Recently, Pope Francis spoke at his weekly General Audience about a topic that has great impact on the spiritual life (see column below). He discussed the struggle against temptation and the reality of Satan.
Temptation is a constant part of life for every person. It is a component of the test and struggle of this life to choose God and conform our hearts and wills to Him. In a secular age, we can lose awareness of the constant need, in matters large and small, to choose between what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong. And that choice is always in the context of eternal life.
Pope Francis reminded the faithful that there is a living and personal element to temptation. In the Book of Genesis, the temptation that led to Adam and Eve’s betrayal of God’s love began with the presence of the devil. Temptation came, we might say, not from somewhere but from someone.
Pope Francis, in his talk, reminded the faithful that the personal presence of the devil is made clear also in the life of Jesus. He began His ministry with a first struggle in the wilderness with Satan who tried but was defeated in his effort to tempt Jesus in His humanity that He shares with us.
The Gospel recounting of that encounter reminds us that the devil is real and alive. That profound truth runs counter to much of the modern mindset. As the Holy Father stated, “At a certain cultural level, it is held that (the devil) simply does not exist. He would be a symbol of the collective subconscious, or alienation; in short, a metaphor. But ‘the cleverest ruse of the devil is to persuade you he does not exist!’, as someone wrote (Charles Baudelaire).”
To acknowledge the reality of the devil is also to accept that we are contending with a fallen angel who watches us, knows our weaknesses and who seeks to pull us away from God.
Pope Francis urged the use of two great means to overcome temptation. The first is recourse to prayer. As the Holy Father said, “Raise your heart to the Lord, pray to Our Lady and banish him [Satan], just as Jesus taught us how to banish him.”
Prayer in the moment of trial can be difficult of course. But it is by no means impossible. It is most effective when it is joined to prayer prior to temptation, prayer in a moment of calm. That happens when we examine ourselves and our consciences regularly. By that means we can often identify our own weaknesses and at that same moment pray for the grace to strengthen us against temptation.
Pope Francis’s second counsel is to implement what we pray in the Act of Contrition. That is to “resolve … to avoid the near occasion of sin.” How many times in regard to bad relationships, or the excessive use of alcohol, giving in to the use of drugs or, as the Holy Father explicitly pointed out, in the use of the internet to view pornography, does the trouble begin because of a failure to use our will clearly to say “no!”
Instead, like Eve in the Book of Genesis, we start a dialogue with evil. Just a little bit. Just one time. I can always stop. Maybe it’s not really so bad. And so the door is thrown open to the devil and his wiles.
Pope Francis concluded his talk with a word of hope. He reminded us, “Christ overcame the devil and gave us the Holy Spirit to make His victory our own. The very action of the enemy can turn to our advantage, if with God’s help we make it serve our purification.”
In other words, like all elements of suffering, temptation is not useless. Rather, God allows it because in turning to Him we are made stronger in our resolve, our love and our faith.
To understand and acknowledge the reality of Satan means we understand the true meaning of temptation. It also means that we grow closer to God each time, with His grace, we overcome temptation.
Catecheses on ‘The Holy Spirit and the Bride’
Give No Opportunity to the Devil; Trust in God
From the General Audience, St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Sept. 25.
Immediately after His baptism in the Jordan, Jesus “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Mt 4:1). … Jesus obeys an inspiration of the Holy Spirit; He does not fall into an enemy snare, no, no! Once He has withstood the test, it is written, He returns to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” (Lk 4:14).
In the wilderness, Jesus freed Himself of Satan, and now He can deliver from Satan.… It is what the Evangelists highlight with the numerous studies of deliverance from possession. Jesus says to His opponents: “If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mt 12:28). And Jesus casts out the demons, with the aspiration of the kingdom of God.
Nowadays we are witnessing a strange phenomenon regarding the devil. At a certain cultural level, it is held that he simply does not exist. He would be a symbol of the collective subconscious, or alienation; in short, a metaphor. But “the cleverest ruse of the devil is to persuade you he does not exist!” (Charles Baudelaire). … And yet our technological and secularized world is teeming with magicians, occultism, spiritualism, astrologers, sellers of spells and amulets, and unfortunately with real satanic sects.
… The strongest proof of the existence of Satan is found not in sinners or the possessed, but in the saints! … It is true that the devil is present and working in certain extreme and “inhuman” forms of evil and wickedness that we see around us. But … we cannot know with precision where his action ends and our own evil begins. …
It is in the life of the saints, precisely there, that the devil is forced to come out into the open, to place himself “against the light.” All the saints … testify to their struggle with this obscure reality, and one cannot honestly assume that they were all deluded or mere victims of the prejudices of their time.
The battle against the spirit of evil is won as Jesus won it in the wilderness: by striking with the word of God. You see that Jesus does not converse with the devil…. Either He casts him out, or condemns him, but He never converses. …
Brothers, sisters, never converse with the devil; when temptations present themselves…. Raise your heart to the Lord, pray to Our Lady and banish him, just as Jesus taught us how to banish him. St. Peter also suggests another means … vigilance. “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pt 5:8). And St. Paul says to us: “Give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph 4:27).
After Christ, on the cross, defeated forever the power of the “ruler of this world” ( Jn 12:31), a Father of the Church said, “the devil is bound, like a dog on a chain; he cannot bite anyone except those who, defying the danger, go near him … He can bark, he can urge, but he can bite only those who want” [1]. … Keep your distance: do not approach the chained dog.
Modern technology, for example, besides the many positive resources that are to be appreciated, offers also countless means to “give an opportunity to the devil”, and many fall in the trap. Think of online pornography … It is the devil at work, there.
… Awareness of the action of the devil in history should not discourage us. The final thought must be, also in this case, of trust and security: “I am with the Lord, be gone.” Christ overcame the devil and gave us the Holy Spirit to make His victory our own. The very action of the enemy can turn to our advantage, if with God’s help we make it serve our purification. Let us therefore ask the Holy Spirit, in the words of the hymn Veni Creator: “Drive far away our wily Foe, and Thine abiding peace bestow; if Thou be our protecting Guide, no evil can our steps betide.”
Beware, the devil is astute — but we Christians, with God’s grace, are more astute than him.
