St. George

Today is the feast day of St. George. St. George, also known as George of Lydda, is most well known for the story in which he slays a dragon, which many future theologians say is a legend of him conquering the devil. There’s even a bay in Beirut named after him! While St. George is also known for his martyrdom at the hands of Diocletian, it is the story of him fighting the dragon that draws the majority of people in. We all have dragons and demons to fight and conquer, as Catholics especially. We, the Church Militant, are constantly at battle. Our souls are being fought for by God and the devil, and we are in the midst of it. Virtues and vices weigh the scales of holiness and give us either advantages or disadvantages in the fight for our eternal life. Oftentimes our own personal plights weigh in as well, losses and grief and illness become balls and chains, keeping our souls paralyzed in terror while the war for our very salvation wages around us. St. George was afraid too. How could he not be? Faced with a huge creature terrorizing the town around the nest of the dragon, encountering a towering creature with more sheer height, weight, and strength than he could ever possess, armed only with his sword and a prayer. Any of us would be terrified. But it’s that very prayer he possessed deep within his soul that emboldened him with spiritual strength, something stronger and more weighty than any mass a dragon could possess. We have this same prayer in our hearts. We just need to access it through our face. Hidden in our souls, behind our fears and trepidation, lies a prayer stronger than any fear the world or any demon can throw at us. We are armed with the armor of God, just as St. George was, and through Christ we can conquer anything. St. George, pray for us!

Prayer to St. George