Paradise

"Victory and triumph to the Son of God,
Now entering his great duel, not of arms,
But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles!
The Father knows the Son; therefore secure
Ventures his filial virtue, though untried,
Against whate'er may tempt, whate'er seduce,
Allure, or terrify, or  undermine.
Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell,
And, devilish machinations, come to nought!"
                                (Paradise Regained, Bk. 1., 173 - 181)

The interesting thing about life, I think I've said before, is that you never stop learning. One thing I've learned over the past few days is something about paradise. In Milton's Paradise poems, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, we find long and in depth analysis into the fall and redemption of humanity. The quotation above comes from Paradise Regained, and is an echoing of the Gloria of Heaven. Though the language used in this passage is powerful, it is intentionally reflective of the power of God versus Satan.

I think for me, I've learned to trust that God will always be victorious. The fact is, Paradise Regained is about how after we've fallen, the one way to get back up, is to accept that we have fallen, and to see the opportunities we have to rise again, and the people who are there to help. It's about seeing, that before we can reach paradise in Heaven, before we can achieve that paradise - we lost the paradise we live in now, and we have to regain it first; we have to regain the paradise in which we live, by looking and what it really is worth, and working to see it as the paradise it is, through the environment, the people, and the blessings we have.

Lord, this is my prayer, that your will be done, that your kingdom come, through our hearts, through our minds, through the works of Your hand.

Amen.