Chapter XIII: Our external enemies and our Angelic Protectors

LIFE on earth is but a passing trial intended for our merit, that is to say, to furnish us with the means of giving to God a pledge of our faithfulness. We must not seek in it anything stable, perfect or final, nor be astonished to meet with certain stumbling blocks on our way. Besides the weaknesses to which all creatures are subject, and the special dangers resulting from the fall of our first parents, we have also to conquer an antagonist who is very strong, very crafty and full of hatred. It is of him that it behoves us to speak, as of the external enemy of our salvation.

To deny that there is a devil is impossible, for the holy Scriptures everywhere prove his existence and action. But we must at least know him in order to combat him well, to unmask and overcome him; this is God's own victory while at the same time it is ours.

Lucifer—this is the name of his original splendour—was by God created in magnificence, and according to the Prophet Ezechiel, with a perfect impress of the divine likeness: “Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”¹ Destined to be filled with the very fulness of God, “thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God;” clothed with all gifts of nature and of grace, as with a priceless garment to enhance his beauty, Lucifer's creation was like a feast full of harmony: “Thou a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee.”²

So then, in this creature so high, so perfect, iniquity was found, although no external agent had provoked him to revolt. But his heart was lifted up, saying: “I am God, and I sit in the chair of God in the heart of the sea.”³ Under these mysterious words a well-founded tradition admits that God made known to Lucifer His design of creating the human race and of exalting one of its members to hypostatic union with the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. At this revelation of the mystery of the Incarnation Lucifer contemplated himself, and pride burst forth from the depths of his splendid being; he could not endure that any other creature than himself should contract so close a union with God, and refusing to obey the divine command made known to us by St. Paul, “And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the angels of God adore him,”⁴ he set himself in revolt against God and in hatred of the privileged race.

Chastisement followed the revolt; and he who protected all the rest in the amplitude of his power was hurled down from the holy mountain, and the Lord said to him: “I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee to devour thee, and I will make thee as ashes upon the earth in the sight of all that see thee.”⁵

Drawing after him many legions of angels, who formed his cursed army and his dark empire, Lucifer could find no rest but in an insatiable desire to frustrate God's designs and thwart His plans; whereas the glorious Michæl and his faithful phalanxes, acquiescing in the eternal decrees, strove to second with all their burning charity that work by excellence, the Incarnation of the Word.

But it is well to sketch precisely the appearance of Lucifer, now become Satan. Sisara is one of his types, by the burning thirst which, being pursued by the Hebrews, he experienced, and which brought about his ruin, for entering the tent of Jahel for refreshment, he was killed by the hand of this valiant woman. Goliath describes better still his infernal physiognomy. He is a giant, so strong and powerful is his nature; but the Scripture gives him the only epithet that befits him, Vir spurius. He abuses his strength, and thinks to conquer by terror. The one who is to overcome him is young and delicate; he is the last in his family, a little one, and scarcely counting among his brethren; yet when in presence of the giant and hearing his threats he resolves to fight him. But refusing ordinary armour, and despising human means, he places his confidence in God only, and is content with a little stone out of the brook to overthrow him whose strength defied the most valiant.⁶

In the Book of Judith Satan appears under the figure of Holofernes. Here again it is brute force persuaded that nothing can stand against it; but overcome by beauty, it is taken in the snare, as the holy widow of Bethulia sings in her immortal Canticle: "Her sandals ravished his eyes, her beauty made his soul her captive, with a sword she cut off his head."⁷ Thus it is that the demon, while striving to capture the race, adorned with grace and beauty for the eternal nuptials, is himself ruined; and it is a woman, proclaimed Benedicta a Deo suo,⁸ that strikes the mortal blow.

Again, Aman is a type of the enemy of mankind who has sworn its ruin. Esther, to whom it is said: "Thou shalt not die; for this law is not made for thee, but for all others"⁹—Esther obtains favour for her people and the death of Aman. She triumphs and saves those belonging to her, not by the sword, but by her unrivalled beauty.

In all these figures we see Satan, though strong, powerful and formidable by nature, always overcome by the weak, the unarmed, provided that they put their confidence in God. In fact we clearly see that by the weakest instruments our Lord takes pleasure in overthrowing his pride to humble him the more.

