WHEN THE ENEMY HOWLS AGAINST YOU, FIND YOUR 'SECRET PLACE' IN THE SHADOW OF GOD

There is the secret place in the shadow of God and it is where you must seek guidance, where you will be nurtured -- and where you will receive protection.

This Lent, bolster that hidden area, that fortress. Or build one if you don't have it.

A "secret place" comes from Scripture. "He who dwelth in the secret place of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty," says Psalm 91:1 (under the heading: Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord).

It is also translated as "shelter." A secret place is safe. It is a quiet place. It is a place away from the confusion. A secret place -- your secret place -- is unworldly. It is not preoccupied with time. It is where you speak directly with Him. It is where He has your full attention.

It is where you pray from the hidden chambers of your heart. It is a good project for this Lent: fortifying a sanctuary where you are alone.

Look at Psalm 27:5: "For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock."

Is this not why hermits chose caves? Is it not why Mary appears where it is quiet, where it is hidden, where it is remote? Is it not why Jesus was in the desert?

In our secret place, angels come to minister. It is where the saints wait. It is a place of novenas. We have built it up through faith. Every time we go to it -- every time we pray in a direct fashion -- we add more to this sanctuary at the inner part of us that can be seen as the finest of unearthly construct -- fashioned with Heaven's version of silver and jewels and gold.

Think of the most beautiful old well-kept altar, and perhaps this is similar to what you have built as a spot where it is just you and Jesus, you and His heavenly hosts, you and the Blessed Mother (or St. Joseph, whose intercessions are growing rapidly in our time and who is even known to help in the way of a novena called "the holy cloak").

A "secret place" is powerful and it is where you go for deepest prayer. It is an area of peace that may be an actual locale or exist solely in thought.

It is in the pew. It is near a statue. It is your bedroom or a secluded part of your house.

It is the booth of Confession. Here we are in secret. Here we speak directly. It is in the Adoration chapel. It may in a grotto, like Lourdes. It is in the middle of the beads of the Rosary. It is in a book of humble prayers. It is in the tabernacle. It is in a vault, like the Shroud. It is on a mountain, where there is direct secret communication (as during the secret of Transfiguration).

Do we not need a separateness during prayer at a time of such tumult? Do we not need a one-on-One? Do we not need a fortress against the assaults of the world?

"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you," says Matthew 6:5.

We build a "sanctuary" with each prayer as a brick, each day of fasting as the mortar.

Find your "secret place" and be encompassed by His power.  The place is within you. The Shadow of God is His power. It is His closeness. Seek this. "You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man," adds Psalm 31:20.

When the enemy stirs up against you, go to your sanctuary. Don't let him defeat you. Don't let him discourage you. The greatest attacks against us often come when we are on the verge of our greatest victories.

Don't let negativity prosper. Don't let that scare you. Just seek the Lord. Never grant the enemy a victory that is permanent. Build this sanctuary up through Lent and you will find that God has given you all you need to defeat anything that comes against you.

Let it be your refuge. Let it be where with God you celebrate your great victories, which are sure to come.

Go to the Bible. Construct a fortress. When the howls of evil reach fever pitch, you will not hear them behind the "walls." Pray as you have never prayed and enter the rhythm of grace.

It is your bubble of protection. It is your place of miracles. It is a "safe room," as they have safe rooms where there are tornadoes. The Pope proposes that Lent be a time to fast from words and images, and to create a space for silence.

Here call out. Here purge. Here regroup. Here evaluate. Here find the secrecy and power of humility, against which evil has no chance and your path to Heaven past all tribulation is secured.

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