THE
GREAT WAR
Mario
D’Couto
“For
our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and
powers, against the directors of this world of darkness, against the spirits of
wickedness in high places.”
-
Ephesians 6:12
As we begin the Easter Triduum and for the time we have
spent during the season of Lent, taking some form of penance, the question that
comes to my mind is
“Why?” Why do penance? Is it because it is some
routine that is supposed to be followed and implemented every year? The Church
does not oblige us to other than two days where it is mandatory to fast,
namely, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In truth, it is a personal
responsibility. Yet, as a good Catholic, it is always a good practice to take
up some form of penance so as to mortify ourselves where in the ultimate
purpose is to strengthen ourselves to battle against the Enemy. This battle is
not for a day, not for a week nor for a month but it is ongoing each and every
day. The season of Lent serves as a reminder of what we are called to do every
day, fighting against the forces that pull us away from God, imploring His
grace because if we ever try to battle on our own, relying on our own strength,
we will not survive.
The plight however is that the very essence of right and
wrong seems to have disappeared and relativism is the culprit blurring the
division between what is considered good and evil. Speaking of evil, it is not
something that just merely exists as some sort of psychological deformity but
rather the person behind it is the enemy himself, Satan, the father of lies,
the deceiver. The French poet Charles Baudelaire once said,
“The greatest
trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he didn’t exist” and
while many today may want to laugh it out and play down the existence of the
devil that he is nothing more than a myth, the fact of the matter is that he is
real. If he were not real or was just a myth, we would then need to ask as to
what was the purpose of the coming of Our Blessed Lord for it is written,
“For
this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the
devil” (1 John 3:8) and so with that being said, as the popular dictum
goes,
“Forewarned is forearmed”, just as any good General in the army
would have a battle plan in mind which he may want his troops to deploy as a
war tactic, I think it makes perfect sense to know who it is we are fighting
with and how do we battle against him.
The devil is not some guy with horns in a red suit and a
pitchfork and although he can appear that way, he is a spirit. In fact, he was
an angel before the fall, one of the most intelligent, most beautiful, most
powerful and the most
‘wilful’, by which is meant most capable according
to his choice of love or hatred. Speaking about the aspect of
‘wilful’
(the choice of love and hatred), when Our Blessed Lord said,
“You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your
mind ….” (Matthew 22:37). He was not formulating a somewhat artificial,
superficial, extrinsic requirement but rather a metaphysical necessity
compelling recognition from all spirits whatever their nature. In other words,
this was applied to all creatures irrespective of their kind to render praise,
glory and honour to the Father.
It is through this that the gift of freedom can be
understood. If love is the first law given to the spirits, freedom is necessary
to them because love under compulsion is a contradiction and is no less absurd
than a square circle. It was necessary for the angels to be free as it was for
our first parents, Adam and Eve and also for us, where we have the ability to
choose our own course, to love God or to refuse to do so. The fall of the
angels becomes in this way as intelligible to us, the fall of our first parents
and our fall.
Like us, the angels were created good, capable of
obedience and love, made for the goodness and happiness which metaphysically
they could only find in God. But also like us they too were endowed with
liberty (freedom), for as seen above, without liberty, no love is possible in
the true meaning of the word. Hence, they too were capable of falling.
Pride is at the origin of all rebellion. Pride is
pre-eminently a sin of the spirt. Angels who are pure spirt could not sin as
men do through sensuality (through the senses) but they could very easily sin
through pride as in the book of Sirach, it is written, “Pride is hateful
before God and men …. Of all sin, pride is the root. Leave it or a tempest of
blasphemy shall follow and you yourself will be ruined at the last ….”
(Sirach 10:7, 14 – 15)
The idea of their own perfection, the power of
intelligence, the grandiose visions it offered them, could all lead them into
the temptation of pride, through self – satisfaction. Hence it seems quite
clear that the sin committed by Satan and his angels could only be a sin of
pride. The sin of pride was their wish to become God, at least in the eyes of
the angels who desired to follow him and whom he managed to lead astray. To
wish to become God is the height of pride. It is the crime that, among human
beings, false messiahs of philosophy and politics commit with varying degrees
of enlightment and violence. The denial of God is the supreme act of pride. It
is also the denial of love, the essential revolt, the unforgivable sin.
