a stubborn streak
"He took them to task for their disbelief and their stubbornness, since they had put no faith in those who had seen Him after He had been raised." —Mark 16:14
Everyone is a believer and unbeliever, open and stubborn. We can believe Jesus and His Church and disbelieve the voices of Satan and the world, or we can do the opposite. We can be open to the Lord and stubbornly opposed to the lies of secular humanism, or vice versa.
When the world tells us to keep Jesus to ourselves, may we stubbornly respond: "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight for us to obey you rather than God. Surely we cannot help speaking of what we have heard and seen" (Acts 4:19-20). When the devil tempts us to sin, may we not believe a word he says. May we stubbornly insist on a fifty-day Easter, especially since the world believes Easter is over.
Many people doubt God, His Church, and His Word, while believing the fiction, fantasy, and manipulation in the media. Many are so naive and foolish that they believe what a politician or TV commercial says, while not even bothering to know the everlasting, time-tested truth of God's Word. We need to repent of our rebellion against God's Church and lead a rebellion against the world, the flesh, and the devil. If we only would lose our trust in our own self-sufficiency! If we were only more stubborn against and disbelieving of what should be rejected and resisted! If we were only like putty in God's hand (Is 64:7) and like "a pillar of iron, a wall of brass" (Jer 1:18) against the strongholds, proud pretensions, and sophistries of the world! (2 Cor 10:4-5)
Prayer: Father, this Easter season give me more faith in You and no faith in what is not of You.
Promise: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation." —Mk 16:15
Praise: Praise the risen Jesus, Who has broken the strongholds of sin and death. "O death, where is your victory?" (1 Cor 15:55)
Rescript: †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, XXX 11, 2011
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