“God is our light. The farther the soul strays away from God, the deeper it goes into darkness.” St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
It begins by not going to Mass every Sunday, and then regular Confession is no longer important, and prayer only happens in case of death or severe illness. The devil’s #1 strategy is to cut off the supply lines of grace by convincing us not to pray, and then when our soul is weakest, he attacks with some really tough temptations. Just like missing breakfast or lunch are not options because our body needs this material sustenance; daily prayer, regular Confession and Sunday Mass cannot be negotiable…our soul needs these graces and there is too much at stake!
One of the greatest gifts my family receives is the ability to send our children to a school where they can attend daily mass at 7:15 am, before classes start, and where they can easily obtain regular, even weekly, confessions. Their is a chapel in every building on the campus, and a visit or two each day to pray is encouraged for the students by the priests and the consecrated women on the campus. And parents can take advantage of the sacraments and chapels as well! We have seen the blessings and effects of this grace in our family life. I want to say thank you to priests like you, Fr. Sliney, who make that possible.