Saint Mina Holmdel, NJ

Spiritual weapons to fight the devil

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Matthew 4:1-11

In the Gospel of St. Matthew 4: 1-11, the evangelist tells a beautiful story of how our Lord Jesus can help us fight the devil and his temptations, especially during Great Lent. Our Lord had just been baptized and the revelation of the Trinity had occurred. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Here the wilderness can represent the world which is full of various evils and under the devil’s sway. Our Lord shows us 3 main ways to fight the devil. The first is that he fasted for forty days and forty nights. This helps strengthen our spirit when the body is broken and allows us to fight against temptations, and we remember our Lord’s sufferings. The second way is by thoroughly knowing the Bible, which is the word of our Lord God Jesus Christ. The devil has lived a very long time and knows the Bible very well and tries to use verses to trick us.

The Prodigal Son

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Imagine you are in a big garden, one with flowers of all beautiful bright colors imaginable, with bright blue skies and clear blue waters flowing smoothly like silk; the sun is shining a gentle warmth you’ve never felt before, and the grass is the perfect shade of green. Imagine being carefree, no responsibilities of the world to worry about, just as you were as a child. Imagine having all this and remember God’s promise to us: that He will give us “what no eye has seen nor ear heard”: a true Paradise indeed, one so good that we cannot even imagine it. Such is the promise that we are hoping and waiting for.

The man born blind

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Contemplation on the Sixth Sunday of Lent (Jn. 9:1-41)

The man born blind is one of the most famous Bible stories we have heard throughout our lives. Our Lord has shown us that He can take what is nothing and create what is real. However, how would this story conclude if we replaced the man born blind with yourself? Let’s imagine that we are the blind ones and learn from these series of events in a spiritual light to apply it in our lives.

Do we feel that we are sometimes spiritually blinded when facing a problem? Do we wonder what God’s plan is when we are under trials? Even though we have physical sight, spiritual blindness can paralyze our daily lives and can, to an extreme, result in us to lose hope and doubt the power of God. In order to understand this concept of spiritual sight, below are some practical tips that would be great if we kept them close in our hearts and minds.

The Seven Sundays of Lent

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A true friend is there for you when you need him. A true friend will sacrifice for you without wanting anything back. Out of his great love for you, he will want what is best for you and will want you to love him back as much as you can and will constantly think, “How can I show this person I love him and want him to love me too?” Such is the love God has for us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). He loves us to the point of offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins that we may turn back to Him and abide in Him and love Him back with all our hearts.