THE
DEVIL
He Works Like a Noiseless File…1
From
Chapter VII of
“I
Want to See God”
By
Fr. Marie Eugene, OCD
In
the drama of the spiritual life another personage plays a leading part: the
devil. Although his action takes place
in the dark, the penetrating gaze of Teresa has discerned its full
importance. Frequently she speaks of
him in order to draw attention to his presence, to expose his ruses when the
soul is at cross roads or in dangerous passes; to point him out, lurking
everywhere that there is darkness enough to cover him. For St Teresa the devil is not just a
mysterious, malicious power; he is a living being, well known because often
met, a personal enemy. We can profit by
her experience and her teaching in our study of the nature and the power of the
devil, the frequency and modes of his intervention in the spiritual life, the
means of discerning his presence and of resisting his attacks. 2
1. Mansions,
ii, Peers, II, 211
2. In
the works of Saint John of the Cross also we find many allusions to the devil,
as P. Lucien writes in the introduction to the Dark Night (Oeuvres complètes):
“Often he makes allusion to the role of the devil: rarely in order to make us
fear his extraordinary manifestations, and almost always to show his hidden
action, parallel to that of God (like a thief that follows step by step the
traveler that he hopes to rob at the right moment). Anyone who would collect
all the teachings on the devil, scattered through the work of the mystical
doctor…would have a rich treatise on Demonology, in which the general
principles would neighbour on the most searching psychological descriptions –a
rare thing” See the exhaustive study of
the Rev. Father Nilus O.C.D., “Demonio e Vita spirituale,” in Saniuanistice
at the Collegium Intern. Carm. Disc. While relying on Saint Teresa in our
succint study, we shall not neglect the rich teaching of Saint John of the
Cross.
A. The Nature and the
Power of the Demons
The
demons are fallen angels. When God created the world, He also created the angels,
pure spirits, beings of light endowed with intellect and will, in number
incalculable, all different, grouped in hierarchies, graded in perfection
according to their power and the light that constituted them, communicating
among themselves in the manner of spirits by a simple act of the Will. They
formed the celestial court of God who destined them to a participation in His
life.
That
they might merit this glorious destiny, God submitted them to a trial, of which
we cannot state the precise nature. The greatest among them, Lucifer, facinated
by his own light, refused to submit. He drew along with him in his revolt a
multitude of angels, perhaps the greater number.While the faithful angels found
in their submission to God the vision of Him face to face and eternal
beatitude, the rebel angels, fixed in their attitude of revolt by the
simplicity of their nature, found themselves for eternity in the hatred of God,
deproved of the sovereign Good and of infinite Love.
To
these angels, now become evil evil spirits and powers of hatred, God gave
permission to intervene in the world. They could thus contribute providentially
to the trials that men were to undergo, called to replace them in the celestial
court. With what power could the demons intervene in this combat? With the
power of their angelic nature which, in what constitutes it essentially, has not been diminished by
their fall.
In
that he is a pure spirit, the devil can dominate the inferior world of matter
and the senses. He knows their laws and reactions. He can move them to action
and use them intelligently for his own ends. On this score, all that man
possesses of the material and sensible –body, sense powers (sensibility,
imagination, memory) –does not escape a certain action or influence of the
devil.
On
the other hand, this fallen angel, although pure spirit, cannot penetrate into
the higher faculties of the soul unless the will gives him entry. He cannot
read nor directky act upon the thoughts conceived in the intellect. The will
too, is an inviolable and inviolate sanctuary, even in cases of possession
unless of itself it gives way to the devil’s domination.
The
supernatural world into which one can enter only with loving faith, is
completely closed to him. An evil spirit has however, a certain knowledge of
God and believes in spite of itself in the divine mysteries which torment it.
But the laws of the supernatural world that experience alon discloses, the
operations of God in souls, the spiritual relations of the soul with God, are
for it an impenetrable mystery.
Nevertheless,
by means of sensible impressions and images that are presented to the intellect
and the will and have normally an influence on their activity, the devil can
intervene indirectly in the activity of the soul and the spiritual life. The
sense image is sometimes so subtle, and the passage from the image to the udea
so rapid that the soul itself can be easily deceived and not suspect an
intervention of the evil spirit. Likewise, the devil can know the thoughts of
the intellect, the volitions and desires of the will, and even the supernatural
movements of the soul, if he gets hold of the written or spoken expression of
them, or succeeds in interpreting the sensible phenomena that accompany them.3
3. It is quite true that
oftentimes, when these very intimate and secret spiritual communications take
place in the soul, although the devil cannot get to know of what kind and
manner they are, yet the great repose and silence which some of them cause in
the senses and the faculties of the sensual part make it clear to him that they
are taking place and that the soul is receiving a certain blessing from them (Dark
Night, Bk II, xxiii, Peers, I, 477).
Consequently
as to the necessity of more violent warfare against that soul while it has not
yet all its supernatural strength and has not become dangerous to him. It is
thus that the devil, ignorant probably of Christ’s divinity, discerned
nevertheless the singular power of Jesus whom he approached in the desert with
temptations that he thought equal to his adversary. Saint Therese of the Child
Jesus relates that the mysterious illness of which she suffered at the age of
nine4 was produced by the devil who she said, wanted to take revenge
on her for the great harm that her family was to do to him in the future. The power of each demon is proportionate to
its nature, and as varied as its personal gifts. The evil spirits do not
present themselves as a hostile and uniform force, but like an army; formidable
certainly in number, but more formidable still by the distinct intelligent
hatred of every one of the enemies that compose it, by the multiple resources
and the particular power that that hatred finds in each one of them for
carrying on its malicious work.