This combat is indeed willed by God; the glory accruing to Him from it has a special relish, as we gather from the first chapters of the Book of Job. There it is not beauty, nor the sword, nor the sling that triumphs over the enemy; it is suffering and patience, carried even unto heroism. Therefore God seems desirous of rewarding Job's fidelity, even before giving him back his possessions, by allowing him to see the enemy against whom he had been fighting in his trials, and by revealing to him under the mysterious form of two monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan, the extent of Satan's infernal power, God brings them before Job, saying: "Behold Behemoth, whom I have made with thee."¹⁰ He is a mere creature, like thyself, in spite of his extraordinary terrifying power. Created in the beginning, he was once God's masterpiece; but since his fall any one may easily lay hold of him. And so of Leviathan, the monster of pride, as Behemoth is the monster of brutality. Man has received power to bring him low, according to God's word: "Will he make many supplications to thee, or speak soft words to thee?" "Lay thy hand upon him: remember the battle, and speak no more. Behold his hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down."¹¹

While despising this monster the Holy Spirit reveals his terrible nature, adding by way of conclusion: "There is no power upon earth that can be compared with him who was made to fear no one. He beholdeth every high thing, he is king over all the children of pride."¹² This description of Satan's power can neither disconcert nor surprise the servants of God. By nature they are very much inferior to him, but their superiority by grace gives them incomparable advantages over him, and their union with God communicates to them a supernatural force capable of withstanding the whole power of hell.

Moreover this power is limited; our soul is a sanctuary guarded by the will, and no one by violence can enter there. The father of lies cannot act directly upon the superior part of our soul; he can affect it only by a kind of reverberation. His temptations tell only upon the sensitive part, which part he basely strives to turn to profit in order thus to trouble the understanding and the will.

Hence in our Lord's temptation, to which we shall return in detail, Satan seeks to stir up the three vulnerable sides of man which St. John thus points out: "For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life, which is not of the Father but is of the world.”¹³ In our Divine Lord the devil could find no auxiliary; but for us the danger lies much less in the attacks of the enemy than in our own infirmity. However furious may be his assaults, he is extremely weak when he no longer finds anything to take hold of within.

It is therefore of primary importance that the rupture between us and Satan should be complete, and that the soul should become his resolute antagonist. Conciliation with him is out of the question; we must either conquer or become the victim of that enemy whom our Lord treated as a murderer: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father thereof.”¹⁴

When the Church begins to exercise her action upon a human being, her first care is to snatch him from the tyranny of Satan, in virtue of the power she has received from her Head, and to burst asunder the bonds which by original sin have been twined round the creature. The strong formula of the exorcisms are so important that if Baptism has been administered in haste, it is required, in supplying the ceremonies of this Sacrament, that the exorcisms should be used, in spite of the inversion of order that it causes, when the regeneration has once taken place. The Church moreover wishes that the baptized Christian should by his sponsors make a solemn promise to renounce the devil with all his works and pomps—a promise from which he can never free himself without committing either perjury or apostasy. It is only on this condition that the soul can be regenerated and made a child of God.

Knowing this, why should we be astonished that the Church forbids, under the severest penalties, all voluntary communication with Satan? But on the other hand how can we explain the fact that Christians, who have no wish to apostatize, should nevertheless yield to an unhealthy curiosity, and under futile pretexts, in which levity vies with ingratitude, should presumptuously make experiments which are as hurtful to their health of body as they are detrimental to their health of soul. This strange conduct marks a total absence of the Christian sense, and it cannot possibly be justified by love of science.

The Church, while transmitting to all her ministers, from the Order of Exorcists, the power which she has received against Satan, does not without a positive mandate permit them to use this power, so well does she know the danger of coming in contact with the demons.

The infraction of these rules, which we would willingly call hygienic, is punished in many ways. The enemy takes care to reward the curiosity of the disobedient by an unexpected loss of balance, a loss which is at once both the necessary preliminary and the consequence of these practices, by strange illnesses, disorders of the brain and suicidal tendencies—evils which are by no means rare in these our days. All this is the outcome of voluntary intercourse with the demon, even when such intercourse is looked upon as nothing more than an experiment for arriving at the knowledge of a hidden and not fully defined power. The Church, on the contrary, in her maternal anxiety for our true interests, beseeches God in her beautiful collect for the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, that we may be delivered from all unwholesome intercourse: "Grant to Thy people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to avoid the defilements of the devil, and with a pure mind to follow Thee, the only God.”¹⁵

But there are combats with the demon which St. Paul points out as inevitable; they are involuntary on our part, and decreed by God for a salutary end: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and stand in all things perfect.”¹⁶ For these struggles we have the requisite grace, and temptation is one of the means of attaining glory: “God hath tried them, and found them worthy of Himself.”¹⁷ God wishes to be the object of man’s election and choice before bestowing His own beatitude upon him; the soul must have said at her own cost: “My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.”¹⁸

Temptation is not a consequence of the first fall, for Adam did not escape it in the state of original justice. It is even customary with the demon to rage most cruelly against the most beautiful and pure; hence making his way into the “Garden of delights,” and contemplating our first parents in the splendour of their fresh beauty, he could find no rest till he had brought about their ruin.

