The isolation and solitude of Holy Week

This year, Holy Week will be a very different experience.  Due to the Coronavirus, lay people will for the most part have to watch Holy Week services from their homes, while priests lead them by themselves, with perhaps a handful of people assisting at most.  It will be very different experience not to be going to church for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and especially, Easter Sunday.  (Technically, Easter Sunday is not a part of Holy Week, but we will still consider it part of the Holy Week experience for our discussion here.)

Many of us will experience isolation and solitude this Holy Week.  But perhaps to a certain degree this reality might be able to help us draw closer to the mysteries we celebrate during this special week every year.  Those themes are very much a part of the whole experience.  Let us consider some selections from this week’s readings: 

Palm Sunday procession Gospel (Matthew 21:1-11) 

Say to daughter Zion,  “Behold, your king comes to you,  meek and riding on an ass,  and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” 

Our Lord road into Jerusalem, alone, on an ass.  No one was on it with him.  Yes, there were a lot of people laying down cloaks and palms and praising Him, but he was alone on it.  He also knew that the cheers would not last long.  In that sense, despite all the praise, he likely felt alone, too.

Palm Sunday 1st Reading (Isaiah 50: 4-7) 

I gave my back to those who beat me,  my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;  my face I did not shield  from buffets and spitting.  

Our Lord fulfills the prophecy of the Suffering Servant, who as we see here, turns the other cheek when he is being tortured by the crowds.   This to me implies no one is around to help him, a lonely experience.

Palm Sunday Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 22) 

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 

When one feels abandoned, one feels very much alone.    

Palm Sunday 2nd Reading (Philippians 2:6-11) 

Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, 

Social relationships fill us.  When one is in solitude or isolation, without those fulfilling relationships, one can certainly feel empty.  

Palm Sunday Gospel (Matthew 26:14-27:66) 

So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? 

His disciples cannot stay awake with him in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He also asks God that if it is possible, the Cup be taken away from Him.   When people cannot stay awake with us, or we feel our prayers are not answered, we can feel very alone. 

After they had crucified him,  they divided his garments by casting lots;  then they sat down and kept watch over him there.  And they placed over his head the written charge against him:  This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.  Two revolutionaries were crucified with him,  one on his right and the other on his left.  Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying,  “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,  save yourself, if you are the Son of God,  and come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said,  “He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel!  Let him come down from the cross now,  and we will believe in him.  He trusted in God;  let him deliver him now if he wants him.  For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  The revolutionaries who were crucified with him  also kept abusing him in the same way. 

Our Lord was crucified with two others on the same hill.   But he was alone in the sense that he was the only innocent one among the three, and they too, were taunting him like many in the crowd were. 

Monday of Holy Week 1st Reading (Isaiah 42:1-7) 

Here is my servant whom I uphold,  my chosen one with whom I am pleased,  Upon whom I have put my Spirit;  he shall bring forth justice to the nations,  Not crying out, not shouting,  not making his voice heard in the street. 

The Suffering Servant is quiet, as many who live in isolation and solitude are.   We feel like we have no voice. 

Monday of Holy Week Gospel (John 12:1-11) 

You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. 

The ones we love are not always with us, as we have all been experiencing painfully these days. 

Tuesday of Holy Week 1st Reading( Isaiah 49:1-6 )

The LORD called me from birth,  from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.  He made of me a sharp-edged sword  and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.  He made me a polished arrow,  in his quiver he hid me. 

We may often now feel concealed and hidden due to the circumstances of our times. 

Tuesday of Holy Week Gospel (John 13:21-38) 

My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.  You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,  ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”  

Where we are, others cannot come.  How true that is for many of us nowadays! 

Wednesday of Holy Week (Isaiah 50:4-9) 

(Same reading as Palm Sunday 1st Reading) 

I gave my back to those who beat me,  my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;  My face I did not shield  from buffets and spitting. 

When no one is around to support us, to defend us, we feel alone. 

