2nd Sunday in Lent, 2026

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Today we prayed: Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves.

 

First an admission of our limitations without God.  One of the first steps to aligning yourself with God is to acknowledge His sovereignty.

 

Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

If you had, or have good parents, we are taught throughout our early years into adulthood to think for ourselves, we learn to evaluate situations, be critical thinkers and to be self-sufficient.  We can do and accomplish anything we set our minds too; there is no limit to our achievements.

All good advice.  Success in the secular world in large part depends on our individual attitude and willingness to put in the hard work.  The power of positive thinking combined with commitment will take you a long way.

 

In this prayer we are not talking exclusively about worldly success and happiness, we are talking about the attacks on our inward soul and mind, our very being.  Make no mistake, the spiritual and the physical are intimately intertwined. We are assaulted by many outside forces but in the spiritual realm, we cannot save ourselves.  Fortunately, we have more than a heavenly mentor, we have a saviour.

 

There has been an ongoing and active battle to secure our borders and national security, to evict those that are hostile to our country.  Likewise, we should be concerned for our spiritual borders and defense.  It is time to secure our spiritual borders and firm up our heavenly defense system. 

We must realize it is extremely important what we allow into our lives and into our minds.  The shows we watch, the company we keep, even the news we consume all have an effect on our mind and our soul. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, we can’t avoid all evil in this life unless you want to go off the grid, live on the top of a mountain away from society and technology.  Tempting as that may be at times, we can’t be effective warriors for Christ by refusing to deal with the world around us.  Sticking your head in the sand and hoping problems will go away has never worked.

 

So we can’t avoid the bombardment of evil that assaults us daily, the negativity that is in the news, the liberalism that is in the media, the sexuality that is so prominent in advertising and the politics that has crept into the sporting world just to name a few. 

We cannot avoid, but we can restrict and limit our exposure and then combat the rest through prayer, constant exposure to Christ through prayer, his Holy Spirit, God’s Word. 

 

If we believe we are truly self-sufficient and capable of reaching the true and great goals of life unaided, then there is no reason why we should seek either the help or protection of God.  Today’s Collect becomes meaningless. The teaching of St. Paul in the Epistle to Please God falls on deaf ears; the faith of the woman in the Gospel who sought the help of our Lord will seem entirely unnecessary.

 

God’s power is necessary and available to us to defend both from outward adversities and from inward evil thoughts that attack the soul.  It is through prayer and faith in God and his power that strengthens within us the determination to have done with evil and to carry our warfare through to victory.

 

None of us can deny that the overall direction of the world as a whole is evil, we must call upon every resource that God makes available to us today to overcome it.  St. Paul tells us in today’s Epistle, he exhorts us, pleads with us to be Holy, we are called to holiness and only through prayer and the Holy Spirit can we achieve it.

 

Only with God’s divine guidance can we get from this world to the next, eternity with Him.  The protection and the power of God is more than a theological term, but to tap into that power you must get to know God, and you can’t do that without prayer.  It is simple truth, you can’t intimately trust someone that you don’t know, and you can’t know someone that you never talk to and more importantly never listen to.

 

Edward Hopper wrote the following poem:

Jesus, Savior, pilot me

Over life’s tempestuous sea;

Unknown waves before me roll,

Hiding rock and treacherous shoal.

Chart and compass come from thee;

Jesus, saviour, pilot me.

 

When at last I near the shore,

And the fearful breakers roar,

Twixt me and the peaceful rest,

Then, while leaning on thy breast,

May I hear thee say to me,

Fear not, I will pilot thee.

 

Let God be your pilot through this life and into the next.

Fr. Steve