Two mighty eagle’s wings – PRAYER AND FASTING!
God’s Word says: “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two mighty eagle’s wings to fly into the wilderness to her refuge…” (Rev 12:13-14)
Just as Moses, sent by God, led the people out of the slavery of Egypt into the wilderness, so also today God sends the Queen of Prophets to lead us on our way through the spiritual wilderness. She knows the way, she walked it before us.
God has given us “two mighty eagle’s wings” – prayer and fasting. These are the wings that have the power to lift us onto the path of holiness. The lives of saints testify to this. Without them, we will not get out of Egypt – that is, from bondage to the spirit of the world. These are the means of coming out of Egypt into the wilderness, onto the way of purification, which must follow conversion. These wings will help us break the bonds of Egypt and begin to live in God’s presence, to know the depth of our misery and God’s immense love. Prayer and fasting will open our eyes to the spiritual battle raging both around us and within us – the battle for immortal souls. We will be confronted with the power of the Enemy, “fiery serpents and scorpions”. We will experience hateful opposition, because if we follow the way of Mary we will bring God to earth, which Satan has enslaved and is leading it to destruction (cf. Rev 12:12). His wrath is “against the rest of her offspring”.
The wilderness will dig the deep foundations of humility, faith and obedience. It will teach us to trust in the Lord rather than ourselves.
To disperse doubts about the necessity of this path, Jesus Himself began His mission on earth with forty days of fasting and prayer. His words and deeds then displayed the power of God (unlike the scholars around him). The same was true of all the Old Testament prophets, from Moses to John the Baptist, whose words moved the people to repentance. The Apostle Paul withdrew to the wilderness soon after his conversion. There he matured in the school of the cross and obtained the wisdom from above, which is foolishness to the world. In general, all the Doctors of the Church matured in the cells of prayer and self-denial, and gained knowledge on their knees rather than at universities. All the founders of religious orders likewise built on these foundations, and so “through faith subdued kingdoms”, inflicting enormous losses on the Enemy (but only until the “reasonable” sons began to build on the sand).
Someone will say: “That’s the past. It’s a different time now.” The Gospel, however, is beyond time: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away!” … “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 24:35; 5:18-19)
Whoever truly follows Jesus must use eagle’s wings… Prayer and fasting are like nuclear weapons in spiritual warfare. And the Enemy is only too eager to keep us unaware of this! He keeps us in the dark, and so in spite of dozens of examples from God’s word, thousands of examples of saints and all the urgent pleas of the Mother of God at this serious time we throw away weapons that can save us.
Download: Two mighty eagle’s wings – PRAYER AND FASTING!