Wednesday of Holy Week Responsorial Psalm (Isaiah 69:21-22) 

I looked for sympathy, but there was none;  for consolers, not one could I find. 

How alone one must feel who looks for love and compassion and cannot find it. 

Wednesday of Holy Week Gospel (Matthew 26:14-25) 

When it was evening,  he reclined at table with the Twelve.  And while they were eating, he said,  “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 

One of Our Lord’s closest companions betrayed Him.   Being hurt badly by someone we are close to and dearly love is a terribly isolating feeling. 

Holy Thursday 1st Reading (Exodus 12:1-14) 

For on this same night I will go through Egypt,  striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast,  and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD!  But the blood will mark the houses where you are.  Seeing the blood, I will pass over you;  thus, when I strike the land of Egypt,  no destructive blow will come upon you.  

During the Passover, Israelites huddled in their homes, as we are now.  Like them, we should be seeking God’s protection. 

Holy Thursday Gospel (John 13: 1-15) 

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come  to pass from this world to the Father.  He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.  The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.  So, during supper,  fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power  and that he had come from God and was returning to God,  he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. 

During the Last Supper, Jesus knew he was going to be cut off from his close friends, at least physically.  They would desert him, and then he would die.   This feeling of impending isolation must have given him sorrow. 

Good Friday 1st Reading (Isaiah 52:15-53:12) 

He was spurned and avoided by people,  a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,  one of those from whom people hide their faces,  spurned, and we held him in no esteem. 

The Suffering Servant was avoided by people. He loved us so much, but we hid from him.  He was an outcast, alone. 

Good Friday Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 31) 

For all my foes I am an object of reproach,  a laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends;  they who see me abroad flee from me.  I am forgotten like the unremembered dead;  I am like a dish that is broken. 

People run from the Suffering Servant; they do not wish to associate with him. 

Good Friday Gospel (John 18:1-19:42) 

When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out  and seated him on the judge’s bench  in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.  It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon.  And he said to the Jews,  “Behold, your king!”  They cried out,  “Take him away, take him away!  Crucify him!”  Pilate said to them,  “Shall I crucify your king?”  The chief priests answered,  “We have no king but Caesar.”  Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. 

Imagine being the rightful King and your people do not acknowledge you.  How lonely that must feel. 

Easter Sunday Gospel (John 20:1-9)  

On the first day of the week,  Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,  while it was still dark,  and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter  and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,  “They have taken the Lord from the tomb,  and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.  They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter  and arrived at the tomb first;  he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.  When Simon Peter arrived after him,  he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,  and the cloth that had covered his head,  not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.  Then the other disciple also went in,  the one who had arrived at the tomb first,  and he saw and believed.  For they did not yet understand the Scripture  that he had to rise from the dead. 

By the time the first witnesses arrived, the tomb was already empty.   Therefore, nobody was an eye witness to the actual Resurrection.   Our Lord rose from the dead alone.   Often in our life, even when we are joyful, or an incredible event happens, we are, or at least feel, still alone, and have nobody to share it with.   

In these days of the Coronavirus, when we have to celebrate and practice our faith more in solitude than usual, it may be comforting to hear that the themes of isolation and solitude are prevalent in Holy Week.  We can use these circumstances to unite ourselves more fully to the Lord if we choose.   May we do just that. 

The two types of fear, Part Two: bad fear

In the last post, we discussed what constitutes good and holy fear.  We defined this type of fear as a fear of us doing something to offend the good and holy God.  This fear is the natural progression, as we grow in the spiritual life, from fear of punishment from God, to fear of going to hell, to fear of offending him because of who He is, to the aforementioned fear of us doing something offend him.  (Note the focus of this “topline” fear is on us, not of God.)

In this post, we will discuss the bad type of fear, the one we have too much in the world of today (the opposite of the good fear, which we do not have nearly enough of.)    This bad type of fear is referenced often in Scripture, here are some examples:

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

 Matthew 6:34 So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

 Joshua 1:9 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Matthew 14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

There are many more quotes like this in the Bible, but you get the point.  The Lord wishes us not be afraid.   Saint John Paul II, in his first address, quoted Our Lord, “Be not afraid!”

