Your worst enemy

JACQUES ANQUETIL was one of the greatest cyclists in history. He won the Tour de France five times, the Giro de Italia twice and the Vuelta Ciclista of Spain once.

It was said he could have won many more competitions, but he didnt look after himself; he drank, he ate to excess and his affairs with women were well-known. He died at age 53 of stomach cancer.

Some people think they can conquer anything. They don't seem to care what they do or how they live. "I will do as I like", is their motto, and it carries them straight to destruction.

They dont understand that we are our own worst enemy when we follow only our own desires.

Sometimes we can overcome great difficulties, serious problems or grave temptations, but we can't overcome our own desires.We invent all kinds of excuses, ignoring our conscience and God himself, in order to go our own way.

This brings us into bondage, and we just can't stop. We can no longer say "No". Humankind's greatest problems are caused by the inability to control human desires, for example, drug and alcohol abuse, promiscuity, etc, especially among young people.

The day is closer than you think, when death will show you just how weak you really are. We may think we can do as we like and have it all, in the worst sense of the word, ignoring those who advise us to slow down, but one day we'll be sorry.

Its no good saying: "So-and-so always did as he liked, drinking and staying out late, and he lived to be one hundred." Sooner or later, death comes to us all.

You think you can overcome anything, just like Herod, in today's reading. He came to believe he was a god!

But death showed him his weakness. Nobody remembers Herod today; no-one remembers his strength and ambition. Nobody mentions his pride, or the fact that he did his own thing.

Everyone thinks that Herod's current home - the grave - has nothing to recommend it, much less his future destination after the Judgement.

Dont believe you can overcome any and everything. Don't believe you can do as you like and ignore the word of God. Some day, your own death will bring you to a fatal reality.