Speaking of the unforgivable sin, theologians have
carefully examined this problem, as to why this sin was unforgivable. To
understand it, we need to keep in mind that the nature of the angelic spirit is
to see in a flash, both for and against before making its choice and never
again, metaphysically, to be retracted once the choice is made. The angelic
intelligence is intuitive and operates by powerful inspiration. Unlike us
humans where we acquire knowledge through the senses and through being taught
by others and by God, the angels have infused knowledge. It is through this
infused knowledge that the angels far surpass the knowledge that we acquire
which includes a knowledge of all material and immaterial things. Angels are
thus incomparably more intelligent than us and possess a capacity to know more
than we do, as Monsignor Paul Glenn explains in his book,
“A Tour of the
Summa”,
“The angelic mind is like a clear mirror that takes in the full
meaning of what it turns upon.”
Angelic communication is also based in the intellect.
While we as humans speak with our vocal cords and through our bodies, given
that the angles are pure spirits, who do not have bodies or any sort of physical
form, they communicate by acting upon the intellect of another angel with that
angel’s consent, which as Fr. Chad Ripperger describes, is the modern
equivalent to a sort of telepathy. Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea says that if we
direct our mind and will to a saint, angel or demon, they can hear us. He has
seen this reality first hand in an exorcism when the demon obeyed an order that
he gave only mentally.
Given that angels are pure spirits, they do not occupy
space. A
‘place’ is only for a physical thing which has to occupy a
physical space because it takes up space. Because angels are pure spirits and
possess no matter, they do not need to take space and are thus not occupying a
place. They are, however, active in the world and that activity makes them
‘here’
or
‘there’. They act on something by fixing their thoughts on something
and can change their activity by changing their thoughts.
Since they are not restricted by having to be present in
a certain place, the angels are also not restricted by time. There are 3 states
of being in relation to time: those who are created in time and are living in
time, such as us humans. We were created within this passing world and live in
this passing world. For the angels, they were created outside time but are
capable of acting inside time and have infused knowledge of what happens inside
time which is understood in the word
‘aeveternity’ and finally at the
top is God Almighty Who is the Creator of time itself, Who has no beginning and
no end, the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 22:13) which is understood in the
word
‘aeternum’.
Hence given the great wealth of knowledge that they
possess, the power of their intellects, their ability to move at the speed of
thought and the absence of any burden which would limit access to these powers,
such as we experience through our weak flesh, angels are capable of factoring
more pieces of the puzzle, so to speak, than we could ever come close to doing;
for the reason precisely being that as soon as the angelic intellect considers
a thing, they immediately possess a complete understanding of that thing. Hence
with that being said, the angelic intellect never returns to things seen, once
they have been seen, nor, consequently, reconsiders decisions once taken. That
means that an angel is incapable of repentance. Sin regretted is a sin that can
be forgiven. But a sin not followed by repentance and retraction is an
unforgivable sin. Fr. Chad Ripperger says that Satan gave his infamous “
Non
serviam!” because of the Incarnation and the fact that he would need to
serve Our Lord in the flesh. Satan also could not accept the fact the
‘Woman’
would be greater and more knowledgeable than all the other created beings,
including himself. The prophecy in Genesis 3:15,
“She shall crush your head”
is the result of this rejection. As their knowledge of this task was full and
complete, they fully understood the consequence of saying
‘yes’ or
‘no’,
which explains why God has mercy on humankind and not the angels because we are
far less intelligent and do not fully understand what we are doing while
angels, on the other hand, possess far superior intellects and wills and fully
understand the consequences of their actions. That is the case with the sin
that we call
the final impenitence.
To those angels, who accepted God’s command, the holy
angels, God imparts a knowledge of Himself which is the beatific vision they
enjoy as a result of their fidelity. To those who refused to obey, they were
cast away. Now despite losing their honour of being with God, the fallen angels
did not lose their power. It is like a soldier who fails in his duty and
commits a crime. He is degraded, stripped off his uniform and is dishonoured
but yet he retains his nature as man. He has eyes to see, hands to act,
understanding to know and a will to determine; which then begs the question, ‘why
is it that the devil attacks us?’ To sum it up in 3 words, it’s because of malice,
envy and hatred.