B. Intervention Of The
Devil In The Spiritual Life
Among
the parables on “the kingdom of God” there is one that exposes the role of
Satan in the life of the Church and of souls. Our Lord says: “The kingdom of
heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seeds in his field. But while men
were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his
way. And when the blade was sprung up, and had brought forth fruit, then
appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the goodman of the house coming
said to him: Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath
it cockle? And he said to them: An enemy hath done this. And the servants said
to him: Wilt thou that we go and gather it up? And he said: No, lest perhaps
gathering up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Suffer
both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to
the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but
the wheat gather ye into my barn.” 5
3. Autobiography, iii, 49
4. Matthew 13:24-30
In few words, this
parable shows us the ways of the devil, his activity always on the alert to
counterfeit the divine activity and destroy it, his skill in profiting by
darkness to hide himself and the divine patience that permits the devil’s
action to develop at the same time as the work of grace.
I. FREQUENCY OF
THE INTERVENTION OF THE DEVIL
Every evening at
the beginning of Compline, the holy Church has us hear the exhortation of the
apostle Saint Peter: 6
“Be sober, be
watchful! For your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion goes about seeking
someone to devour.”
The
exhortation is urgent; it is repeated to us each day because certainly the
menace is constant. The hatred of the demons is violent and always on the
alert; they use any and every occasion to impede the action of God in souls.
The demons moreover are numerous, their resources are various; no one can
prudently think himself safe from their attacks. Such is the opinion of Saint
Teresa, expressed in many places in her writings. In her own spiritual ascent
there is not a stage where she did not meet them and did not have to fight
them. In the very first Mansions she
warns us: “As the devils intentions are always very bad, he has many legions of
evil spirits in each room to prevent souls from passing from one to
another, and as we, poor souls, fail to
realise this, we are tricked by all kinds of deceptions. The devil is less
successful with those who are near the King’s dwelling-place. 7
The first divine
raptures of the fifth Mansions stir up the jealousy of the devil and arouse his
fears for the future:
“I
beseech you, for His sake, not to be negligent, but to withdraw from occasions
of sin –for even in this state the soul is not strong enough to be able to run
into them safely, as it is after the betrothal has been made –that is to say,
in the Mansion which we shall describe after this one. For this communication
has bee no more than one single short meeting, and the devil will take great
pains about combating it and will try to hinder the betrothal. I tell you,
daughters, I have known people of a very high degree of spirituality who have
reached this state (V Mansions), and whom notwithstanding, the devil, with
great subtelty and craft, has won back to himself. For this purpose he will
marshall all the powers of hell, for, as I have often said, if he wins a single
soul in this way he will win a whole multitude. The devil has much experience
in this matter 8
6. I Peter. 5:8-9
7. I Mansions, ii, Peers, II, 210
After
the sixth Mansions, the devil becomes less dangerous to the soul:
Afterwards,
when he sees that the soul is completely surrendered to the Spouse he dare not
do this, for he is afraid of such as soul as that, and he knows by experience
that if he attempts anything of the kind he will come out very much the loszer
and the soul will achive a corresponding gain. 9
Yet
indeed in these sixth Mansions that the devil works furiously to counterfeit
the extraordinary graces; and that, with the permission of God and great
frequency, as Saint John of the Cross affirms:
“Of those favours which come through a good angel God habitually allows
the enemy to have knowledge: partly so that he may do that which he can against
them according to the measure of justice, and that thus he may not be able to
allege with truth that no opportunity is given him for conquering the soul, as
he said concerning Job 10 This would be the case if God allowed not
a certain equality between the two warriors –namely the good angel and the bad
–when they strive for the soul 11
The
highest divine communications, those that God Himself makes to the soul, could
not, however be known by the devil:
The
reason for this is that, as His Majesty dwells substantially in the soul, where
neither angel not devil can attain to an understanding of that which comes to
pass, they cannot know the intimate and secret communications which take place
there between the soul and God. 12
8. V Mansions, iv, Peers,
II, 265
9. Ibid
10. Job 1:1
11. Dark Night, Bk II,
xxiii; Peers, I, 478
12 Ibid
These
affirmations show us that the souls
that aspire to perfection are the object of his special attacks. Sinners, given
up to their passions, are an easier conquest; thus the devil rules peacefully
over an immense throng of souls that he does not disturb in any way. The tepid
man too is an easy prey. Only the fervent escape his influence, and it is
against them that his raging and prsevering hatred is let furiously loose. Of
this fury our Lord gives us an idea when He says: “And when an unclean spirit
is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth
none. Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And
coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh
with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and
dwell there” 13
The
offensive returns of the devil do not always obtain a like victory; but this
description given by Our Lord tells us the perseverance of his attacks against
those who have conquered him and whose progress can only increase the violence
of his hatred. The action of the devil
against souls eager for perfection is not, then, a rare event, reserved for hagiography;
it is normal and frequent. It becomes particularly intense “when the devil sees
that the soul’s character and habits are such that it is ready to make further
progress: all the powers of hell will combine to drive it back again,” asserts
Saint Teresa. 14
13. Matthew 12:43
14. II Mansions, I,
Peers, II, 215
Man was created to
replace the fallen angel; that is the foundation for the jealousy of the devil
in our regard. The divine plan will be realized in spite of all, and Wisdom has
forseen and organised every detail. It does not seem doubtful that, in the mind
of God, such and such a human being is destined to replace in the celestial
court, such and such a fallen angel. Can the demon, by some indications or
spiritual affinities, guess this particular design of God –if not for all
souls, at least for certain ones among them?
