There was a parish which was a model for
prayer life, communion and co-operation for others. Reason: the parish priest
was a pious man who took all right advices and implemented them. Years later, when
Rev Fr Xavier Khan Vattayil who narrated this incident recently, went to the
same parish, it was a different scene. It turned into something which an ideal parish
should not become – parishioners were divided on various issues, prayer life
took a turn for the worse and there was infighting and quarrel all over the
place.
He enquired about this transformation. How did
this happen? The reason shocked Rev Fr Vattayil. When a new parish priest came
to that parish, he turned to some wrong people for advices and he followed
those wrong advices. Devil acted through these wrong advices.
“You must be careful about your friendship
with others. You must not seek the advice from impious and wicked people. This
will put you in trouble.”
This advice is from Rev Fr
Vattayil, a man of God who has saved thousands of people for Jesus Christ. He’s
a great preacher of God and a guiding force for the Catholic Church.
“Many
families, convents, prayer groups and even parishes are divided because of the
wrong advices. Satan will divide and destroy good families, prayer groups and
religious institutions through wrong advices from wrong friendships,” Rev Fr
Vattayil says. I never miss a chance to hear him. He narrates stories and
passages from the Bible and relates them to the current situations in a lucid
and powerful style.
On Sunday (March 22), I heard him talk about
the impact and influence of friendship and advisors on people. There’re good
and bad friends/ advisors. The catch lies there. “If we follow the wrong advice
of a friend, it can destroy us. It’s very important to follow the good advice,”
Rev Fr Vattayil says.
Quoting from Psalms (1:1), he says, “Blessed
is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that
sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.” He says some of these so-called
friends are tools in the hands of devil to deny us the blessing and grace from
God.
Rev Fr
Vattayil explains the impact of wrong advice through a passage in 1Kings 12.
It’s story of King Rehoboam, son of King Soloman. He
rejected the advice given by elders who had served his father Solomon during
his lifetime and consulted the young men who
had grown up with him and were serving him. He
asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to
me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
The young men who had grown up with him replied,
“These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make
our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s
waist. My
father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father
scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’” He implemented
the wrong advice given by the young men and later paid a heavy price. His
kingdom was divided. “The wrong advice given to him led to this division,” he
said.
You may
have friends who give all types of advices, but ignore such friends as devil
can act through them.
