The Real World
June 28, 2023
Fr. John Riccardo
A friend of mine described the recently released movie “Nefarious” as something akin to C. S. Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters” on film. Another friend described it as “the gospel told from the other side’s perspective.” However one might describe it, I’d call it “must watch TV.” This is a very worthwhile movie to watch for sure.
One of the reasons why the good news of the gospel is not experienced as good news is because we so often either ignore or are ignorant of the bad news. In other words, because we don’t see all of reality as it truly is, we don't understand just how hopeless the human race is, how hopeless I am, apart from the dramatic rescue mission Jesus came to perform.
Americans don’t usually like bad news. Oh, to be sure, we seem to enjoy reading other people’s “dirty laundry,” as an 80’s song once put it. But confronting the reality of demons who hate and are seeking to degrade, enslave and destroy us…? Uh, no thanks.
Fr. Robert Spitzer, in his book Christ versus Satan in Our Daily Lives: The Cosmic Struggle Between Good and Evil, asks the question, “Why is this part of the story so important?” He answers, “As every prudent person knows, ‘Forewarned is forearmed.’ If there really is a calculating, dangerous, dark, destructive, and vicious evil force who intends us harm – even eternal harm – then we should want to know about it. If a terrorist is living in our neighborhood, wouldn't we want to swallow the bitter pill of knowing this fact so that we could do something about it, or would we rather pretend that he is not there until he goes away? The devil, like the terrorist, does not go away if we ignore him. Instead, he increases his influence, domain, destructiveness, and malevolent intent to seduce and goad ‘the unaware’ into his eternal darkness. Putting our hands in front of our eyes and insisting, ‘You can't see me!’ is a highly ineffective strategy for contending with a demon of remarkable intelligence and cruelty." Like “Nefarious,” Spitzer’s book is something worth picking up, so as to be well-armed for the struggle into which we have been born.
Another book well worth reading, and one of the best books I’ve come across on the spiritual world, is by Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP, entitled Angels and Demons: A Catholic Introduction. Drawing largely, though not exclusively, on the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, Bonino shines a bright light into the world that we inhabit, a world made up of so much more than what we can see with our eyes. Like Nefarious and Spitzer’s book, Bonino’s is both sobering and hopeful.
As for sobering, ponder this: “Our world is the battlefield for an eschatological conflict between light and darkness. Every human being is situated between two force fields, two worlds: he ‘belongs’ to one or the other depending on his moral choice and his adherence to their ‘spirit.’ Neutrality is not an option: the human person is either under the protection of God, who safeguards his authentic freedom, or else under the tyrannical dominion of the devil, which is a form of slavery … Above all, the demons reign and lord it over human beings. They ‘possess’ them. Indeed, by consenting to moral evil at the Tempter’s instigation, man delivers himself bound hand and foot over to his tyrannical dominion … This servitude means that man is alienated: he acts somehow under the influence of another who manipulates him and thwarts the profound impulse of his nature. He signs on to a demolition project, the purpose of which is death: the demons kill human beings and make them kill one another.”
Thankfully, this is only part of the story. The gospel proclamation, and the reason it is such good news, is that not only is God real but He is love and out of His love the eternal Son of God has become flesh for us, to do battle for us. And He has won! Jesus has defeated Death (it’s just not yet destroyed, but it will be for real one day). He has likewise defeated Sin and Satan, too (and one day for real will destroy them also).
Bonino gives us a beautiful and hopeful glimpse into Jesus and His mission: “This picture of the universal empire of evil would be rather overwhelming if it were not intrinsically related in the New Testament to the victory of Jesus Christ. Indeed, just as the New Testament reveals the depth and universality of sin only at the precise moment when it is pardoned in Christ, so too it insists so much on demonic domination only to highlight the victorious arrival of the kingdom … Our Lord Jesus himself described his mission as a Reconquista, an enterprise to wrest man from his servitude to Satan and to restore him to God. He came, after all, to ‘proclaim release to the captives …, to set at liberty those who are oppressed’ (Lk 4:18). He, Jesus, is the ‘one stronger’ who overcomes the strong, well-armed man—in other words, Satan—and despoils him of his goods. Jesus’ mission appears as a colossal and salutary exorcism, a vast clean-up operation, a merciless battle against the ‘unclean spirits’ … that disfigure the image of God.”
This week might be a good week to ask the intercession of our guardian angels, those ministering spirits assigned to us who even now behold our heavenly Father’s face (cf. Mt. 18:10). Through their prayers, and those of all the saints, may we be enabled to see reality as it truly is, to resist the devil (cf. 1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7) and to stay close to Jesus.