If we could affirm this, we could conclude that these souls have a demon
personally jealous of their grace, and hence especially bent on their loss.
Without going so far in a domain that scarcely yields itself to our
investigations, we can say that there are, between certain demons and certain
souls, affinities that facilitate temptations and make them more effective.
But
to conclude from these statements that the attacks of the devil will most
frequently take an external visible form, would be to misunderstand completely
his strategy. The devil is essentially a power of darkness. He works in the
dark in order to surprise and trick. The success of his activities to win fervent
souls depends on his cleverness in hiding what he is and what he is doing.
Hence he does not reveal himself by external signs except when constrained to
do so in order to counterfeit charisms or extraordinary graces that he wants to
discredit; or again when his hatred is so exasperated by repeated defeats that
he seems to abdicate all prudence and, letting fall his mask, shows himself
such as he is, in a powerless rage, so as to terrify still, if possible, by his
very presence. Such manifestations are then the sign of the soul’s victories
and consequently, of its sanctity. 15 Thus explained the visible
action of the devil in the life of some saints, such as Saint Teresa and the
Curé of Ars.
Very
rare, too, is a case of possession by which the devil, with the permission of
God, enters into a body and its sense faculties, and acts as its master. The
will of the soul remains free; but the body is withdrawn from its empire, at
least at times. The Church in her prudence exacts certain signs of the presence
of the devil before proceeding to public exorcisms. 16 Most of the
supposed possessions are reduced to the intervention of the devil in an
overexcited imagination, or in senses weakened by illness, or in temptations
given to melancholy.17
15. Life, xxxi; Peers,
I, 204 ff., where the Saint describes several manifestations of the devil, in
which he shows himself powerless and enraged.
16. We do not here have
to treat at length cases of diabolical possession, because they do not directly
interest spiritual life. In cases of possession, the devil by a special
permission of God, takes possession of the body and the sense powers and -without penetrating the will and the
intellect (unless the soul has let him) – exercises his empire by suggestion
and physical domination.
17. In these cases the
devil exercises his action by imaginary suggestion. At the beginning, making
use of the physical weakness of the subject, or a desire for extraordinary
graces, he suggests exhausting mortifications. The physical weakeness increasing,
he finds the sense powers a greater docility to his suggestions in the
imagination and to sense impressions that he produces.
Satan
can the better exercise his power in these souls, since the control of reason
in them is weaker. Debility of soul, often pathological, and temptations of the
devil are intermingled to such a point that it is almost impossible to
distinguish them. In this connection St Teresa notes, speaking of interior
words:
“Sometimes
–often indeed –this may be a fancy, especially in persons who are melancholy –I
mean, are affected by real melancholy –or have feeble imaginations. Of persons
of these two kinds no notice should be taken, in my view, even if they say they
see or hear or are given to understand things, nor should one upset them by
telling them that their experiences come from the devil. One should listen to
them as one would to sick persons….The real solution is to see that such people
have less time for prayer, and also that, as far as possible, they attach no importance
to these fancies. For the devil is apt to take advantage of the infirmity of
these souls, to the injury of others, if not to their own as well” 18
Rare
at all times, these external manifestations of the power of the devil seem to
be even less frequent in our day, perhaps because the charismatic graces are
less visible and especially because atheism so common today, and the apostasy
of the masses, assure, the devil a peaceful external domination 19
This exterior peace must not make us forget that within souls the struggle is
carried on hard and bitter, usually silent, daily, against this enemy that is
ceaselessly prowling around us and as Saint teresa tells us “works like a
noiseless file” 20
2.
MANNER AND PURPOSE OF THE ACTION OF THE DEVIL
The
devil, our enemy, tries to bring souls to evil by temptation, to hinder them in
their progress to God by disturbing and deceiving them.
18. VI Mansions, iii,
Peers, II, 279-80
19. Doubtless, however,
even in our time there are souls or even societies vowed to the devil,
professing to render him a cult or at least to serve his interests in the
world. These persons enjoy a certain power which makes them particularly
harmful.
20 I Mansions, ii, 211
a.
Temptation
Temptation
properly so-called is rarely the exclusive work of the devil. Ordinarily he
uses his knowledge of the dominant tendencies of a soul and his power over the
senses in order to make an image more enticing, to stir up an impression, to
intensify a pleasure, to quicken thus a desire, or make a solicitation more
attractive and more actual, so that it will invade the field of conscience and
win the consent of the will.
Holy
Scripture describes for us the temptation of our first parents in the garden of
paradise. The serpent – the most
cunning of the animals, notes the inspired writer – mixes truth and falsehood,
whets the appetite of their senses, feeds the pride of their mind, succeeds in
creating a kind of evidence and thus obtains the consent that consummates the
sin. Their eyes are then opened; but
the sin has been committed.21
Thus Adam and Eve lost the supernatural gifts of grace and the
preternatural gifts of integrity.
Under diverse
forms, temptation still remains the same, and sin produces like effects.
Apart from the first
three Mansions, Saint Teresa says very little of temptation properly speaking.
But she insists on the obstacles that the devil excels in creating in order to
hinder the soul from moving towards divine union.
b. Disquiet
of the Soul
Disquiet
of soul is the first weapon that the devil uses against a soul desirous of
perfection. Disquiet brings it to a
halt, at least for a while, and makes it hesitate as to the course to be taken. It paralyzes the soul’s activity, lessening
its resistance; and its accompanying terrors may even cause a definite
stand-still. But above all, this
interior disquiet can so envelop the soul in darkness that it becomes an easy
prey to the wiles and strategy of the evil one.
