Friend and Foe Alike

You have to be careful out there.  The world is a wonderful place with many beautiful things. God has created it to be a thing that sustains both our body and our soul.  The world is both a friend and a foe and true wisdom will come to us when we can distinguish the difference between what is good and what is bad.  At the start, God knew this truth and he told His first children, Adam and Eve, that they should not eat the fruit of one tree and one tree alone.  Every other food source was okay. So, innocent Eve approached the tree one day, just to have a look at it and suddenly she was joined there by the serpent. The serpent posed as a friend and probably made a little small talk as he got ready to pump Eve with his venom.  He started with a lie, well not a full blown lie, an exaggeration would be fairer to say.  He asked Eve about the tree and she said God told them that they should not eat of this one tree or even touch it lest they die.  The snake smiled and said that God knew that if you ate the fruit you would become like Him and know the difference between good and evil.  Eve digested that bit of news and reached out and plucked a piece of the forbidden fruit from the tree. Keep in mind here that God had told them to not eat of the fruit, but the serpent put it in her head that she was not to even touch it.  So she had the fruit in her hand and in her mind, she was already guilty and she was bright enough to see her only defense was to become as God, so, she carefully examined the fruit and she saw it was beautiful, it was ripe, it looked delicious and since she had already gone against God, she felt that she had no choice, she brought the fruit up to her lips and took a big bite.  Her eyes were opened alright, she now saw God as an enemy instead of a friend.  She pulled another piece off of the tree and brought it to Adam.  She now took the place of the serpent and convinced him to eat the fruit. His eyes were opened too and together they hid from God.

Sometimes, our family, our spouse, our friends, can be the one that leads us to sin. They mostly do it innocently enough, often it is not their intention to do so, but it happens all of the time.  Sometimes we know where they are leading is sinful and since we do not want to offend them, we follow their lead. This is when our friend becomes our foe and becomes a person to be feared.  Your beautiful wife or handsome husband becomes for you a tempter and because you used your free will to turn away from God, you end up in a sinful condition. In this case, it would have been better for you to have been assaulted by a robber because he could only take your wallet and at the most your life while the other has managed to cheat you out of your soul.   

Now, wait a minute here. Are you saying that if something like this were to really happen to me I would be better off leaving my spouse than to stay with them?  No, because what God has joined, man cannot separate. What I am saying is that just because someone is your friend, that does not mean they are always going to be right. What we need to do in our daily life is to keep our eye on the prize and if temptation comes by way of a friend, we should take the lead and gently move them back onto the correct path.  A simple, "I don't think we should do that." may be all that is needed to change the situation.  We are called to lead those we love towards God, not away from Him.  It is the gentle prodding of one lover to another, one friend to a friend, one family member to another, that will bring them back home. 

Cooperate and coexist with evil and evil will be your only friend.  Take the lead, light a lamp and gently but firmly refuse to accept an evil direction in your life and reach out a hand to your spouse, child, neighbor or friend and with charity and love for them, help them back onto the path that leads away from Gehanna and towards the happiness of heaven. 

So, you don't believe in Purgatory?  Take my word that it exists and is a sign that God loves us very much.  Please pray for the poor souls today and today take a moment and pray for someone who is on their deathbed and is afraid, your prayers will help.