Therefore, taking the woman by surprise, he said to her: “Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?”¹⁹ In his first words the enemy shows his spirit of contention and pride: “Cur?—Why?” He calls God to account for what He had ordained, seeking to provoke in Eve’s heart ungrateful curiosity and inordinate desire. The snare was a gross one. If Eve had been generous, she would have answered, like the leader of the heavenly hosts: “Quis ut Deus?—Who is like unto God?” But she consented to parley with the enemy, whose audacious language ought to have repulsed and disgusted her. The demon, feeling the advantage he has so speedily gained, profits by it to lie boldly: “No, you shall not die the death. . . . You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”²⁰

To be as gods! Such was the enviable lot reserved for man through his brotherhood with the Messias, and this was the very thing that the demon would hinder by his lies, when he deceived our first mother. But neither human weakness nor satanic malice could frustrate the divine plan. God foreknew all: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.”²¹ The demon’s apparent success has but created a new abyss between himself and man, and prepared the way for his own irremediable ruin. In vain will his persevering efforts prevail to bring about revolt and corruption through successive generations; the divine plan will take its course. At the moment foreseen from all eternity, the miry flood of defilement will be stopped in its course; and by miraculous preservation, the Virgin, the Woman predestined to crush the dragon's impure head will rise up all radiant and immaculate. Satan had thought to subject to his empire every member of the execrated race, and behold, the very one whom it concerned him most to strike secretly escapes.

In vain has the enemy been watching for four thousand years all the avenues by which the Lord might come, heaping up rottenness and poison, in order to repulse supreme holiness; behold God is made man: Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis.²² He comes so humbly, so prudently, that the mystery escapes the notice of the fallen cherub: "For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word leapt down from heaven from Thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction."²³

The life of the Word on earth ran its course of thirty years in silence and mystery, as it had begun; then for our consolation, the Son of man began His public life by allowing the demon to approach His adorable Person; he made use of those perfidious insinuations by which he had most frequently succeeded in dragging men into the abyss of hell.

There again Satan betrays himself by his own words. Every detail of this immortal page of the Gospel must be examined. In the first place, here as always, God permits the temptation and appoints its place, its extent and its duration: "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil."²⁴ The three Evangelists who speak of the temptation are unanimous in saying that Jesus was impelled by the Holy Spirit. We are never given up at random to the blind rage and power of our enemy. He who is the Creator of angels and of men is the supreme regulator of the struggle, and according to the promise of His Apostle: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it."²⁵ This truth of faith is our strength.

We learn another lesson from our Lord's temptation; it is that the demon chooses the moment when his experience and high intelligence lead him to presume that we are most vulnerable. This is one of his cowardly tricks, which our Lord discloses to us. St. Luke says that, after fasting forty days and forty nights, our Lord was hungry. The tempter knew this circumstance, just as he can by observation know many details of our lives; and he wished to find out whether he was treating with an ordinary man by provoking Christ's sensible appetite: "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."²⁶ But instead of finding a frail man, Satan strikes against the deep treasury of Eternal Wisdom and without unveiling the mystery which shrouds Him, Jesus borrows from Holy Scripture the answer against temptation: "It is written, not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God."²⁷ Our Lord has no need to answer whether He is the Son of God, nor to work a miracle; it suffices for the demon to know that man can conquer sensuality by grace, which leads him to seek a higher life. Adam had suffered himself to be conquered by sensuality, it was fitting that the new Adam should break this charm and free us from it by an astounding victory.

The tempter, though repulsed, did not lose hope, but setting our Lord upon the pinnacle of the temple made a new trial: "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written: That He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash Thy foot against a stone."²⁸ Here the demon hypocritically quotes the Scriptures, but after the fashion of heretics, he corrupts the true meaning. Never are the demons more dangerous and more obstinate than when they set themselves up as doctors. The Man God makes no answer to this false and lying science, but, without discussing and without even satisfying the secret curiosity of His adversary, He says: "It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."²⁹

The more clearly Jesus of Nazareth manifested His sovereign wisdom and His sovereign holiness, the more the tempter was devoured by the desire of bringing Him under his power. But in His merciful goodness to us our Lord suffered the monster, blinded by his irrepressible pride, to proceed. Therefore, showing all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory thereof, as though they were his lawful possession and not the fruit of his rapine, the demon had the audacity to say to our Lord: "All these will I give Thee, if falling down Thou wilt adore me."³⁰

This, in point of fact, was the object towards which Satan had always tended, in directing his efforts against individuals or against nations, and his success caused our Lord Himself to name him “the prince of this world.”³¹ The Messias was to be adored as the Son of God, and he—Satan—purposed to arrogate to himself this honour. A summons such as this is always the last word in the devil’s enterprises. But our Lord, without divulging mysteries, for His hour was not yet come, answered with almighty authority: “Begone, Satan, for it is written, the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve.”³² “And all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from Him for a time.”³³

