Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:11-12
I’m not sure if all readers bought into my thesis on our losing the message/meaning of Christmas to the secularists. The unfortunate aspect is that many of us are unwittingly aiding and abetting the secularists.
Even though the war is won and death defeated, the enemy is still fighting for every last soul. Following is an example how the enemy has recently achieved a victory. (By the way, in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, who is the Enemy?)
What has the enemy won? They have effectively appropriated/usurped the sign of a covenant.
First, what is a covenant? A covenant is a solemn agreement between human beings (such as marriage) or between God and man, involving mutual commitments or guarantees.
If someone asks if you have a “personal relationship” with Jesus, you should respond that you have a covenantal relationship with Jesus, which is vastly more meaningful.
Two covenants are in effect.
One is the covenant through Christ’s death, the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the “blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” We renew this covenant at every Mass.
The other is the covenant with Noah after the flood. It gives expression to the principle of the divine economy toward the “nations,” in other words, toward men grouped “in their lands, each with (its) own language, by their families, in their nations.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC, 56) The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel. (CCC 58)
What is the sign of the covenant with Noah?
“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.’
“‘When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.’” (Genesis 9:12-17)
What do people say or think of the rainbow as sign or symbol of today? How many are going to think of Noah? Test your kids.
This loss was long in coming. If countered at the beginning, there still would be a battle going on. We have lost this battle spectacularly. We might claw back some who were lost, but it will take everyone’s effort.
An example of an ongoing battle is the one being fought in academia. Why is this important? Because textbooks for our kids are being written or published by either non-religious or those who have bought into “political correctness.”
It has to do with labeling years. We are used to books that identify years as either “B.C.,” meaning “before Christ,” or “A.D.,” meaning “anno Domini,” Latin for “year of our Lord.”
An increasing number of books/literature (even religious material) is using “B.C.E.,” meaning “before common era,” as a substitute for “B.C.,” and “C.E.,” meaning “common era,” as a substitute for “A.D.” They don’t change the years; they just remove Christ as the reference point.
I get that we are at the mercy of powerful entities such as publishing houses that publish school textbooks that are adopting this notation at an increasing rate. But we can fight back.
How? Every incidence of B.C.E. and C.E. pen/ink B.C. and A.D. over it.
The enemy is just as happy if we die a death by 1,000 cuts. He is a long-game player. He lost the war but is still fighting. We cannot cede an inch.