Victor R. Claveau, MJ
Demons are fallen angels—evil spirits who follow Satan, the first fallen angel, who spoke the words that opened the gates of hell: “I will not serve”. Their assignment is to highjack us from our spiritual track—to help Satan lure our souls into darkness and death through our bodies and bodily senses. Demons, like angels, do not have bodies, but sometimes take to themselves a body or the form of an animal (for example, the form of a serpent or of wild goats living in the desert).[1] There is a veiled spiritual battle in the world between God’s loyal messengers and the demonic hosts, and we are their bone of contention.
Satan can appear as an angel of light and beguile those of us who have not developed discernment skills. Persons may be possessed by demons. A demon can gain control of a person and cause him to act in ways that are contrary to his will, even actions which might endanger his life. Demons attempt to entice men into sin and they are opposed to the work of Christ, who drove them out of possessed persons.[2] They frequently attack in groups and they are accustomed to abide in desert places.[3]
Just as the angels consist of archangels and other hierarchy, the demons have “principalities and powers,” and demon princes may have dominion over major cities when particular sins, such as homosexuality, lust, gluttony, drunkenness, witchcraft or spiritism may be prevalent in that area. Nations, as well as cities, can be gripped by demonic influence. In the same manner that angels can reach the heights of spiritual glory, demons can descend to the lowest dregs of hatred, bitterness and perversion. The demons’ sole interest is in tormenting us and dragging us into hell.
Although God himself is never a source of temptation, he permits demonic influence in our lives so as to bring about our spiritual virtue by testing us in this manner, just as he did with Job, so that the devil cannot say that God is unfair in disallowing the soul to be tempted in the same measure that God attracts the soul[4]. Temptation is the unavoidable result of freedom, and it originates in the world, the flesh and the devil. Once overcome by God’s grace and our will, it can be a tool which catapults us into sainthood.
Have you ever wondered if there is an evil counterpart to your guardian angel? Could there be a demon, assigned by the Evil One, who is responsible for the damnation of your soul?
Father John Hardon explains that the evil spirits seek to “…lead people astray from their faithful service of the divine majesty.”
“The devil’s strategy is eminently logical. He first approaches us with a suggestion in the imagination; this can grow into a specious reason in the mind; if dwelled on, it influences the will by motivating us to do something that is actually bad but apparently good. Thus deceit, hiding the real evil, falsehood, and cunning are basic to the devil’s technique. He never reveals his true intentions, but masks his purpose under various disguises. He adapts himself to people’s temperaments and character, even to their tastes. If they are meek and submissive, he tries to seduce them along self-effacing lines. If they are bold and headstrong, he urges them to evil under an aggressive guise. If they are worldly and pleasure-seeking, he will enter their door with temptations of the flesh. If they are prayerful and spiritual-minded, he will appear ‘as an angel of light.’ If they tend to be emotional, he adjusts his tactics to where his intended victims give least resistance to their passions. If they are intellectual, he will accommodate himself and tempt them to pride and sins of the mind.”[5]
“Not only are the Gospels explicit about the existence and machinations of the evil spirits, but they also state that their number is “legion,” which is a biblical synonym for an immense multitude. Some of the Fathers of the Church go so far as to speak of a “Mystical Body of Satan,” animated by Satan and his minions and composed of such human beings as are willfully co-operating in the work of the devil on earth. Their success then takes on superhuman, in the sense of preternatural, proportions.”[6]
“In the mysterious plan of providence, evil spirits are meant to serve a distinctive function toward mankind. Yet immediately we must distinguish
between the purpose that the devil has, and the purpose of God.
“The devil’s purpose is to seduce. He consciously and deliberately wants to lead people astray from their faithful service of the divine majesty. Consequently, his intention is always malicious. Everything he does with respect to man is wantonly evil. His purpose is to harm man, spiritually and supernaturally, and, if possible, eternally.
“God’s purpose, on the other hand, is always good. He permits the devil to tempt us but not to harm us; rather the divine intention is that, by resisting the evil spirit, we might draw closer to God. God allows us to be tempted in order to try our loyalty by giving us the opportunity to show our faith and trust in God; to test our virtue by giving us the chance to grow because of the struggle that this costs; and to prove our fidelity by resisting the devil’s blandishments and thus more generously serving God.”[7]
“The devil is very active in the world today, warns the Church, when she sadly admits that for many people it borders on superstition even to talk about the evil spirit as though he were anything else than a symbol. Yet, in our day as in the apostolic age, the devil is ‘the treacherous and cunning enchanter, who finds his way into us by way of the senses, the imagination, lust, and utopian logic.’ Those who take him lightly or smile at his existence are the easiest prey of what the apostle called ‘the mystery of iniquity.’”[8]
What can be done in order to resist the temptations of the Devil? The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) offers this help:
“The Christian begins his day, his prayers, and his activities with the Sign of the Cross: ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.’ The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior’s grace, which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father. The sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties.”[9]
The most powerful help against evil is the sanctifying grace received during the proper reception of the sacraments instituted by Christ. The Sacrament of Reconciliation enables us to recognize Satan’s attempts to subvert and strengthens our resolve. The Sacrament of Holy Eucharist is the most powerful weapon we have in the battle for holiness for, “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.”[10]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has also revealed the following:
“Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called ‘Satan’ or the ‘devil.’ The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: ‘The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.’”[11]
“Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels. This ‘fall’ consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter’s words to our first parents: ‘You will be like God.’ The devil “has sinned from the beginning”; he is ‘a liar and the father of lies.’”[12]
Scripture tells us that those angels who did not preserve grace but fell from their high state, together with Satan[13], are called fallen angels, angels of the devil, or angels of the dragon.[14]
[1] Genesis 3:13-15; Is. 34:14.
[2] Mark 5:1-17; 9:16-26.
[3] Matthew 4:1; Luke 11:26.
[4] The Collected Works of St John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications), 1991, p. 452, (7). “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
[5] John A. Hardon, S.J., The Catholic Catechism, (Garden City, New York: Image Books), 1975, p. 89.
[6] Ibid., p. 88.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid., p. 90.
[9] §2157.
[10] Philippians 4:13.
[11] §391.
[12] §392.
[13] 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6.