Our Lord had for ever struck down the power of hell, had laid open its intrigues, and obtained for His own devoted servants a special grace of strength which should enable them to sing with the royal Psalmist: “Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight and my fingers to war.”³⁴ Their security was, moreover, to proceed from that formal assurance of their Divine Master: “In the world you shall have distress; but have confidence, I have overcome the world.”³⁵

From our Lord’s conduct towards the enemy we must gather another lesson, which will be most useful for our guidance in the struggle. In time of temptation men must not stop to parley with the demon; a few short words from holy Scripture, a few energetic interior acts suffice. If we engage in long conversation, Satan, who is cleverer than we are, will find a hundred reasons for drawing us over to his side.

In one special circumstance related in the Gospel this vigorous way of acting is brought before us. The Apostle St. Peter had just made his magnificent confession of the Divinity of his Master, and had received, as the reward of his faith, the power of the keys; then, on hearing our Saviour speak of His coming Passion, he yielded for a moment to a diabolical suggestion, and said: "Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee."³⁶ But our Lord, seeing the enemy behind His apostle, did not hesitate harshly to repulse the author of the temptation without noticing the intervening person: "Go behind Me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me; because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men";³⁷ thus teaching us to repel temptation even when it is concealed under an unusual and beloved form. This made the glorious Patriarch St. Benedict say in his Rule: "Presently by the remembrance of Christ to put away any evil thoughts which may enter into his heart and to dash them against Christ."³⁸

Therefore from what has been said, let us draw the conclusion that when temptation is violent and sudden, it must be resisted promptly and energetically. But it does not always take this form and the danger is not less, when the enemy, taking advantage of our levity and sloth, softly and gently insinuates his temptations. As a preservative against these our Lord said to His apostles: "Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."³⁹ Watchfulness and prayer are the arms which prevent the temptation from entering; for if by the help of our torpor it succeeds in creeping in, it has already become master of the position almost before we are aware of its presence. Watchfulness is the sentinel of the soul warning her of approaching danger, while prayer keeps the heart closely united to God, our true Tower of strength. If Peter had kept close to his Master, he would never have denied Him; but he followed from afar: "But Peter followed afar off."⁴⁰ A soul that does not pray follows our Lord afar off, and she is always in danger.

Hence later on the Prince of the Apostles will tell his convert Christians to "be sober and watch, because the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith."⁴¹ The imagery is of striking energy. As long as the lion is young it roams about the wilderness, and finds abundant prey; but when it grows old it can no longer wander so far, and hence in the dark hours of the night it comes prowling round inhabited places, seeking a more easy prey. Woe betide the man or the beast that ventures outside the walls! He is at once spied by the monster lying in wait, seized, mercilessly dragged into the forest and devoured. Faith is our defence, because it makes us cling to God, and anchors us fast to the Rock which is Christ, where we are in perfect safety.

It is well to observe that the enemy is very seldom allowed to take us by surprise. In spite of his powerful intelligence, in spite of his experience, his acquired knowledge and his keen observation, the darkness in which he moves often causes him to be deceived. Nevertheless, if he succeeds once, we may be sure that he will return by the same way: "When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”⁴² Our Lord did not speak these words to discourage us, but to urge us to strengthen our weak point, which is sure to be first attacked, and which the demon is well acquainted, with having already gained an entrance by that way. If he find this door, hitherto open to him, now well closed, he will make a great uproar there; he will prowl about, and force hard; he will bring up reinforcements in order to gain his ground. Let him do as he likes and let us put in practice that teaching of the apostle St. James: “Be subject therefore to God, but resist the devil, and he will fly from you.”⁴³

It is a certain and most consoling truth that nothing in the world has power to snatch us from God: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels .... nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,”⁴⁴ says the Apostle who had often had occasion to experience it. But our certainty increases notably from the fact that we lay aside the works of darkness to put on the armour of light. We cannot too often repeat that the enemy’s whole strength depends chiefly on our own connivance, as St. Austin says: “He can bark, he can entice, he can bite only those that will to be bitten.”⁴⁵ If in all circumstances we are careful to cover ourselves with the shield of faith we become invulnerable: “In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.”⁴⁶

We may notice that proud, obstinate characters that are harsh towards their neighbours, lend themselves to the enemy by a kind of affinity, and give him a hold; whereas he has a horror of humility, of wise condescension, and of kindness. In no other way did the most amiable Virgin Mary, Mother of God, escape his malice; hence she sings: “He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. . . . And hath exalted the humble.”⁴⁷ One might say that Satan is so inflated with monstrous pride that he is absolutely incapable of grasping whatever is delicate and little. In the like manner poverty of spirit and abnegation, by despoiling us not only of all things, but of our very selves, make it impossible for the enemy to lay hold of us. For as in olden time the wrestler during the games laid aside his garments for the contest, the better to escape his adversary, so the soul, truly stripped of all things by renouncement and brought to perfect simplicity, easily preserves herself from the demon, who has no longer anything by which to hold her.

