©2019 Victor R. Claveau
Once upon a time, a few days ago in fact, Lucifer, the absolute ruler of Gehenna, decided to hold a conclave with all his demons and other minions. While he would never be satisfied with the number of souls he garnered during each instant of time, he was secretly gratified with the number of souls pouring into his realm. Not since the Protestant revolt, when his slaves, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli took away the accountability for sin, had there been such a flood of souls entering Gehenna.
He decided to chastise the demons who were slacking off in their responsibility to lure people into sin, and to praise those who were doing an exceptional job.
In order to motivate the slackers, he made vicious threats of retribution, and had them trembling with fear and hatred toward Christ.
At the same time, he knew that the vast majority of his minions were not the brightest beings in his world, so he singled out the most successful demon and asked him to give his testimony.
The demon pridefully told of his many conquests and pointed them out in the lowest reaches of Gehenna. There they were, in horrible visage, screaming in hateful agony as the unquenchable fires fed on them. Satan and the others applauded with glee.
This particular demon had been quite successful in luring Catholics into his net of sin and when asked how he managed to do so, said, “Well, you all know that Catholics have been the most difficult to subvert as they have the seven sacraments of the Church to sustain and protect them. The two sacraments that do us the most damage are the belief in the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confession.
“The belief in the Eucharist is easy to overcome. I just place seeds of doubts in their minds about this certainty, even in the thoughts of their priests and bishops. As you know, this doubt can grow into denial. This tactic has worked exceptionally well in subverting this reality among non-Catholic Christians. Fewer and fewer Catholics believe that Jesus is truly present in the ‘Sacrament of the Altar.’ This makes them easy prey. If we can continue to subvert this belief, we will reap a magnitude of souls.
“The second problem we have is the Catholic belief that Jesus’ priests have the power to forgive sins. This too can be overcome. I don’t deny that there is the Sacrament of Confession, I just convince these fools that they have all the time in the world; they can always confess their sins — tomorrow.”