21. Genesis. 3: 1-7
Impressions in the
senses, phantoms in the imagination, irrational fears in all the sense powers:
such are the means that the devil uses to provoke and prolong disquiet. Saint Teresa [of Jesus] points out that,
with beginners, he instigates all sorts of anxieties about sacrifices to be
made, about the future, loss of health, and the like:
“For here the
devils once more show the soul these vipers – that is, the things of the world
– and they pretend that earthly pleasures are almost eternal: they remind the
soul of the esteem in which it is held in the world, of its friends and
relatives, of the way in which its health will be endangered by penances . . .
Oh Jesus! What confusion the devils
bring about in the poor soul, and how distressed it is, not knowing if it ought
to proceed farther or return to the room where it was before.”22
Elsewhere the Saint
says:
“Beware
also daughters, of certain kinds of humility which the devil inculcates in us
and which make us very uneasy about the gravity of our past sins. There are many ways in which he is
accustomed to depress us.” 23
Sometimes
also “when the mind is greatly distracted and disturbed” this is “produced by
the devil.” 24 Saint Teresa
had long experiences of this. She tells us how on some occasions the devil
“suddenly
lays hold on my understanding, sometimes by making use of things so trifling
that at any other time I should laugh at them. He confuses the understanding
and soes whatever he likes with it, so that the soul, fettered as it is and no
longer its own mistress, can think of nothing but thre absurdities which he
presents to it –things of no importance…It has sometimes seemed to me, indeed,
that the devils behave as though they were playing ball with the soul, so
incapable is it freeing itself from their power” 25
The
experience of Saint John of the Cross confirms Saint Teresa’s. In the Dark
Night the holy Doctor describes the tactics the devil uses to produce
disquiet:
22. II Mansions, I;
Peers, II, 214.
23. Way of Perfection,
xxxix, Peers, II, 169
24. Life, xi;
Peers, I, 70
25 Ibid, xxx, 198-9
As
he [the devil] sees that he cannot succeed in thwarting them in the depth of
the soul, he does what he can to disturb and disquiet the sensual part, to
which he is able to attain –now by means of afflictions, now by terrors and
fears, with intent to disquiet and disturb the higher and spiritual part of the
soul by this means, with respect to that blessing which it then receives and
enjoys…At other times, when the spiritual communication is not made in any
great measure to the spirit, but the senses have a part therein, the devil,
more easily succeeds in disturbing the spirit and raising a tumult within it,
by means of the senses, with these terrors 26
In
the Living Flame he sums up and completes the description:
“…if
perchance any souls enters into high recollection, since he cannot distract it
in the way we have described, he labours so that he may at least be able to
make it advert to sense by means of horrors, fears or pains of the body, or by
outward sounds and noises, in order to bring it out and distract it from the
interior spirit, until he can do no more and leaves it” 27
As
we see, the noise made by the devil can be external28 The agitation
that he creates this can extend into a whole group, to an entire town, and
affect very well-intentioned people:
“When
in troublous times, he [the devil] has sown his tares and seems to be leading
men everywhere in his train, half-blinded, and (deceiving them into) believing
themselves to be zealous for the right, God raises up someone to open their
eyes and bid them look at the fog with which the devil has obscured their path 29
These
words of St Teresa are an evident allusion to the commotion that the devil
stirred up when the first convent of the Reform, saint Joseph of Avila, was
being founded. The whole town became excited. Its council convened and called a
meeting of all the religious Orders. There was talk of nothing but destroying
the convent.
26. Dark Night, Bk II,
xxiii, Peers, I, 477-8
27. Living Flame
st. iii, Peers, III, 196
28. Saint Teresa writes:
On another occasion I as in choir when I felt a vehement impulse towards
recollection. I went out, so that the sisters should not observe it, but all
who were near me heard sounds where I was, like the noise of heavy blows, and I
myself heard voices near me as though people were discussing something. I could
not hear what they were saying and was not in the least afraid. (Life,
xxxi; Peers, I, 206)
29. Way of Perfection
, xxi; Peers, II, 92
The
Saint herself had suffered an attack of the devil who showed her all the
difficulties at once, without its being in her power to think of anything else
and made her pass one of the most terrible hours of her life. 30 The
devil had guessed the importance of the work that was beginning; and his zeal
for destroying it, appears to us today well justified.
c.
a liar and the father of lies 31
Disquiet
is a preparation. It creates an atmosphere favourable to the decisive action of
Satan, in the same way as recollection precedes and preapres one for the action
of God. The devil effectsthis decisive action by means of lies. Repeating the
words of Jesus , Saint Teresa calls him “a lover of lies and a lie himself” 32
With souls eager for perfection he will have no chance of success unless he
covers ebvil with the appearances of good. Dissimulation, lies, these are the
means that he could not do without; they constitute his whole strategy of
attack.
In
order to ensure every chance of success for his simulation, he depends on the
tendencies of the soul and its desires, giving to evil the appearances of the
particular spiritual good desired by the soul. Both the blind tendency and the
joy of the satisfied desire seem to impede all control of the reason. Hence the
devil gives consolations which will feed the spiritual greediness of a soul,
urging it to excesses in exercises of piety and in mortifications; or at
least will make it find the aridities that
follow spiritual joy so painful that it will be discouraged. Saint Teresa
speaks to us of the false humility suggested by the devil, which would paralyze
the soul and withdraw it from perfection.
