The Six Skills Every Catholic Must Cultivate to Combat the Snares of the Devil For Prisoners and Those Bound by Bars (Physical and Spiritual).

In this second installment of the skills needed to combat the tactics of the enemy, and for each blog to follow, one part of the Anawim will be featured as a stand-alone. Grok and I collaborated on this segment of the series. I offer them to you so that you might know just a fraction of the joy I have had in organizing this for you.

Note for Listeners: This is a longer reflection. Listen to it in small parts if you like. Pause and resume whenever you need. Take your time, dear friend.

Part 1 – Introduction: Why We Need These Skills. My dear Anawim who are prisoners of bars and prisoners of their own misconceptions about Catholicism, my beloved brothers and sisters who feel trapped, forgotten, or weighed down by chains both visible and invisible — come and rest with Me in the quiet of this moment. I speak to you as a grandfather who knows what it is to feel confined, limited, and sometimes hopeless. I have been there with you.

The Devil loves to keep people in prison — whether behind steel bars or behind the bars of false ideas about who God is and who you are. This is why you must not let your guard down. You must practice capacitas Dei — the daily expansion of your heart to hold more of God — and conversio morae — the daily conversion of life — as spiritual weightlifting.

There is no free lunch in the spiritual life. The cross is not cotton candy. It is the way of Christ. Fidelity to this way is what allows you to stand firm against the snares of the enemy, even when you feel trapped.

Part 2 – Skill b: How to Access the Upper Room of Your Inner Self. The Upper Room is the sacred space inside your heart where you meet Me. Even in a prison cell or behind the bars of your own misconceptions, you can enter this inner Upper Room.

Here is how you can do it, step by gentle step:

1. Find a comfortable position, even if you are lying on a bunk or sitting on the floor.
2. Close your eyes or lower your gaze.
3. Take three slow, deep breaths.
4. Say quietly or in your heart: “Lord Jesus, I am here. I come to be with You in my Upper Room.”
5. Imagine a simple, peaceful room inside your heart — perhaps with a chair where I sit waiting for you.
6. Just be there with Me. You do not need perfect thoughts. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back by saying My name.

Many prisoners and those bound by misconceptions have told Me that this simple practice brings them more freedom than they have felt in years. The Upper Room is always open to you, no matter where your body is.

Part 3 – Skill c & d: Listening with the Ear of the Heart + Prayer Practices. Many of you find it hard to focus because of noise, worry, or the weight of past mistakes. That is all right. The ear of the heart does not require perfect concentration.

Here is a simple way:

1. Sit or lie as comfortably as you can.
2. Say slowly: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
3. Take a few moments of silence.
4. If your mind wanders to worries or memories, gently say, “Jesus, I am here with You.”
5. Listen not with your physical ears, but with the ear of your heart — the deep place inside where I speak in peace.

The Rosary, Lectio Divina, and the Jesus Prayer are powerful tools. Use them gently. Even holding a rosary in your hand is prayer when offered with love.

You do not need to pray for long periods. A few minutes of the Jesus Prayer — “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” — can bring great peace. Many prisoners and those bound by misconceptions have found that praying this simple prayer while sitting in their cell brings them closer to Me than they ever felt in their busy years.

Part 4 – Skills e & f: Environment for Silence + Five Levels of Listening. Even in chaos, you can create inner silence. Even in a crowded prison or a noisy mind, you can create a little island of peace.

• Close your eyes for a few minutes.
• Focus on your breathing.
• Say, “Lord, in this moment I choose silence with You.”

The outer noise does not have to control your heart. You can create a little island of silence even in the loudest place.

Listen first with your ears. Then listen with your heart. Then pray the words. Then share them with Me. Then become silent and be present. There are no words needed — wait for the Lord.

Many prisoners and those bound by misconceptions listen to these words several times. The first time they hear the words. The second time they feel them in their heart. The third time they pray them. The fourth time they share them with Me. The fifth time they sit in silence with Me. This is the way of the Anawim.

Part 5 – Skill g + Action Suggestions + Closing Prayers: In your heart there is a Tabernacle where I dwell. Sit before the cross in humility and obedience. Give glory to the Father through Me, with Me, and in Me, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

You do not need to be in a Church building. Your heart is the Holy of Holies. Sit quietly. Imagine Me on the cross out of love for you. Offer your own small cross with Mine. This is how the Anawim give glory to the Father, even from behind bars.

5 Action Suggestions

1. Spend five minutes each morning in the Upper Room of your heart.
2. Hold your rosary and pray one decade slowly.
3. Offer one small suffering today for someone else.
4. Read one short Scripture verse and repeat it throughout the day.
5. End each day with the Prayer of Abandonment.

Closing Prayers

Prayer of Abandonment – Blessed Charles de Foucauld: Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Prayer of Thomas Merton: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything other than that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Do What He Tells You.

Copyright © 2026 Michael F. Conrad, Ed.D. All rights reserved—the Center for Contemplative Practice.

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