“Shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15).
This readiness to fight for the Gospel requires constant renewal and inner determination, because the proclamation of the Gospel is one of the most powerful offensive weapons that our Father has entrusted to us for spiritual warfare.
We know from Sacred Scripture, from the experience of the Church, and also from our personal experience, that “the true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not” (Jn 1:9-10).
For the powers of darkness, the proclamation of the Gospel, undiluted and unadulterated, is an unbearable and feared weapon. It snatches away the souls under their influence and reminds them of the defeat they suffered on the Cross when, in their presumption, they thought they had achieved their goal: to extinguish the light forever.
But they did not succeed! Our Father did not allow it. Now these same powers are trying by every possible means to turn people away from the message of the Gospel and to dim or extinguish the light of the Church.
Therefore, everyone who wants to remain faithful to the Lord is called to take up spiritual arms and be ready to fight for the Gospel in the proper way entrusted to them by God. May St. Joan of Arc intercede for us so that we may have the courage and readiness for battle that she herself possessed!