate the earth today. But still, it just seems like an insurmountable and a losing battle, sometimes. But, Vangie and I am not afraid because we know that we had been redeemed by the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we receive in the Eucharist. And, Mama Mary was our witness and intercessor at the foot of the Cross.
Since then, our family would include him, together with the Blessed Mother, among the handful of holy angels and saints that we asked for specific prayers of intercession, whenever we pray to the Trinity--Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And, every time I had an interesting but unfathomable dream, I asked him to take my dream to the Holy Spirit and reveal to me its message.
But, "Why Saint Joseph?" you're probably wondering. Well, the Holy Scriptures say that he was a righteous man, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him three times in a dream to relay God's instructions for the safety of Jesus and Mary. He was one of those holy men in the Bible who had been given the spiritual gift of dreams by the Holy Spirit to carry out God's plan, for the good to triumph over evil here on earth.
I believe that the Lord continues to send us messages even now, sometimes in the form of dreams which can come as supernatural gifts from the Holy Spirit, in order to instruct, warn and help us overcome the evil forces operating non-stop and double-time in our world today, particularly from Satan. I also believe that there is a spiritual war out there where our souls are at stake. The reality is that so much evil in the world is often tantalizing to us (such as, in comedy, music, theatre, TV, film, video, the Internet, interactive games and non-performing arts) because it is dressed or camoflaged as good, funny, hip, pleasing and beautiful. Evil is so powerfully enticing that even upright men sometimes get caught up with and participate or cooperate inadvertently with it because its goal is sugarcoated with something that is intrinsically good and irresistibly desirable. And, the devil's tricks can be very overpowering that we sometimes fail to realize that it is morally wrong to do evil in order to achieve something good or to choose evil just because it is the least of all evil.
The good news is, unlike us, our Lord Jesus Christ (even though He took on our human condition and was tempted by the evil one) was, is and will never be limited by evil. Hence, "Nothing can separate us from the love of God." Not even the devil. And, no sin or moral evil is too great for the mercy of God if we repent and ask forgiveness from His Son Jesus--our Divine Mercy.
In 2001, before the twin towers of the World Trade Center (they loomed in the background during the "Second Coming of Christ" opening sequence of my thesis film--Perfect Friendship) came down from the terrorists' attack and the horrendous scandal on clergy abuse of children was exposed, I had one of those horrible and undecipherable dreams involving our beloved Pope John Paul II. In my dream, I saw myself with a small group of people gathered around the altar table of the Lord inside a huge church, while celebrating Mass with the great John Paul as the main celebrant. The Pope was about to consecrate the bread and wine when all of a sudden someone opened and banged the main door, rushed towards us and shouted, "Go down the floor! Go down the floor! Go down the floor!" We all did, and sure enough within a few seconds, a bunch of armed men entered the church and started firing their weapons at us. But before they could kill us, an angel of the Lord that looked like St. Michael flew over and swooped down on them instantly and killed them all with his mighty sword. Alas, when I saw the angel's face, I was shocked and awakened to find out that--it's Lilia Misa, my classmate in high school!
Now, of all my classmates in high school, never in my wildest imagination could I ever think of dreaming about Lilia as a flying and avenging Saint Joan of Arc who would defend the Pope from harm. But, I did. And, what did it mean?
So, who do I turn to for help but St. Joseph. And then, one day, I received St. Joseph's answer when I told Bro. Marlon and the two Sis. Cynthia's in our prayer group about the dream while we were eating lunch at the newly-opened Panera Bread restaurant in Paramus. Bro. Marlon, who is a computer programmer and an avid learner about his Catholic faith, thought of something similar that he read about Don Bosco's dream. He recalled St. John Bosco's vision of the Pope steering and anchoring a great ship to safety between two columns while being tossed by the storm and bombarded by enemy ships. On top of one of the columns was the statue of Mary while the other was the Eucharist that calmed the winds and defeated the enemies, after the Pope's ship was secured in them.
Upon hearing this, I immediately thought of "Misa" or Mass in the Filipino language where the Eucharist is celebrated, and "Lilia" which I confirmed later on in Namipedia as a derivative girl's name for Lily--the name that originated from a plant with bell-liked flowers which symbolized purity and perfection. Mary who was greeted by Archangel Gabriel to announce God's favor for her to be the Mother of the Lord with the highest honor of, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" and by her cousin Elizabeth who said to her, "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" because, unlike Eve, she epitomized purity and perfection in the female species for having been conceived without original sin, in order to be the unblemished tabernacle of Jesus in her womb. I knew, there and then, that the Lord was telling me something through that dream. But, what?
It took the events of 9/11 and the succeeding outrage on the sexual abuse of children by priests that rocked the Catholic Church in America, for me to realize as a Christian and survivor of child abuse what the dream meant to my faith, which was badly shaken by those horrific incidents. Unfortunately, the same devotion to Mary and belief in the Blessed Sacrament that was instilled in me as a young boy by my Mom and Sister Marieta and had sustained me at the onset of abuse, were also my first line of defense that got attacked naturally by the devil, every time he tried to destroy my faith in God. And, I must admit that during my philosophical pursuits in college, the devil came close, when my faith in Jesus Christ sometimes wavered, and I stopped praying the Rosary, going to confession and receiving the Eucharist. I was drawn to Oriental mysticism and considered all religions good, as one, and the same. In other words, I welcomed and didn't want to offend other faiths, and I became politically correct before the term was invented.
But, that dream invigorated and strengthened my faith in Jesus because it became uncompromisingly attached to the Eucharist and Mary. In fact, these two pillars have become my wife and myself's weapons of choice in our spiritual struggle against Satan and damnation. Because of the Eucharist, I started going to Mass everyday and confession every week, attending with my wife a weekly Catholic Bible study group led by Father Bill Halbing at St. Antoninus Church in Newark, and serving the Lord as a lector, Eucharistic minister and 1st Friday servant leader of the Holy Hour and coordinator of the overnight Eucharistic Adoration in our parish. And, our devotion to Mary--our Mother of Perpetual Help, brought me and my wife closer to her Son Jesus by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary everyday, emceeing the annual Filipino-sponsored Marian festival at the Blue Army Fatima Shrine in New Jersey where Vangie and I assist as volunteers every 13th of the months of May till October, and asking her to intercede face to face with Jesus (Who can't say no to her Mother) for us, as a couple, our children, relatives and friends, brothers and sisters in our community and the Church--specially for our Pope, bishops and priests, in order to help us overcome the unceasing temptations of the devil, the flesh and of the world.
All of the above, the Sacraments and sacramentals, Life in the Spirit and Spiritual Growth seminars, corporal works of mercy, devotional, deliverance and healing prayers, and a truly faithful, hopeful, loving, humble, contrite and forgiving heart, plus St. Michael the Archangel and all the Angels and Saints in Heaven constitute the vast and impressive arsenal in our constant spiritual warfare against the devil and his legion of evil spirits that permeate the earth today. But still, it just seems like an insurmountable and a losing battle, sometimes. But, Vangie and I am not afraid because we know that we had been redeemed by the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we receive in the Eucharist. And, Mama Mary was our witness and intercessor at the foot of the Cross.
Don Bosco's Dream
