Prepare Yourself

I once watched someone in a foot race try to trip the person who was getting ahead of him. He ended up stumbling and falling (and had a pretty badly skinned knee). Whenever a malicious person sees an opponent getting ahead, he tries to prevent it, even by bad means. In the reading for Mass a few days ago from Sirach (one of the most profound books of the Old Testament), we are told:

My son, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation.

If you read it too quickly you will miss the depth of what it is getting at. Read it again; right now. It is the cold hard facts. Do you want to obey God? Then expect temptation. Expect that when the devil sees you getting ahead in the spiritual race, he is going to try to trip you. He wants you to fall. He will end up stumbling in the end (all the way to eternal Hell!), but that does not mean he cannot do you harm.

How do you want to serve the Lord? In Holy Orders? In the religous life? In the Sacrament of Matrimony? Whatever it may be, the devil is going to try to stop you. This is not said to frighten you, but to remind you to "watch your feet". Look at the areas where you are the weakest and expect the devil to be sneaking around "seeking the ruin of souls"; your soul in particular.