(Listen to this homily here).
The greatest work of Satan is fooling people into thinking he doesn't exist.
Here’s
an interesting fact about Satan. The
Greek word for devil—diabolos—means scatterer or divider. Did you catch
these words in the Gospel? “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and
house will fall against house.” “Whoever is not with
me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me
scatters.” A good rule of thumb—wherever there is
division—in a marriage, family, parish, workplace—there is evil lurking behind
it.
We
like to think of Jesus and his compassion, forgiveness, healings and
miracles. But we can’t forget that
Jesus often cast out demons. In
fact, Jesus’ ministry featured a war with evil itself.
Satan is real.
That is a fact, just as we believe angels are real. Satan and demons do exist and they want
to win souls away from God. And while movies portray evil in
terrific ways—possessions—Satan often works in more subtle ways.
C.S. Lewis captured this reality in his book The Screwtape Letters (I highly
recommend this book as we, too, battle evil!) when a senior demon instructs a
novice, “Don’t tempt a man with murder when playing cards will do.” In our own lives, we choose to reject
God not in major decisive acts but in small decisions, pleasures or wants.
Lent is a time to confront evil. Part of this confrontation is to
remember that evil exists. But the
most important fact of all—Jesus defeated evil. Through his victory we pray that we may be steadfast against
all forms of evil in our lives.
amen this is a good word about unity being so necessary. What does it mean by "don't tempt a man with murder when playing cards will do?"
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DeleteC.S. Lewis' point is that sowing discord in seemingly small, inconsequential ways is just as effective, over time, as are large, dramatic acts that shout "this is evil." It's precisely the strategy Russia and others used to swing our elections. Don't tamper directly with the ballot process; rather, plant lies and discord on social media. The influence is small and incremental, it builds over time, but the end result is the same.
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