To
counterfeit the supernatural graces of God is a more difficult task to which
the devil, however, does not fail to devote himself. There are a few
extraordinary favours that have not their counterfeit;
30. C.f. Life,
xxvi; Peers, I.
31. John 8:44
32. Life, xxv; 165
the
devil tries to reproduce their sensible effects as soon as he has observed them
33 Even if it is promptly discovered, the trick leaves an uneasiness
in the one who is its victim. Moreover,
the devil does not fail to orchestrate noisily in order to make it known, and
thus to cast a certain discredit and terror over all marvellous phenomena of
this kind.
If
the counterfeit is not discovered, it can draw the soul into errors of
considerable practical importance for itself and its entourage. It withdraws
the soul progressively from the action of God until, stripped of the spiritual
goods that formerly shone in it, falls into a discouragement that the devil
tries to aggravate so as to transform it into despair. In the Living Flame
Saint John of the Cross points out how the devil
“takes
his stand with great cunning, on the road which leads from sense to spirit,
deceiving and luring the soul by means of sense, and giving it sensual things,
as we have said, so that it may rest in them and not escape from him” 34
Here
too the devil taking advantage of the lights and devotion the soul once
received in contemplation, seeks to withdraw it from the dark night of the
faith in which it is united with God, and to attract it back to the activity of
the faculties which previously were refreshed by supernatural help.
Besides,
the devil is, in general, more particularly active in the periods of transition
which, because of the painful obscurity that reigns and the novelty of the
phenomena that are produced, offer him more numerous occasions and greater
facility to set his traps.
At
other times he takes cover under natural causes and little by little
substitutes his own action for them, which becomes thus progressively
malicious.
33 Saint John Of the
Cross seems to say that there are no extraordinary graces that the devil is not
authorized to reproduce:
When the soul has genuine
visions by the instrumentality of the good angel…God also gives the wicked
angel leave to present to the soul false visions of this very type in such a
way that the soul which is not cautious may easily be deceived by the
appearance that they bear, as many souls have been. Dark Night. Bk,
xxiii; Peers, I, 479
34. Living Flame, st.
iii, Peers, III, 93
For
the moment we do not have to state precisely these diabolical snares and counterfeits;
we shall come upon them again in dealing with the different Mansions. But this
is enough for us to guess how much attentive and persistant observation these
demoniac tricks suppose in their author, how much psychological penetration,
skill in counterfeiting, boldness in tempting. “Serpens erat callidor
omnibus animalibus. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast,” 35
says the inspired writer, speaking of the serpent that tempted Eve. This trait
is true of him still and renders him as formidable for us as he was for our
first parents.
C. Means Of Recognizing
The Action Of The Devil
The
tricks and deceits of the devil are often difficult to discern. In order to
limit and fix the use of public exerocisms, the Ritual gives the signs of diabolical
possession. In her treatment of extraordinary graces, Saint Teresa indicates
the marks that prove their preternatural origin. A detailed study would not here be in place. For now, let us
gather from Saint Teresa’s writings a few counsels that will help, in the
majority of cases, to discover the interventions of the devil in the spiritual
life.
I.
In doubt, the
Saint asserts, it is better to be mistrustful and wait:
“Both
with infirm and with healthy souls there is invariably cause for misgivings about
these things until it becomes clear what kind of spirit is responsible. I
believe too that it is always better for them to dispense with such things at
first” 36
This
distrust does not offend God who owes us proof of His supernatural action. It
will not harm the soul which, if it is under the action of God, will find in
this struggle a means of showing its virtue and of making progress. For “If they are of
35. Genesis 3:1
36. VI Mansions, iii,
Peers, II, 280.
God,”
adds the Saint, “dispensing with them will help us all the more advance, since,
when put to the proof this way, they will tend to increase.” 37
Time
is needed to observe the fruit of these favours, and it is especially by their
fruits that one can recognize their origin: “A fructibus oerum, cognoscenti
eos. By their fruits you shall know them.” 38 our Lord warns us.
2.
The first fruit that indicates the action of the devil is the lie. Saint Teresa
says:
“If
they [visions] come from the devil there will soon be signs of the fact, for he
will be caught out in a thousand lies.” 39
The false angel of
light cannot for long sustain his role without betraying himself in some contradiction,
whether through his ignorance of the supernatural, his exaggeration in telling
the truth, his use of the bizarre, or the particular lies that this “father of
lies” feels he must add to trickery doubly feigned.
This sign, the lack
of truth, appears very important to Saint Teresa:
“Unless it agrees
strictly with the Scriptures, take no more notice of it than if it came from
the devil himself.”40
3. The
interventions of the devil could not produce in the soul the effects of peace
and humility that the action of God brings.
Jesus said “learn of me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”41
Humility and the sweetness of peace are the perfume of His presence and the
sign of His direct action. The
devil, the enemy of God and deprived of Him, produces normally the contrary
effects. St. Teresa writes:
37. VI Mansions, iii, Peers, II, 280
38. Matthew 7:16
39. VI Mansions, ix; 317
40. Ibid, iii, 280
41. Matthew 11:29
“After
experiencing Satanic locutions, the soul is not in the least docile, but seems
both bewildered and highly discontented at the same time.” 42
And
again:
“But
he [the devil] will not be able to counterfeit the effects which have been
described, or to leave in the soul this peace or light, but only restlessness
and turmoil . . . It is quite certain that, when it is so (that the favors come
from God), the greater the favor the soul receives, the less by far it esteems
itself.”43
Through experience alone, can one grasp the
fully precise meaning of these words: light, peace, trouble, disquiet, employed
by Saint Teresa. And so a genuine gift
of discernment of spirits, a gift allied to experience, is generally necessary
to discern the action of the devil, not only in extraordinary phenomena, but
even in ordinary manifestations in which he lurks beneath natural causes, using
them subtly for his own purposes. The
saints were terrible to the devil because, from the first, their fine spiritual
sense discerned his presence and his action.