The atmosphere in which Satan enfolds himself, which goes before and follows him, is composed of trouble, melancholy and darkness, of which he is the “prince.” We may say that he lives in sadness, whilst serenity, peace, supernatural joy cultivated within us as a virtue, repel him, just as the dawn of morning light puts to flight the birds of the night. Satan loves violent things, all that is pushed to extremes, even in good; his preferences are all for excess. The axiom, In medio stat virtus, seems made to combat him; measure, that which the Ancients prized so highly and called discretion, breaks up all his force and brings him down; moreover, it is for this reason that in the Scriptures we are so frequently recommended to be sober.

The demon seeks as much as possible to destroy the equilibrium in our nature, which indeed is composite, but which was created in order and full of harmony and beauty; for having once established disorder, he knows that he can with more chance of success hazard a battle. This is what we see in the Gospel, where it would seem that our Lord begins the cure of all the sick presented to Him by casting out a diabolical influence, as being the root of the malady that He is going to cure. Evidently there are sicknesses which have another origin; but we cannot deny that, on account of the Word Incarnate, the demon hates our bodies almost as much as he hates our souls, and when he does not succeed in destroying these bodies, he brings upon them all the evils that he possibly can.

We must also be persuaded of the fact that when Satan does not succeed in making us commit a fault he contents himself with hindering good. He derives more satisfaction from a single venial sin committed by a soul consecrated to God than from many crimes committed by persons upon whom he has some claim. Who does not remember the legend of the demon carried in triumph because he had succeeded in making a monk commit a slight fault? We must make up our minds to fight "by the armour of justice on the right hand and on the left,"⁴⁸ that is to say by practising virtues seemingly the most opposite. It is in the same sense that St. Paul again says: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications.”⁴⁹

As a general rule, the demon's influence is to be feared almost more than his positive temptations. The enemy's tactics consist in hiding himself behind thoughts which do not seem positively bad. He creates a vague feeling of sadness and discouragement; the soul does not perceive then that some one far different from the Spirit of God is inspiring her thoughts, judgments and appreciations, and if she has not yet learnt to know herself and to rule her passions, she will be especially liable to be dragged before long into the commission of grave sins.

The demon, moreover, delights in urging some persons to practise indiscreet mortifications, while he inspires others to take exaggerated care of their health. He falsifies our judgment by phantoms and mirages; he skilfully groups round about us a number of disagreeable circumstances, such as want of tact in our neighbours, awkwardnesses and the like; he creates misunderstandings, and scatters with a lavish hand discord and poisoned words; he wearies us out in the pursuit of mistaken tracks, and when we are completely exhausted he presents the real snare into which he has all along been intending to draw us.

In all temptations of this kind the demon's aim is to bring about a state of illusion, a kind of hallucination tending to put the soul in a false position, to induce her to do unfortunate acts which, without in themselves being culpable, may have disastrous consequences. In all these things Satan's object is to impede what is good, or what is better, by heaping up against God's designs obstacles which will cause great loss of time, and the removal of which will need great effort. He loves to retard God's works, to lessen them, yea, even to cause their failure through the very persons who were predestined to bring them about and who, thanks to his clever, insidious and captious influence, are the very ones to destroy them, even before they have been assaulted by a single real temptation. This is what the Holy Spirit puts before us in the following words: "For the bewitching of vanity obscureth good things, and the wandering of concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind."⁵⁰ This bewitchment is the work of one whom it behoves us boldly to face, in order to know him well and to constrain him to throw off the mask.

Our diabolical enemies are of every character and of varied force. There are those who simply annoy like flies; they are wearying, but they are not terrible; and there are those that are very dangerous, very tenacious and very wicked. They take upon themselves to meddle with science, cases of conscience, philosophy, theology and exegesis. They turn to interest the "pride of life—superbia vitæ and puff up the man with whom they measure their strength. Really, it would seem that they are skilfully selected according to the souls with which they have to fight. This is perhaps the meaning of those lines in the hymn of a Confessor:

Calcavit hostem fortiter, Superbum ac satellitem.

But whether strong or weak, whether powerful or insignificant, without our connivance they can only help us to gain merit and promote our sanctification, if we are simple as doves and prudent as serpents.⁵¹

To brave this terrible enemy without relying upon God's strength is dangerous presumption; to have an excessive fear of him is want of faith and pusillanimity. We must neither see the demon everywhere, nor deny his existence; and since all the means of our sanctification are arms wherewith to combat him, and all that leads to holiness crushes him at our feet, we owe it to God to despise this monster from all the height, not of our personality, but of our Baptism.

