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1 Maccabees 6:3-4 "So [King Antiochus] came and tried to take the city and plunder it, but he could not, because his plan became known to the men of the city and they withstood him in battle. So he fled and in great grief departed from there to return to Babylon."

 

We know we have an enemy who is continuously trying to take and plunder us, whether it is our own personal soul, our family, our Church, any other holy group, or even or the whole world. On every level Satan is tirelessly trying to take and plunder us. If we read the Bible, heed the prophets, and listen to Mary and her messages to us, we can come to know Satan's plan, or at least his playbook (which is rather limited and therefore repetitive).

 

So why, then, don't we withstand Satan in battle? Sometimes we do, but often we are too divided to focus our attention where it should be. Internally we can have conflicting thoughts and confusion, which is one reason discernment is so important. In groups, especially lately, even minor disagreements can become points of division, and major ones can utterly shatter unity.

 

We cannot withstand the enemy unless we are united. The Church is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. The apostles had disagreements, as the Church always has. They solved them through reasonable (although, at times, heated) discussion and humble obedience. We can continue their example and thus have a strong Church ready to withstand the enemy, or we can continue to play into the devil's hands by allowing our different ways of seeing the world divide us to the point of ineffectiveness. This does not mean we should tolerate error, but that we should correct it, and be open to correction, with love and patience.