D. How to Combat the Action of the Devil
The
first condition for triumphing over the devil is not to give in to excessive
fear. Assuredly, he is an enemy to be
dreaded by reason of his power in the domain of sense and his cleverness; but
we must not forget his deficiencies, his ignorance of the supernatural world,
his powerlessness to penetrate into the higher faculties of our soul, and his
status as a reprobate, which allows him only temporary victories and leaves him
eternally conquered.
To let oneself be
overcome by terror of him would be as unreasonable as dangerous. The devil
cleverly has recourse to this wile to conceal his own inferiority and to lay
his snares. It would be to lose our advantages and increase his power and
chances of success, to fear him beyond measure. This is what
42. Life, xxi; Peers, I, 161
43.VI Mansions, iii;
Peers, II, 285
Saint
Teresa has taught us , with all the authority that her many contests with evil
spirits gave her. After saying that they tormented her very often, and
recounting some of their attacks, she adds:
“May
what I have said help the true servant of God to make little account of these
horrors, which the devils present us with in order to make us afraid. Let him
realize that, every time we pay little heed to them, they lose much of their
power and the soul gains more control over them. We always derive great benefit
from these experiences….The fact is, I realize so clearly now how little power
the devils have, if I am not fighting against God, that I am hardly afraid of
them at all: for their strength is nothing unless they find souls surrendering
to them and growing cowardly, in which case they do indeed show their power 44
This
scorn, so apparent to the devil, must be accompanied by prudence. And prudence,
when it has to fight the devil, will use the supernatural weapons that ensure
our superiority, namely the sacramentals; and of these, most especially holy
water, as well as prayer and fasting. As often as it can, a prudent soul will
refuse battle to the enemy, escaping his attacks by taking itself through acts
of faith, and humility, where the devil cannot enter.
Let
us say a word as to the arms that the soul must use for the combat, and as to
when it must have recourse to the tactics of flight.
I.
ARMS FOR FIGHTING THE DEVIL
a.
Prayer and Vigilance
Vigilance
in prayer is an indispensable means for struggling against the devil. Saint
Teresa says that one reason for which we ought to give ourselves to mental
prayer is that the devil no longer has as much of a chance for tempting us. If
the evil spirits “see that we are careless,”
“[they]
will work us great harm. And if they know anyone to be changeable, and not
resolute in doing what is good and firmly determined
44. Life, xxx1;
Peers, I, 207-8
to
persevere, they will not leave him alone either by night or by day and will
suggest to him endless misgivings and difficulties. This I know very well by
experience and so I have been able to tell you about it: I am sure that none of
us realize its great importance. 45
The
Church, to show the importance of the struggle against the infernal powers,has
approved special prayers: prayers for major exorcisms, exorcisms of Leo XIII,
prayer to Saint Michael after private Masses.
The
invocation of certain saints who have a particular power over the demons is
especially recommended. Prayer to one’s guardian angel is certainly
efficacious: he has been given the mission to protect us; and against whom
would he protect us, if not against the fallen angels whom he can oppose with
powers of his angelic nature and of the supernatural order.
b.
Fasting
To
the apostles who were astonished at not being able to cast out a devil, Our
Lord said “This kind can be cast out in no way except by prayer and fasting,” 46
indicating thus the special efficacy of fasting for the combat against the
infernal powers.
Hagiography
shows, in fact, that the saints who had a special dominion over evil spirits
were very much given to penance: Saint Basil, Saint Anthony, Saint John of the
Cross, Saint Teresa, the holy Curè of Ars
It
seems normal that mortification of the senses, on which the demons ordinarily
act, should first free us from their influence. By making us dominate nature,
such mortification renders us like the angels and thus confers on us a certain
power over the fallen angels.
c.
Holy water
The
Church has instituted the sacramentals, those rites or objects on which a
particular blessing bestows a special virtue
45. Way of Perfection,
xxiii, Peers, II, 99
46. Mark 9:28
for
preservation against the influence of the devil. Among the sacramentals, Saint
Teresa favoured the use of holy water:
“From
long experience, I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put
the devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They aloso flee
from the Cross, but return; so holy water must have great virtue. For my own
part, whenever I take it, my soul feels a particular and most noticeable
consolation. In fact, it is quite usual for me to be conscious of a refreshment
which I cannot possibly describe, resembling an inward joy which comforts my
whole soul. This is not fancy, or something which has happened to me only once;
it has happened again and again and I have observed it most attentively.” 47
In
fact she asks for holy water every time she is the object of an attack of the
the devil, and she chases him away. Here is an example:
“On
another occasion the devil was with me for five hours, torturing me with such
terrible pains and both inward and outward disquiet that I do not believe I
could have endured them any longer. The sisters who were with me were
frightened to death and had no more idea of what to do for me than I had of how
to help myself…The Lord evidently meant me to realize that this was the work of
the devil, for I saw beside me a most hideous little negro, snarling as if in
despair at having lost what he was trying to gain. When I saw him, I laughed
and was not afraid. Some of the sisters who were with me…I said: "If you
wouldn't laugh at me, I should ask for some holy water." So they brought
me some and sprinkled me with it but it did me no good. Then I sprinkled some
in the direction of the place where the little negro was standing and immediately
he disappeared and all my troubles went, just as if someone had lifted them
from me with his hand, except that I was as tired as if I had been dealt a
great many blows.” 48
The
Church, in the different prayers for the blessing of water, asks insistently
that power be given to this water “to put to flight all power of the enemy, to
expel this enemy with the rebel angels, to drive it away, to destroy the
influence of the evil spirit and to cast out the venomous serpent” 49
47. Life, xxx1,
Peers, I, 205
48. Ibid; 204-5
49. “Ad effugandum omnem
potestatem inimici, et ipsum inimicum eradicare et explantare valeas, cum
angelis suis apostaticis…omnis infestatio imundi spiritus abigatur, terroque
venenosi serpentis abigatur” (Ritual Blessing of Water.)
