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.