We are the Church, and from its beginning, the Church has been engaged in a real battle, one in which every single Catholic is involved. There are no non-combatants in this fight, and each of us either fights or else goes under. . .
The Church was founded to carry on the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, to carry on and share in His great fight and ultimate victory over evil. Our Lord’s work, the reason why He came at all, was to free mankind from sin, which is the power of evil, and to set us free as risen children of God. . .
There are two things that make us careless about sin. One is the loss of realization that each sin is an offence against Almighty God; it is one of us, in God’s full view, doing something God has told us not to do, or refusing to do something He has told us to do. The other thing that makes us too shallow in our detestation of sin is the modern tendency to ignore the devil as a real agent in the affairs of men. Deliberate sin simply opens one’s soul to satan and his action; that is the truth.
[Pope Paul VI said:] “We know that this dark and disturbing spirit really exists and that he still acts with treacherous cunning. He is the secret enemy that sows errors and misfortunes in human history. This question of the devil and the influence he can exert on individual persons as well as communities, whole societies or events, is a very important chapter of Catholic doctrine, which is given little attention today, though it should be studied again. Some people think a sufficient compensation can be found in psychoanalytical and psychiatric studies or in spiritualistic experiences, so widespread unfortunately in some countries today. It is true not every sin is directly due to the devil’s action, but it is true that those who do not watch over themselves with a certain moral strictness are exposed to the mystery of iniquity to which St. Paul refers, and run the risk of being damned.” . . .
In the Gospel, Our Lord speaks about the power of faith. The reason why faith is so extremely powerful . . . is that it is faith in Christ, and it enables Him to act in us and through us and to give us His spirit of power and love and self-control.
We should have the greatest possible trust in Our Lord and not be at all upset at the truths the Church teaches us about evil and satan . . . Live with Our Lord; be a Friend of His Cross and your share in it, and although the devil will snap at you, the faults he causes you to give way to will be small ones, and even were they greater ones, we have an antidote to them all . . . not a bronze serpent such as Moses set up for the cure of his injured people, but . . . Our Lord crucified and risen.
Sin is shaking hands with satan. But our life is hidden with Christ in God because of our faith, a faith which gives us the truth, and also moves us to repent at once if ever we fall away from our faithfulness to God.