What are things we should not be afraid of?    The Bible lists many.

1)      The past and the future   We should entrust the past to God’s mercy, and the future to His Providence.  Our focus should be on today.

2)      Not being loved   God loves each of us, no matter what, no matter who we are, what we have done, or the lack of human love in our own lives if that be the case

3)      Evil   The evil in the world, as well as any evil in our own hearts, should not overwhelm us.  God, through the victory of Jesus, has overcome the world.

4)      Death   Death cannot separate us from God.  The martyrs, and Our Lord Jesus Christ, attest to this.

5)      Lack of resources  We should cast all our worries on the Lord, including those about finances.  He provides all we need.  

6)      Our own inadequacies/shortcomings  We are “wonderfully made.”   God does not make mistakes.  He put in our DNA all we need to do what He has planned for us in this life.

7)      The fate of our loved ones   We do all we can for them, and then we need to entrust them to the Lord.   Let Him take care of them after we have done all we can.

Worrying causes us to be anxious.   God does not want us to be anxious.   Anxiety cannot add a day to our lives.   The things of this world are not worth worrying about.   Worrying can hinder us from doing and being all that we are capable of in the eyes of God.   We need to love God with all our hearts, and that will cast out the bad fear.

May we have a holy, filial fear of God, a good fear that will drive away all bad fear, and live lives as a result not in worry, but in peace and joy.

Joseph most strong, pray for us.

The two types of fear, Part One: good fear

There is a lot of fear and anxiety in the world today.   We fear the effects of terror, hate, climate change, and gun violence.  We worry about our family and loved ones, our jobs, our health, and our finances.  We worry about our country.   As Christians, we are not immune to these types of fear and worries.

I wish to discuss the topic of fear in the Christian life.   There are two types of fear, one good and one bad.  In today’s post, we will discuss the good type of fear, and in the next, the not-so-nice one.

Now usually in life we like to start with the bad news, and end with the good.  It may seem that we are not doing that here.  However, we are in a sense.   The bad news is that we don’t have enough of the good fear.  We need to get some back.   The good news is that we have too much of the bad fear.  We need to ask for God’s help to reduce it.

What is good fear?   Good fear is what the Bible refers to often as “fear of the Lord.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13- Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.

Proverbs 9:10- The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Psalms 25:14- The secret of the LORD [is] with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

Psalms 33:8 - Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

Psalms 34:9- O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for [there is] no want to them that fear him.

Luke 1:50 - And his mercy [is] on them that fear him from generation to generation.

There are more quotes using this phrase in Bible, but you get the point.  We are to fear the Lord.  To me, it is the start of the whole spiritual life.  What exactly, though, is “fear of the Lord?”   It probably is a little of what you think it is, and a little of what you do not.

There are four types of fear of the Lord, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas.  There is a worldly fear of the punishment of the Lord, in which we fear God's punishment.  There is servile fear of the Lord, in which a person fears going to hell, but has or is given the desire to change to avoid that fate, or is at least aware that he can.   There is initial fear of the Lord, which is fear of offending him because he is good and holy.  Finally, there is filial fear of the Lord, which is fear not so much of offending God directly, but fear for us doing something to offend him.   This final type of fear, of the Lord, filial, is the one that is given by the Holy Spirit as a gift. (See my previous blog post on this gift of the Holy Spirit)

http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-7-gifts-of-holy-spirit-fear-of-lord.html

Pope Francis has this to say about fear of the Lord. “This is the fear of God: abandonment into the goodness of Our Father who loves us so. … This is what the Holy Spirit does in our hearts: He makes us feel like children in the arms of our Daddy … with the wonder and joy of a child who sees himself served and loved by his Father.”

So fear is not necessarily being afraid of God, but being in awe of who he is and not wanting to do anything to offend him.

