“See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ” (Col 2:8).
I have been reading this story for the past few days, regarding the man who took his own life in Seattle. I have read his personal social media posts regarding his ordeal with terminal illness and other struggles and what is very clear cut about this man to me, from my perspective, is he never truly grasped our Catholic faith.
Same sex marriage, assisted suicide, divination (consulting mediums), all are very grave sins within our faith.
From the moment this story broke, it was riddled with deception. When I say this, I am not speaking about deception within the leaders of the Catholic Church, but self deception on the part of the man who took his own life into his own hands, and finished his way.
Let it be known, that I do not know what has become of this mans soul. I pray for him.
What I do know, is through looking at his posts, that he was not a follower of our Lord, nor obedient to His teachings. Most of what I have read, through his own writings and the aftermath of his decision to take his own life, has left a mess riddled with deception and has caused many faithful asking the question, who did this? Many place the blame on the Priests, the diocese, and even the man. Who is to blame? Deception is to blame.
SELF-DECEPTION
Definition
The entire story reeks of diabolic (division). Thus, deception and the very name of the devil.
Our Lord speaks of the evil one in this way: “He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Self deception speaks in character also. Because the one who has deceived themselves, does not yet know the Truth. The Truth is our Lord. The “fruit” produced under self deception, is deception, false hope and disobedience. Do not be drawn into it.
The night before our Lord’s passion, “While they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”. The evil one was in the same room. He had entered into Judas, while he was conspiring against Him. I ponder now, how often we conspire against our Lord as we try to justify our own self deception. The times we tell ourselves, Jesus will forgive me if I do this because I feel its right for me, without taking counsel from those who do know, without a doubt, what we want to do is truly unjust. We only deceive ourselves as our Lord knows better and desires the better for us, always. He will never force the better upon us as He created us with free will, to accept Him, or deny Him and the better.
From tonight’s Liturgy of the Hours, Evening Prayer:
Clothe your faithful people in the armor of salvation,
– and shield them from the deceptions of the devil.
Lord, show us your mercy.
Peg Pondering Again 