“I
often reflect on the great importance of everything ordained by the Church”
comments Saint Teresa, “and it makes me very happy to find that those words of
the Church are so powerful that they impart their power to the water and make
it so very different from water which has not been blessed” 50
We
can understand then, that what the Venerable Ana de Jesús desposed at the
processs of beatification, namely, that the Saint “never started on a journey
without taking holy water. She was greatly distress if we forgot it. And so we
all used to carry a little gourd of holy water, suspended to our cincture and
she wanted to have hers” 51
2.
TACTICS
To
fight with such arms against the powers of evil is to be assured of victory. But
the saints seem not to desire this struggle and do not seek it. The traveler
who crosses a desert infested with brigands does not try to meet them, even if
he is sure of defeating them; he is
concerned only with reaching the end of his journey. Neither does the soul en
route to its God seek out the demons that might stop it, or at least retard it
in its progress by causing it injuries. It stays out of their way.
An
excellent strategy is that of flight which shelters the soul from the attacks ,
the blows, and the tricks of the devil. One accomplishes this by moving,
through faith and humility into the supernatural regions where the devil has no
entrance.
a.
The exercise of faith or anagogical acts
In
the Epistle to the Ephesians, the apostle Saint Paul, describing the armor that
the Christian must put on for the spiritual combat, especially emphasizes faith
as a defensive arm against the devil:
“Put
on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For our wrestlying is not against flesh and blood but
50. Life, xxxi,
Peers, I, 205
51. Ibid. (C.f. French
Translation by P. Gregoire, Ed, de la Vie Spirituelle, note, p.149).
against
the Principalities and the Powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high. Therefore take up the
armour of God,m that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and stand in
all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and
having your feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace, in all things
taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the most wicked one” 52
In
the Dark Night , Saint John of the Cross has an apt commentary on this
teachings of the apostle. On entering into contemplation by the exercise of
faith, the soul, he says, disguises itself under a new livery. This livery made
up of the theological virtues, hides it from its enemies. It is the white
vestment of faith that protects it from the devil, for:
“for
faith is an inward tunic of a whiteness so pure that it completely dazzles the
eyes of the understanding.[265] And thus, when the soul journeys in its
vestment of faith, the devil can neither see it nor succeed in harming it,
since it is well protected by faith--more so than by all the other
virtues--against the devil, who is at once the strongest and the most cunning
of enemies. It is clear that Saint
Peter could find no better protection than faith to save him from the devil,
when he said: “Cui resistite fortes in fide.53 Resist him,
steadfast in the faith” 54
Faith
lifts the soul above the domain of the senses, over which the devil can
exercise power, and introduces it into the supernatural world, into which he
cannot enter. Here then, the soul is inaccessible to its enemy; and
consequently, safe from his attacks and blows.
In
his Souvenirs, Father Eliseus of the Martyrs, a confidant of Saint John
of the Cross, recalls that the holy Doctor used to recommend the method of “anagogical
acts,” or acts of the theological virtues in order to escape all temptations.
He gives us the teaching of the Saint:
“As
soon as the first movement or the first attack of vice makes itself felt…one
need not oppose it by an act of the contrary virtue
52. Ephesians 6:11-6
53. I Peter 5:9
54 Dark Night, Bk
II, xxi; Peers, I, 471
according
to the first method, but should have recourse immediately to an act or movement
of anagogical love which is opposed to the attack. By thus uniting our
affection to God, it happens that the soul –by elevating itself –quits the
things of earth, presents itself before God, and is united to Him. By this
fact, the vice, the temptation of the enemy are frustrated, the temptation
fails, the idea of doing evil lacks an object. The soul, stronger there-above
where it is loving, than the in the body that it animates, divinely withdraws
the flesh from temptation, so that the adversary no longer knows how to attack
it or to harm it; it is no longer there where it counts on striking and ruining
it. A marvellous thing! The soul seems then to be a stranger to the vicious
movement; near its Beloved and united to Him, it is entirely free from that
movement on which the devil founded his hopes” 55
Ordinarily
these anagogical acts can succeed in withdrawing the soul and lifting it to
supernatural regions only after some exercise in their use. And so the holy
Doctor added, according to the same author, that if it happens to beginners
that:
“in
spite of the anagogical act and movement, they notice that the vicious force of
the temptation is not completely averted, let them be sure, in order to resist
it, to have recourse to all the arms and considerations in their power…”
Saint
John of the Cross emphasized “the excellence and efficacy of this method” which
“unites all that strategy offers that is necessary and essential to triumph” 56
This
strategy, which secures at the same time the psychological advantage of
diversion and the supernatural help resulting from prompt recourse to God, is
easily put to practice once the soul has formed the habit. Flight from the
enemy will become spontaneous when the soul learns from experience its
55. P. Elisée des Martyrs, Souvenirs; c.f. Oeuvres
de Saint Jean de la Croix, Hoornaert translation, BK II, xxxix.
