"Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." ~ G. K. Chesterton.

To begin this piece, I want to tell you a children's story that seems fitting for what I want to say.

The story is called: "There's No Such Thing as a Dragon," by Jack Kent.

The story is about a boy, Billy Bixby, who wakes up one morning to see a dragon on his bed.

He was as big as a cat, very friendly and affectionate. Billy said he had a dragon in his room, but his mother replied that dragons do not exist. Billy went back to his room and began getting dressed, and the dragon came up to him and wagged its tail affectionately. Billy wanted to pet it, but then realised it would be silly to pet a dragon that doesn't exist. Little by little the dragon began to grow. It came with Billy to breakfast and sat down at the table. That was not allowed, but Billy said nothing to the dragon, given that it didn't exist. The dragon ate all the pancakes, leaving Billy with only one. The dragon soon grew to the size of the whole living room. Mum tried to vacuum. It took her all morning to finish. She had to squeeze around the dragon and go in and out through the windows to get around it.

 "I didn't know dragons grew so fast!" said Billy. "Dragons don't exist," his mother answered firmly. Soon the dragon filled the whole house and ran off, taking the house with it. Billy's father came home from work, found an empty lot, and asked the neighbour what had happened. His mother, though in shock, still kept insisting that dragons don't exist, but Billy cried out loudly: "Mum, dragons do exist." His mother sees that the dragon really does exist, and at that the dragon begins to shrink. Mum asks how it had grown so big. Billy answers that maybe it had just wanted their attention.

What is this story trying to say? Things like this happen far more often than we think. We don't really look at what is going on around us, at what we are thinking and what we are feeling. We don't really look at the people around us, at what they are trying to tell us, verbally or non-verbally, or at what we ourselves may be doing unconsciously. We don't talk about the things we should talk about, but about the things that are easy to talk about. We sweep things under the rug and avoid bringing problems out into the light. And the dragon slowly grows and grows, feasting on the things we neglect — until one day it has grown so large that we can no longer go on ignoring it. The dragon is no longer interested in convincing us it doesn't exist, but in devouring and destroying us. It rips the whole family from the foundations on which it was built. Then that concentrated toxic mixture pours out, corroding everything in its path, instead of being released little by little, problem by problem. Every neglected problem returns with a conspiracy against the whole family. All that is needed for this to happen is: nothing. Let us not notice or react. Let us not discuss things or take responsibility. Let us not take things into account, and let us pay no attention.

That is how the devil seduces us every day. Predators such as lions separate their prey by wounding it, so that it can no longer keep up with the herd. Alone, it stands no chance in the fight, and is torn apart and devoured. The devil tries to destroy us in the same way. He comes in among us like a wolf among sheep and separates us — not physically, but spiritually. He drives us to shut ourselves off and to deal with our problems alone. Alone with ourselves. And he knows very well that, alone, without the Lord and without one another, we cannot solve them. And as we ignore our problems, they grow, and the devil grows ever stronger. That is why the solution is always to keep watch, to stay awake and alert; to identify the devil and his lies early, and to bring them out into the light. Praying together always  keeps us firmly gathered together, and with the Lord. So the devil can prowl around us, roar and try to frighten us, but he can do nothing more to us.

What happens when the dragon grows too big?

The legend of St George tells how a certain city was terrorised by a dragon, which destroyed houses with its fiery breath and carried off people and livestock to devour them. Then St George arrives, riding out beyond the safety of the fortress on his horse with his lance, and pierces the dragon's head, freeing the city from its terror. From then on, the people of that city turn to him for protection.

I also find it an interesting story that, in the 1890s in India, priests would come to the sites of freshly dug foundations for new houses and drive a spear deep into the ground where the foundations were to be laid. They did this so that the spear would symbolically hold down the great dragon living beneath, pressing it firmly against the earth so that it could not move and shake the foundations of that house.

What does this mean?

Well, it means the same thing Christ says about the house built on sand. However good the material, however sound the construction, or however great the riches inside the house, it will collapse. What does the spear represent? The very same spear with which St George slays the dragon. The spear is the cross on which Christ defeated Death. The cross that each of us receives. The cross we so often flee from and so often reject. But the cross is the foundation, the cornerstone of our life. It is on the cross that the meaning of our life is found. That is why we ask the Lord always to give us the strength to accept that cross, and to be able to follow him carrying it. The dragon never grows so big that, with the Lord, we could not defeat it.

We are currently living in a very particular time. First, it is Lent. And Lent itself is regularly filled with greater and stronger temptations than usual. The devil knows that the moment of Christ's death is drawing near, and then the resurrection and the great victory, and so he wants to do everything in his power to turn us away from it. He does not want us to experience it in fullness and joy, but only to grumble, complain and give in to temptation. Second, this is the time of the coronavirus pandemic, which brings with it additional fear and worry, and the devil uses this to twist reality and make everything appear dreadful to us. He tells us that the Lord does not love us and  that he has abandoned us. But that is not true. With the spear of accepting that cross, and the sword of prayer and work, we can defeat him and await the Lord's coming ready and watchful.

Filip Bošnjak