Some forces in life are invisible. Many decades ago, I started in a career of installing security and access control systems. In those early years, I have serviced some really old systems, like the one that used to be installed in town at the old Nichols Department Store. There were some invisible ultrasonic wave devices, very visible lead foil tape on the big picture windows and there were some very visible trap wires at the emergency exits. Those trap wires were very old school!
In the security industry, the trap wires were replaced with magnetic read door contacts or switches. The magnetic field was invisible. Much unlike the old door traps that had a 1/8 inch rubberized wire at tripping height, running from one side of the door frame to the other, the magnet allowed an invisible force that would sense when the door had been opened! Of course, this predates Angus MacGyver in his TV action series. And lead window foil was replaced with electronic motion sensors that sent invisible sound waves around that area sensing some type of movement in the room, and then also hearing devices sensing the shock wave and sound of glass breakage.
That was a challenging and very interesting career!! I was literally a Hi-Tech Redneck! Some of the initiating devices we used were hidden and you would not know when you were participating in their ultrasonic, microwave or infrared energy, or being detected or watched. I was reminded of this as I read the Epistle for today as He has “delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” [Col. 1:13] This energy is also not always visible. We can see the cross and the His blood that is shed, and we feel the cleansing in the baptismal water, but we can’t see the warfare taking place in this realm.
In today’s struggles, there is an invisible power of darkness that deceives us and tries to weaken our love for God. Just as a politician twisting the truth just a bit, so too the great deceiver uses our hurt and failures to trick us into voting for death. St. Leo the Great writes: “We were loosed from the chains of the ancient captivity. Make sure, dearly beloved, that the devil does not destroy the integrity of your souls with any stratagem. Whatever is forced on you contrary to the Christian faith, whatever is presented to you contrary to the commandments of God, it comes from the deceptions of the one who tries with many wiles to divert you from eternal life.” [“Sermon 57,” § 5, in FC, 93:247.] [Col. 1:13.]
St Isaac the Syrian in Homily 50 says: “Those who have been tried by the mighty waves of this dark hour know from experience the change that follows upon its completion. God does not leave the soul in these things an entire day, for otherwise she would perish, being estranged from the Christian hope; but he speedily provides her with an "escape." (1 Cor 10.13) But even if the oppression of this darkness should be prolonged, you should expect that a change to the better will proceed swiftly out of the midst of it. I admonish and counsel you, O man, if you do not have the strength to master yourself and to fall upon your face in prayer, then wrap your head in your cloak and sleep until this hour of darkness pass from you, but do not leave your dwelling. This trial befalls those especially who desire to pass their life in the noetic discipline, and who throughout their journey seek the consolation of faith. For this reason their greatest pain and travail is the dark hour when their mind wavers with doubt. And blasphemy follows hard upon this. Sometimes a man is seized by doubts in the resurrection, and by other things whereof we have no need to speak. Many times we have experienced all these things, and we have written of this struggle for the comfort of many. Blessed is he who patiently endures these things within the doors [of his cell]! Afterward, as the Fathers say, he will attain to a magnificent and enduring dwelling. This struggle, however, does not cease immediately, nor in an hour; nor does grace come once and for all and dwell in the soul, but little by little of one and the other: sometimes trial, sometimes consolation. A man continues in these things until his departure. In this life we should not expect to receive perfect freedom from this struggle, nor to receive perfect consolation. For thus is God pleased to govern our life here: that those who journey in the way should be in the midst of these things.” (St Isaac the Syrian, Homilies 50, in The Ascetical Hom-ilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, pp 241-42)
Now today in my life I have traded my powerful High-Tech life for being empowered by Baptism to be a source of energy in the midst of darkness, “As many as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)“ For if Christ be the Son of God, and thou hast put on Him, thou hast the Son in thyself and to Him thou art likened, brought into one kinship and one form.” [St. John Chrysostom: Ch. III, P.G. 61:704 (col. 656).] This is the only power source that will give you life. Stay visibly plugged in!
Let me close with these words of wisdom from the prophet Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord, the one who created you, who formed you: "Do not be afraid, for I have delivered you. I have called you by your name, and you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overcome you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. You are precious in my sight, and I love you. Do not be afraid -- for I am with you." (Isaiah 43:1-6)
Fr. Gabriel Weller 12-21-2025
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