56. P. Elisée des Martyrs, loc.cit. Saint Therese
of the Child Jesus, too mentions desertion as an excellent means of conquering
the devil: “Sometimes when the temptation was very severe, I would run like a
deserter from the battlefield if I could do so without letting the Sister [a
religious who was the occasion of her temptation] guess my inward struggle…
“I spoke just now , dear Mother, of the flight that
is my last recourse to escape defeat. If it is not honourable, I confess, but
during my vovitiate, whenever I had recourse to this means, it invariably
succeeded” (Autobiography, ix 152)
beneficial
results. In the Dark Night, Saint John of the Cross writes of the purified
soul:
“When
it feels the disturbing presence of the enemy, then -wondrous thing! -without
knowing how it comes to pass and without any efforts of its own, it enters farther
into its own interior depths, feeling that it is indeed being set in a sure
refuge, where it perceives itswelf to be most completely withdrawn and hidden
from the enemy. And thus its peace and joy, which the devil is attempting to
take from it, are increased” 57
A
specialist in this method, Saint John of the Cross had recourse to it not only
against the attacks of the devil, but also against unruly movements of the
sense faculties.
b.
Humility
In
order to escape the ruses of Satan, Saint Teresa recommends especially the virtue
of humility . This virtue seems to enjoy as sort of immunity: in fact, it
excels in discerning the devil’s action and suffers no harm from it: “He [the
devil] can do little or no harm if the soul is humble,” 58 declares
Saint Teresa, speaking of locutions of the evil Spirit. And elsewhre she says “God
will not permit him to deceive a soulwhich has no trust whatsoever in itself” 59
Satan
is fixes in an attitude of pride by his revolt against God. He does not know
how to be humble nor does he understand humility. All his counterfeits, even
counterfeits of humility, always bear visible marks of pride. The person who is
humble, habituated to the sweet perfume of Christ, promptly detects them by
this sign. But the regions in which the humble man lives are not known to the
devil. He is ignorant of the reactions of humility; he is always disconcerted
and vanquished by it.
On
the eve of her profession, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus suffered attacks
from the devil
57. Dark Night ,
Bk II, xxiii; Peers, I, 477
58. VI Mansions, iii,
Peers, II, 285
59. Life, xxv, Peers, I, 161
“The
devil -for it was he –made me feel sure
that I was wholly unsuited for life in the Carmel, and that I was deceiving my
superiors by entering on a way to which I was not called…I cannot describe the
agony I endured. What was I to do in such a difficulty? “
She
sends for her Novice Mistress to come out of the choir, tells her of her
temptation and, she adds, “the devil was put to instant flight by my humble
avowal.” 60
There
is, under God’s grace, no adversary more formidable to the devil than souls
that are both weak and humbel, for:
“The
weak things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the strong and the base
things of the world and the despised has God chosen, and the things that are
not, to bring to naught the things that are” 61
Hence
Saint Teresa has no fear of the evil spirits in spite of the power they can
use:
“Not
a fig shall I care then for all the devils in hell: it is they who will fear
me. I do not understand these fears. “Oh the devil, the devil!” we say, when we
might be saying”God! God!” and making the devil tremble. Of course we might,
for we know he cannot move a finger unless the Lord permits it. Whatever are we thinking of? I am quite sure
I am more afraid of people who are themselves terrified of the devil than I am of
the devil himself. For he cannot harm
me in the least, whereas they, especially if they are confessors can upset
people a great deal”
To
chase off the terrors is not, however sufficient. We must recognize the
providential role of the devil in our trials on earth. Certainly, he can draw
us to evil, but, as Saint John of the Cross notes:
“It
must be known in this connection that, when the good angel permits the devil to
gain this advantage of assailing the soul…he does it to purify the soul and to
prepare it by this spiritual vigil for some great spiritual favour and festival
which he desires to grant it, for he never mortifies save to give life, neither
humbles save to exalt” 63
60. Autobiography,
viii, 119.
61. I Corinthians 1:25 f.
62. Life, xxv;
Peers, I, 165
63. Dark Night,
Bk. II., xxiii, Peers, I, 480.
It
is then to increase oir merits, to make our virtues more pure and more strong,
our progress towards Him more rapid, that God permits the devil to tempt us and
try us. 64
In
a vivid and powerful page, Tauler describes thus the advantages of temptations
and the means of conquering them:
“When
the deer is closely hounded by dogs through forests and mountains, the heat of
excitement brings on a thirst and desire to drink, keener than in any other
animal. Just as the deer is pursued by dogs, so the beginner (in the ways of
charity) is hounded by temptations.
Especially when he turns away from the world, he is closely pursued by seven
strong mastiffs, vigorous and agile…The more spirited and impetuous the chase, the
greater ought to be our thirst for God and the ardor of our desire. It sometimes
happens that one of the dogs catches the deer and puts its teeth into the stomach
of the beast. When the deer cannot get rid of the dog, it drags it along near to
a tree and knocks it so hard against the tree as to break its head and thus it is
freed….That is precisely what man must do. When he cannot master his dogs, his temptations,
he must in great haste run to the tree of the Cross and of the Passion of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, strike his dog, his temptation, against it and break its head. That
is where he triumphs over every temptation and frees himself of them completely”
(Sermons of Tauler, Monday before Palm Sunday, from the French of Hugueny,
I, 258)