Satan's tremendous pride is like that of Nabuchodonosor, who gave orders that, at the sound of trumpet and of flute, all under penalty of death should fall down and adore his statue. Such injunctions however blustering they may be, will not trouble those who follow the Apostle's advice to the Ephesians: "Give not place to the devil."⁵² Do not in anything yield to him, give him no place, and as far as you can, ignore him completely, for the kind of contempt to which he is most sensible is an utter disregard of his orders, of his threats and of his uproars. The fathers of the desert were well acquainted with the plan of despising this lover of fuss and noise; and St. Teresa, after having prayed for the grace of always seeking her rest in God, adds: "Then I shall have nothing but contempt and disdain for all the demons, and they will be afraid of me. I do not understand those fears which cause us to exclaim: "The demon, the demon," when we can say: "O God, O God."⁵³

We do not pretend to have exhausted this important subject; moreover it was requisite to limit ourselves to the most ordinary struggles which souls may have to maintain against the enemy. In the higher regions of the spiritual life the combat assumes a somewhat different aspect, and Satan, meeting an adversary who has become more spiritualized, throws off the mask, and shows himself more in all his ferocity and repulsive ugliness. But beginners need not be uneasy; so long as the devil can rely upon their bad habits as upon his secret correspondents enabling him to act in the soul, he contents himself with employing his most simple manoeuvres. When he can no longer hope for this concurrence and for the success of his weaker agents, then only does he rush to the assault with the superior demons and risk a struggle of spirit against spirit. When we come to speak of the purified soul that has become one with God, the explanation of this kind of trial will find its proper place.

We cannot conclude this chapter without saying a word on the heavenly spirits who take part in all our combats as friends and brethren; for we have not only the help of grace in our temptations, but God has commanded also His angels to watch over us "lest we dash our foot against a stone."⁵⁴

Devotion to the holy angels is therefore an efficacious means for encouraging ourselves against that exaggerated terror of the devil with which our pusillanimity would inspire us. It is also a debt of justice and gratitude towards those blessed spirits who help us with so great solicitude. Their nature, equal to that of our enemies, has over these latter all the superiority which the supernatural order confers upon them. We shall never know all that we owe to their wise and fraternal love, nor how precious to us is their pure and blessed influence.

The Book of Tobias, which was written to make known some of these consoling secrets, also expresses the gratitude with which the witnesses of such great services were filled: "What can we give him sufficient for these things?"⁵⁵ said Tobias to his son. For in point of fact the archangel Raphæl, while fulfilling his mission, had not neglected to give material as well as spiritual help, watching with equal care over the goods of those committed to his charge, as over their souls and bodies, and strenuously defending them against the assaults of the demon.

And so it is with us through God's infinite goodness. The holy angels ward off material dangers, they suggest good inspirations and holy thoughts prolific in virtuous deeds.

Finally, when they carry our prayers before the throne of God, they join their own supplications with them: "When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead .... I offered thy prayer to the Lord."⁵⁶ Also in the Apocalypse we read: "And another angel came, and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel."⁵⁷ These words, as well as many other passages of holy Scripture, teach that the holy angels present our prayers to God, and transmit to men, who are aspiring resolutely after an interior life, many lights which will lead them to union with God. Jacob's vision of the mysterious ladder reaching from earth to heaven, upon which angels were descending and ascending, is an example of this. The Lord Himself leaning upon the top of this ladder spoke to Jacob, who when he awoke exclaimed in rapturous wonder: "Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not."⁵⁸

Might we not often repeat the same words, for we are surrounded by the divine world, by the angelic world, and we take no heed of it? It is good therefore for us to reanimate our faith, and to call to mind the good things which we possess, as also our helps on all sides. By this means we shall be enabled to advance more joyfully in the spiritual life—feeling ourselves supported and encouraged, as in very truth we are. Our progress towards divine union is not an isolated one; many companions escort us, help us and communicate to us the lights which they themselves receive direct from God.

This angelic intervention in the work of our purification, illumination and sanctification is brought before us in Scripture in the person of the Prophets. Was not Isaias among others the object of a mysterious purification by the ministry of a Seraphim, who revealed to him that the purity of spirits, whatever it may be, consists in a participation in the light and holiness of God? As St. Denis says: "God radiates upon inferior natures through superior natures; and to say all in one word, it is by the ministry of the highest powers that He comes forth from the depths of His adorable obscurity."⁵⁹

Hence we can understand the unquestionable advantage souls aspiring to the Unitive life may gain by cultivating an intimacy with the heavenly spirits, either by thinking of them or by praying to them. The angels are as magnets drawing us to God, who is the powerful cause of all things, and the mysterious force which governs beings, which encompasses them and keeps them within due limits. They feel honoured in serving us for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose brethren we are, and whom they adored, loved and served during His mortal life as the cause of their first victory.