No longer able to share with man the grace, the joy and
the purity he lost, the devil tries to inoculate the mind of man with
blasphemy, impiety and aversion to the Supreme God. He sees the faithful angel,
after having conquered him in the great struggle between the two angelic
armies, accomplishing for man, his younger brother, the charitable ministry
which was confided to him. He sees man overwhelmed with these magnificent gifts
of which he is ignominiously despoiled, according towards the throne which his
fall left vacant. He is jealous and his jealousy urges him unceasingly with sin
by sin to make death reign on earth. In short, powerless to strike God, whose
arm chastises his insolence, he tries to avenge himself on the weaker beings
whom God surrounds with His paternal tenderness.
The Gospels are filled with numerous instances where Our
Blessed Lord fought against the infernal foe. He healed and casted out many
demons from people who were possessed. They were not simply sick and Our
Blessed Lord Himself made a clear distinction between disease and possession.
When He sent His apostles on a mission, He said,
“Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils” (Matthew 10:8). Though He calls
the enemy
“The Prince of the World”, Our Blessed Lord told them,
“I
have given you power over all the power of the enemy! ….. But in order to keep
them in their newly found spirituality, He concluded, ‘But you, instead of rejoicing that the devils
are made subject to you, should be rejoicing that your names are enrolled in
heaven’” (Luke 10:17-20). This
statement by Our Blessed Lord highlights three important points, namely,
1.
It is Jesus Himself who claims an
unlimited power over the devils and their chief, Satan.
2.
His messianic work consists in the fall of
Satan, who falls as lightening from heaven, at the voice of His disciples, just
as he had fallen from heaven formerly at the command of Michael and his angels.
3.
His Church which is a power over devils
form part of His mission on earth
Among the many instances where Our Blessed Lord casted
out demons, I would like to highlight three incidents in particular which bring
out the message strongly of the power of Our Blessed Lord over the Enemy. At
the very beginning of His public life, in the synagogue at Capharnaum, we find,
“There was a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit that cried out with
a loud voice: ‘Why have You to
meddle with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to put an end to us? I
recognize You, for You are the Holy One of God’”
(Mark 1:26; Luke 4:33). The other one is in Luke 8:26-39 where the demons
begged Our Blessed Lord to go into the herd of swine. As we see in the Gospel
passage, within the man was ‘Legion’ which is to say that there were a
great many demons and when the man first saw Our Blessed Lord, the demons cried
out and requested Him not to torment them. They asked Him not to send them down
to Hell but petitioned that they be allowed to enter into the herd of swine.
Our Lord allowed it and they immediately departed from the man, entered the
swine and ran them headlong over the cliff. The third one, although not an act
of deliverance, nonetheless, highlights the power Our Blessed Lord had over the
infernal foe and that was during His temptation in the desert.
In the Summa Theologiae, we find St. Thomas’ commentary
on St. Matthew’s Gospel where he discusses Our Lord’s reaction to the final
temptation which Satan brought against Him. In this sense, we can see how Our
Lord Himself endured the temptations of the devil but only to a point. St.
Thomas writes,
“Note that Christ had heard many insults but did not care.
But this, ‘if you will fall
down and adore me’, He did not endure because the others
were insults against Himself but this one was an insult against God.”
St. Thomas continues, “Therefore, He says, ‘Be gone, Satan! ….’”
which is to say that it is not in the devil’s power to tempt as much as he
wills but as much as God permits; hence, He says, “Be gone!” St. Thomas
quotes, in this context, what the Lord says to Job, regarding His creation of
the sea, here applying to the demons, “Thus far shall you come and no
farther and here shall your proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11).
Another interesting observation is the temptation of Our
Blessed Lord is that there were no eyewitnesses. Hence whatever we have is from
His own narration and perhaps, He had a purpose to it. It is not there in the
Gospels for nothing. Perhaps, through this, Our Blessed Lord wanted to tell us
what it meant to
‘look at Satan in the eye’, what it means to
‘listen
to Satan’s attempts at seducing us and make us deviate from the path God has
planned for us’ just as he tried it with Him but more especially, to teach
us that He came to destroy him and his works.
The devils therefore feel themselves to be in a state of
inferiority in His presence for “they also believe and shrink from Him in
terror” (James 2:19). The fact of the mater is that Satan and the demons
are completely under Our Lord’s control. Everything they do is what is
permitted by Him, even though all of these rebellious acts are contrary to His
desire for them. The actions of the demons fall under the permissive will of
the Lord. God permits what is beneficial for us spiritually and what can be used
by us advantageously. Thus, even the activity of demons can be used to our
benefit. Our Blessed Lord is in absolute control over everything in the
spiritual realm and the demons know this. Even though they rebel against Him in
every way possible, when He appears before them, they fall to their faces, grovel,
beg and obey.