Fear of the Lord has the following positive effects in us, according to a talk I heard given one time:

1) It allows us to see the grandeur, majesty, sanctity and purity of God, and therefore, dispose to us to have a reverence toward him. 

2) It gives us a horror of sin, and sorrow for having committed sin.

3) It gives us a desire to avoid sin, and the near occasions of it.

4) It gives us a perfect detachment from all created things.

5) It gives us a lofty degree of humility.

6) It gives us an appreciation of the spiritual life of grace.

This is the good, and holy fear we are all called to cultivate in our life.   If we have fear, this is the type to have.   When this type of fear increases in us, the bad type (which we will discuss in the next post) decreases.

Joseph most faithful, pray for us.

The devil, Part Three: how to beat him

Let us return one final time to the Gospel reading from this past Sunday, and this time, we will examine how Our Lord responded to the devil.  We read Luke 4 1:13

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread."

Jesus answered him,
"It is written, One does not live on bread alone."

Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
"I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me."

Jesus said to him in reply,
"It is written:
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve."

Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,

lest you dash your foot against a stone."

Jesus said to him in reply,
"It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.

I think we can learn a lesson from each of Jesus’ replies in how to fight the devil.

1)      We do not live on bread alone; in other words, we should not depend on earthly realities.  We cannot fight the devil with “things of the world.”  Food, money, power, and even the love of family and friends are not enough.  Nor is our own will power.  Rather, we need heavenly realities to fight the devil. We need to utilize the Sacraments, above all the Holy Eucharist, the bread from heaven, to fight the devil.   

2)      And him alone shall you serve; in other words, we need to be single-minded to fight the devil.  We must seek to serve God alone.  If we try to serve different masters, we will not be able to fight the devil.  There must be simplicity of focus in our fight against the devil.  We cannot allow ourselves to complicate our lives to the point where we lose track of what is important.  Be simple.  Live simply.   That way, we can be at peace, and be able to commune regularly with God, and be better able to indeed serve Him alone, and be able to defeat the devil.

3)      You shall not put (him) to the test ; in other words, we should not test how much we can get away with.  We should make no room for sin in our lives.  It must be rooted out if we are to defeat the devil.   We need to examine our conscience every day, go to Confession regularly, and have a desire to be holy.  We must despise sin.  This is valid and legitimate hate, and only this can counteract the diabolical hate of the devil for us.

Finally, I have spoken before in this blog often about Saint Joseph.   He can help us fight the devil.  Think of some of his titles:

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

If we turn to God with all our hearts, ask for the assistance of Joseph and all the saints, are humble, pray often, and are resolute to live lives of heroic virtue, we will defeat the devil and will forever be separated from him and the awful effects his influence can have in our lives, and on our eternal destinies.

Good Saint Joseph, pray for us.

The devil, Part Two: his tactics

Let us return to the Gospel story from this past Sunday to see how the devil operates.  Pay particularly to the words underlined in the story this time.  After each underlined section, I will make a brief comment.

We read Luke 4 1:13:

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread."

The devil here is trying to divert Jesus from his mission of turning human hearts into using his power on matter much less important.

Jesus answered him,
"It is written, One does not live on bread alone."
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.

The devil said to him,
"I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me."

The devil here is trying to deceive Jesus into thinking that a great reward will be given him if he does something for him.

Jesus said to him in reply,
"It is written:
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve."

Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone."

 

The devil here is trying to discourage Jesus into thinking that he should throw himself down, give up, and he will be OK.

Jesus said to him in reply,
"It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.

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".   We saw three in the Gospel passage above: deception, diversion, and discouragement..  There is also a fourth, division.    I think we can see in our times how the devil uses them all in our own individual lives, in the world, and in the Church.

