The Gates of Hell will not prevail

We were promised in Scripture that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church. And they won't. But I must say that Hell is certainly trying its ugly best to prevail and cause havoc for everyone.

Not even a week ago we celebrated the great feast of Easter. The Easter vigil was magnificent. The solemn reflective nature of Lent passed into a joyous outburst of "Alleluia He is Risen!". Holy Week was just the best! Then Monday came.

It is officially called Easter Monday, but for me, someone who had to return to the regular work week, it didn't really feel like Easter Monday. It felt more like "just another Monday" and I was asking myself how many days until Friday!

Oh how I wish the joy of Easter would be easier to hang on to! In the depths of my heart I want to live that Easter joy every single moment. But it is a struggle because the gates of Hell pound upon the earth and attempt to assault our souls and do whatever it can to smash our joy. It can make it hard to keep our focus.

For me, it is 100% essential that I stay connected to Jesus. Otherwise I don't think I could even begin to make sense of this crazy world. Hanging on to Jesus is what gives me the strength to deal with things after I get out of bed in the morning. I try to go to daily Mass and after work I try my best to get to church for some quiet prayer time. Sometimes I'm not so focused in my afternoon prayer, but I am there. Jesus knows my heart and how crazy my days can be and He knows that sometimes I am not that great at praying. But I sit there anyway, in my little spot in the third pew in front of the tabernacle, in hopes that His grace will still touch me.

As the first week of the Easter season comes to a close I ask Jesus, and St. Michael, to push the gates of Hell far away from me and from everyone. Please instill within us massive amounts of grace so we can be bright shining witnesses of Easter joy to everyone. Amen.