Work of the devil

There was another shooting this week in California, and it appears there may be another one now going on in Wisconsin. There was also the shooting in Colorado, the bombing in Paris, and the spree of shootings in Chicago. 

There is evil in the world.

There is a movie out now that is forcing us to relive the tragedy of the priest sex abuse scandal in the early 2000's. 

As the movie shows, there is evil in the Church.

Satan is at work, but I fear we are not noticing it.

 

There has been debate about other things besides the devil.  For example, there has been debate about gun control.  This blog does not have a strong feeling one way or the other on that issue. I respect those who want more gun control.  I do not feel that will really solve much. ( Perhaps that is a topic for another post.)   However, I do respect and will listen to any legislative push for more gun control, even if I may not support it.  There has been debate about religion, and this blog has and will continue to express thoughts on that.   There has also been debate about immigration, and as stated in a previous post, this blog does not have strong feelings one way or the other on that issue.

However, there has not been a lot of discussion about the devil.   There should be.

There are four common tactics the devil likes to use, and they can be easy to remember because they all begin with the letter "d".   They are deception, division, diversion, and discouragement. 

Deception. Think of how he worked with abortion and homosexual sex.   He deceives people into thinking they are good things.  Instead of "murder", he teases us by calling abortion a "reproductive right".  Instead of "sodomy", he calls homosexual sex "gay", which, in other meanings, means happy.  Now, perhaps, he is the one who is alluring people to militant Islam,  deceiving many with the promise of the 72 virgins for the male martyrs, and a faithful husband forever in heaven for the female martyrs.

Division.  Instead of fostering patience and fortitude to work through issues, Satan instead says, "The Church is corrupt, look at all the scandals; leave the Church.  Your family is boring; leave your wife and children. Your nation with its materialism and corruption is flawed; leave it, or fight against it from within."  He promises an easy way out.   When people leave a noble group or cause struggling to persevere, it is a sign that the devil is successfully fostering division.  Where are these people leaving going?  Many places, but surely, many of them are going to militant Islam.

Diversion. The devil may be successfully diverting our attention, using these tragedies, to really smaller issues, like gun control and immigration, when in fact, we should be focusing on the big picture, and be turning to Almighty God and strengthening our moral and spiritual lives as individuals, families, and as a nation.  The more we are distracted on smaller issues, the more he can work undetected.  The larger issue is a relaxation of our moral standards, a lack of a spiritual life, and a lack of reverence and awareness of the just, yet merciful God.

Discouragement.  He wants us to give up.  He wants us to give up on each other, give up on family life, and give up on the Church.   All these tragedies may be tempting some of us to give up on humanity.  That is exactly what he wants.  He wants us to be anxious.  He wants us to fear raising children in a world such as this, and not even consider starting families.   He loves the fact that our birthrate is so low (reasons discussed in a previous post), and we are being left defenseless against these acts of terror. 

Yes, the devil is at work.  We cannot defeat him by our own power.  We need, rather, to turn to Christ, especially Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament.   The attached picture was taken at the Shrine yesterday.  As I mentioned in a previous post, every First Friday (in addition to every Saturday), they have Eucharistic Adoration.  

Only the light of Christ can cast out the darkness of the devil.

Devotion to Saint Joseph can also help.  Think of some lines from the litany to him:

Light of patriarchs  (his light, joined with that of Christ, can cast out the darkness of the devil)

Diligent protector of Christ  (he can protect us from the devil who wishes to harm us)

Joseph most prudent  (the devil definitely does not want us to act prudently, he rather wants us to act rashly and impulsively; Saint Joseph can help us not give in to his temptations)

Joseph most strong (we need to be strong in faith to fight the devil)

Mirror of patience (when times are tough, we need to be patient, and not just give up on things as the devil tries to tempt us to do)

Pillar of families (family life is a big target of the devil, as is the Church and our nation; Joseph can help us remain rock firm)

Terror of demons  Satan has his army of demons; if we cling to Saint Joseph and Christ, we can scare them away from us

Now is not the time to give up on the Church, to give on family life, to give up on humanity, to give up on our nation.   The devil wants us to.   Let's not ignore him, and let him do so.   Let's, rather, in humility, recognize his presence, but at the same time, recognize the presence of God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the One Church that He founded, whose protector is Saint Joseph (another line in the Litany).  Let's fight the devil with the tools of real religion. 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.