The mystery of the Incarnation is ever the reason of the continual struggle between the powers of darkness who would drag us into the abyss, and the heavenly powers who aim at transporting us into the never-failing light; but once again we cannot too strongly express how unequal these forces are, and also how easily our will, which is always seconded by grace, can obtain the victory. For the battle of which our earth is the theatre has all the elements of success which are found in heaven, where Michæl and his angels fight against the dragon and his agents; but these latter are the weaker: "And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ, because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night.”⁶⁰

These combats in which we are so marvellously upheld are not, however, the only difficulties of our present life. God in other ways puts us to a further test, in order not to crown us until we have legitimately fought and until the work of our restoration is accomplished in Christ.

14.1.1

14.1.2

14.1.3

Footnotes

1. Tu signaculum similitudinis, plenus sapientia et perfectus decore (Ezech., xxviii, 12). ↩

2. Tu cherub extentus et protegens, et posui te in monte sancto Dei, in medio lapidum ignitorum ambulasti. Perfectus in viis tuis a die conditions tuæ, donec inventa est iniquitas in te (Ezech. xxviii, 14, 15). ↩

3. Deus ego sum, et in cathedra Dei sedi in corde maris (Ezech. xxviii, 2). ↩

4. Et cum iterum introducit primogenitum in orbem terræ, dicit: Et adorent eum omnes angeli Dei (Heb., I, 5). ↩

5. Producam ergo ignem de medio tui, qui comedat te, et dabo te in cinerem super terram in conspectu omnium videntium te (Ezech., xxvii, 18). ↩

6. 1 Reg., xvii. ↩

7. Sandalia ejus rapuerunt oculos ejus, pulchritudo ejus captivam fecit animam ejus; amputavit pugione cervicem ejus (Judit xvi, 11). ↩

8. Benedicta a Deo suo (Judith xiii, 23). ↩

9. Non morieris; non enim pro te, sed pro omnibus hæc lex constituta est (Esth. xv, 13). ↩

10. Ecce Behemoth, quem feci tecum (Job xl, 10). ↩

11. Numquid multiplicabit ad te preces, aut loquetur tibi mollia? . . . Pone super eum manum tuam; memento belli, nec ultra addas loqui. Ecce, spes ejus frustrabitur eum, et videntibus cunctis præcipitabitur (Job xl, 22, 27, 28). ↩

12. Non est super terram potestas quæ comparetur ei, qui factus est ut nullum timeret. Omne sublime videt. Ipse est rex super universos filios superbiæ (Job xli, 24, 25). ↩

13. Quoniam omne quod est in mundo concupiscentia carnis est, et concupiscentia oculorum, et superbia vitæ; quæ non est ex Patre, sed ex mundo est (1 Joann, ii, 16). ↩

14. Ille homicida erat ab initio, et in veritate non stetit, quia non est veritas in eo: cum loquitur mendacium, ex propriis loquitur, quia mendax est et pater ejus (Joann., viii, 44). ↩

15. Da quæsumus Domine populo tuo diabolica vitare contagia, et te solum Deum pura mente sectari. ↩

16. Quoniam non est nobis colluctatio adversus carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus principes et potestates adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiæ, in coelestibus. Propterea accipite armaturam Dei, ut possitis resistere in die malo, et in omnibus perfecti stare (Eph., vi, 12, 13). ↩

17. Deus tentavit eos, et invenit illos dignos se (Sap., iii, 5). ↩

18. Dilectus meus candidus et rubicundus, electus ex millibus (Cant., v, 10). ↩

19. Cur præcepit vobis Deus ut non comederetis de omni ligno paradisi? (Gen., iii, 2). ↩

20. Nequaquam morte moriemini . . . et eritis sicut dii, scientes bonum et malum (Gen., iii, 4, 5). ↩

21. Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius; ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejus (Gen. iii, 15). ↩

22. Joann., I, 14. ↩

23. Cum enim quietum silentium contineret omnia, et nox in suo cursu medium iter haberet, omnipotens sermo tuus de coelo, a regalibus sedibus, durus debellator in mediam exterminii terram prosilivit (Sap., xviii, 14, 15). ↩

24. Jesus ductus est in desertum a Spiritu, ut tentaretur a diabolo (Matth. iv, 1). ↩

25. Fidelis autem Deus est qui non patietur vos tentari supra id quod potestis; sed faciet etiam cum tentatione proventum, ut possitis sustinere (1 Cor. x, 13). ↩