Warning… sensitive material ahead

Deception   The devil deceives us into thinking bad things are good.  Things that used to be bad are now considered OK or even good; for example, contraception, abortion, pre-marital sex, extramarital affairs, homosexual sex, religions that teach other than the Divinity of Christ, all things society used to frown on are now considered OK.    Words that used to describe those things have been replaced by nice-sounding terms such as “reproductive rights”, “casual sex", and “gay”.  I am convinced the devil is involved in this re-wording.   I think he is also behind the false religions of the world that make deceptive afterlife promises for doing bad things (i.e. marrying 72 virgins if you die for Allah), which motivates many terrorists.  He also deceives many with the allures of riches and power.

Division  Instead of fostering patience and fortitude to work as a community through issues, the devil instead says, "The Church is corrupt, look at all the scandals; leave her. “  Or to others “Your spouse is bored and flawed, leave him or her. “  Or to others  “Your nation with its materialism and corruption is flawed; leave it, join a sect, fight against it"  When people leave a noble group or cause struggling to persevere, like the Catholic Church, our own families, or our nation,  it is a sign that the devil is successfully fostering division.   He also fosters division within ourselves by trying to incline us to sin to foster disunity between our bodies and souls.

Diversion  The devil likes us to divert our attention away from the real issues to focus on lesser ones.  For example, we see the violence and unrest in the world today. The big issues are 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.  However, rather than trying to solve this problem, via conversion of ourselves and evangelization of others with the Gospel message, we focus on turning to government laws and social programs to solve our problems.  I think the devil likes this.  He also likes it when in our personal life we get anxious about many things that we should not be as much, like finances or having power and material things, or even health, but fail to pay attention to what matters most, our moral decisions.

Discouragement  He wants us to be discouraged and give up.  He wants us to give up on ourselves, each other, family life, our nation, and the Church.  All the violence in the world, all the scandals in the Church, our children who may have strayed, personal tragedies, and/or our own sins, may be making us sad.  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.  He loves broken homes,  and crumbling churches.

Yes, the devil is at work all over the place.  If you are reading this, you can probably think of other examples of the devil using one or more of the tactics above in your own life, or in the life of the Church or our world.   You are not alone, he strives to afflict all of us, from the most devout believer to the most hardened atheist .   He is the enemy of every man, every woman, and every child.   He truly despises all mankind.

How can we fight him and overcome him?  That will be the topic of the final post of this series.

Joseph, pillar of families, pray for us.

The devil, Part One: he is real

The Gospel reading this past Sunday detailed Our Lord’s stay in the desert where he was tempted by the devil.  We read Luke 4 1:13

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread."
Jesus answered him,
"It is written, One does not live on bread alone."
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
"I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me."
Jesus said to him in reply,
"It is written:
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve."
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone."
Jesus said to him in reply,
"It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.

I believe if you were to ask most Catholics if they believe in the devil, a majority of them would probably say they do not believe there is such a person as the devil, that he is not real.   However, the Church teaches that the devil is indeed real, as we can see in following from the Catechism.

Paragraph 391: Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil". The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.  Satan used to be good, but he refused, out of pride, to serve God and his creation, man.  His pride became his fall.

Paragraph 392: Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels.  This "fall" consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter's words to our first parents: "You will be like God." The devil "has sinned from the beginning"; he is "a liar and the father of lies”   Satan makes his presence known at the beginning of the world, and he will try to influence it to the end.   He hates creation, especially the crown of God’s creation, man.

Paragraph 394: Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning", who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." In its consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God.  Jesus fought against the devil, not just in the desert, but throughout the course of his public ministry.   He alluded to his reality on multiple occasions.

Paragraph 395: The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.   Acknowledging the reality of the devil should not lead us to despair or discouragement, but rather a firm hope in the love and providence of God.   




Acknowledging the existence of the devil awakens us to the sober realities of the spiritual combat that exists in the world today, and exists in each of us.  It can be terrifying to discover all this, but this is still much better than pretending he does not exist.  The devil is trying to take us away from heaven.  The sooner we realize this, and learn how to fight him, the better we chances we have of resisting his call down the dark path to hell.

In the next post, we will discuss how he operates, and in the final post, we will discuss ways to fight him.

Saint Joseph, terror of demons, pray for us.