We may not be possessed or be subject to the rite of
exorcism but it is important to keep in mind that the demons that manifest and
speak directly through a possessed person during an exorcism are the same
demons that whisper invisibly into our intellects to seduce us into sin. These
demons desire to push us, slowly, craftily and subtly until we commit a mortal
sin. At that point, they seek to dig their black talons into our flesh and remain
with us. Ultimately, they are seeking to possess us, where they are able to
enter into the intellect in a powerful way and bombard the person with a
variety of thoughts, all intended to drive the person away from God. In fact,
Fr. Gabriel Amorth, who was the Vatican’s Chief Exorcist says that there are
more victims of Satan’s ordinary action than of his extraordinary action which
is to say that the ordinary action are the temptations through which the demons
seek to influence man, the kind of harassment that everyone is subjected to
while the extraordinary action (direct possession of the person) are much less
common. The devil prefers to act through ordinary temptations where he can
remain hidden and unnoticed and achieve greater gain in souls. When he works in
the extraordinary way, it reveals his presence, which can ultimately disturb
his work.
Thus, it is important to take custody of our eyes, our
thoughts and what we do. If we knew how serious the consequences are, we would
do everything within our control to ensure that we don’t give into the lure and
enticement of the Enemy. When we sin, we participate in the submission to the
devil to which our first parents were subjected to. Our sins are acts of
co-operation with the plans which guide the Kingdom of Satan. As a result, the
demons gain an increased authority over us, particularly if our sins are
mortal. In the times we are living in, a time that has been characterized by
the loss of the sense of sin, Satan is more empowered, as Fr. Gabriel Amorth
tells us that the quality of our era helps Satan to act nearly undisturbed and
inducing man to sin, takes man progressively away from the love of God. St.
Louis De Monfort adds that through the unwholesome presence of self – love,
inordinate self – reliance and self – will, all the many riches and gifts we
have received from God will be spoiled.
God calls us to enter paradise, the blessed life in this
world and in eternity. The Evil One lures us into the deceptive pleasures,
achievements and transient ease of life. The human soul is the battle ground
between God and Satan and if we try to battle on our own, relying on our own
strength, it would be like a child trying to compete with a giant. Divine
assistance alone restores the equilibrium. By the Blood of Christ on Calvary,
the weakest among Adam’s children have triumphed and continue to triumph over
all the evil spirits combined against him.
All in all, when we are with God, we need not fear. Leon
Cristiani in his book, “Evidence of Satan in the modern world” writes, “We
need, in general, to be on guard against the dangers, of paying either too much
attention to satanism or too little. There have been centuries in which men saw
the devil everywhere and others when he was not considered to be present
anywhere – exaggeration which are equally false, equally deceptive and both
consequently inspired by Satan, the father of lies.” When flight is
impossible, fight! This blogpost/reflection is an attempt in understanding the
Enemy’s tactics, his motives, his nature, his origin, his strength, his
weaknesses and his goal and once this knowledge is obtained, we can more
effectively predict his behaviour, recognize his traps, use the proper
preventive measures against him and drive him away when he persists through the
grace of God.
It’s therefore important for us to avoid more carefully
even those trivial faults which make the devil bolder and stronger against us,
especially, mortal sin, which would deliver our souls to him. It’s important to
be on guard against the love of riches which leads to idolatry and pride, the
father of all errors. In fact, at the root of every sin is the seed of pride,
the belief and the thought that one does not need God and who chooses to live
according to his or her own morality and not according to what God has
commanded as put forth by the English occultist Aleister Crowley,
“Do what
thou wilt!” Grieve not therefore the
Spirit of God. Instead, watch and pray! Soon you shall repose in the triumphant
peace of heaven. Ignorance is not excusable when instruction is to be had and
heedlessness is unreasonable when it is a question of our immortal soul, “for
what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul” (Mark
8:36). As we begin the Easter Triduum, let us keep in mind the words of St.
Peter who wrote,
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God
that in due time, He may exult you. Cast all your anxieties on Him for He cares
about you. Be sober, be watchful.. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around
like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand up to him, strong in
faith” (1 Peter 5:6-9) that whatever penances we may have undertaken during
this time would serve as a reminder of what we are called to do each day, to
submit and surrender our will to God each day and live according to what He has
commanded. Wishing you all a holy and a happy Easter in advance. God bless!.