26. Si Filius Dei es, dic ut lapides isti panes fiant (Matth., iv, 3). ↩

27. Scriptum est: non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei (Matth., iv, 4). ↩

28. Si Filius Dei es, mitte te deorsum. Scriptum est enim: Quia Angelis suis mandavit de te, et in manibus tollent te, ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum (Matth., iv, 6). ↩

29. Rursum scriptum est: Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum (Matth., iv, 7). ↩

30. Hæc omnia tibi dabo, si cadens adoraveris me (Matth., iv, 9). ↩

31. Princeps hujus mundi (Joann, xii, 31). ↩

32. Vade, Satana, scriptum est enim: Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et illi soli servies (Matth. iv, 10). ↩

33. Et consummata omni tentatione, diabolus recessit ab illo usque ad tempus (Luc. iv, 13). ↩

34. Benedictus Dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad proelium, et digitos meos ad bellum (Ps. cxliii). ↩

35. In mundo pressuram habebitis; sed confidite, ego vici mundum (Joann, xvi, 33). ↩

36. Absit a te, Domine; non erit tibi hoc (Matth. xvi, 22). ↩

37. Vade post me, Satana, scandalum es mihi, quia non sapis ea quæ Dei sunt, sed ea quæ hominum (Matth. xvi, 23). ↩

38. Cogitationes malas cordi suo advenientes mox ad Christum allidere (S. Reg., cap. iv, 50). ↩

39. Vigilate et orate, ut non intretis in tentationem. Spiritus quidem promptus est, caro autem infirma (Matth., xxvi, 41). ↩

40. Petrus sequebatur a longe (Luc., xxii, 54). ↩

41. Sobrii estote et vigilate, quia adversarius vester diabolus tamquam leo rugiens circuit, quærens quem devoret: cui resistite fortes in fide (1 Pet., v, 8, 9). ↩

42. Cum immundus spiritus exierit de homine, ambulat per loca inaquosa, quærens requiem; et non inveniens dicit: Revertar in domum meam unde exivi. Et cum venerit, invenit eam scopis mundatam et ornatam. Tunc vadit, et assumit septem alios spiritus secum, nequiores se, et ingressi habitant ibi (Luc., xi, 24-26). ↩

43. Subditi ergo estote Deo; resistite autem diabolo, et fugiet a vobis (Jac., iv, 7). ↩

44. Certus sum enim, quia neque mors, neque vita, neque angeli .... neque creatura alia poterit nos separare a caritate Dei quæ est in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro (Rom. viii, 28-39). ↩

45. Latrare potest, sollicitare potest, mordere omnino non potest, nisi volentem (Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. XX, cap. viii). ↩

46. In omnibus sumentes scutum fidei, in quo possitis omnia tela nequissimi ignea exstinguere (Eph. vi, 16). ↩

47. Dispersit superbos mente cordis sui . . . et exaltavit humiles (Luc., i, 51, 52). ↩

48. Per arma justitias a dextris et a sinistris (2 Cor. vi, 7). ↩

49. Nam arma militiæ nostræ non carnalia sunt, sed potentia Deo ad destructionem munitionum (2 Cor. x, 4). ↩

50. Fascinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona, et inconstantia concupiscentiæ transvertit sensum sine malitia (Sap., iv, 12). ↩

51. Estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes, et simplices sicut columbæ (Matth., x, 16). ↩

52. Nolite locum dare diabolo (Eph. iv, 27). ↩

53. Life of St. Teresa, xxv. ↩

54. Ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum (Ps. xc, 12). ↩

55. Quid illi ad hæc poterimus dignum dare? (Tob. xii, 3). ↩

56. Quando orabas cum lacrymis, et sepeliebas mortuos . . . ego obtuli orationem tuam Domino (Tob., xii, 12). ↩

57. Et alius angelus venit . . . et data sunt illi incensa multa, ut daret de orationibus sanctorum omnium super altare aureum, quod est ante thronum Dei. Et ascendit fumus incensorum de orationibus sanctorum de manu angeli coram Deo (Apo., viii, 3, 4). ↩

58. Vere Dominus est in loco isto, et ego nesciebam (Gen., xxviii, 16). ↩

59. Hier., Coeles., xiii. ↩

60. Et projectus est draco ille magnus, serpens antiquus, qui vocatur diabolus et satanas, qui seducit universum orbem, et projectus est in terram, et qui seducit universum orbem, et projectus est in terram, et angeli ejus cum illo missi sunt. Et audivi vocem magnam in coelo, dicentem: nunc facta est salus, et virtus, et regnum Dei nostri, et potestas Christi ejus, quia projectus est accusator fratrum nostrorum, qui accusabat illos ante conspectum Dei nostri die ac nocte. (Apoc., xii, 9, 10). ↩