Come next weekend we’ll be assailed by Ghouls and Ghosts, Skeletons and pumpkin lanterns, trick and treaters and all the secular paraphernalia of Halloween. A world of fun and laughter that mocks the truth of Evil, and the forces of Darkness at work in the world. Be careful!! We Christians know that Evil and Satan are not fantasies but very real and dangerous.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that Satan’s primary mission is to lead us away from God and His goodness and to laugh at evil, so that we fail to take it him seriously.

Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote a fascinating book called The Screwtape Letters. (You can follow it on the Horizon webpage) It is a religious satire written from the viewpoint of a “senior devil” instructing his “junior devil” on how to tempt humans.

The book centres on the concept that while God assigns a Guardian Angel to each individual person, Satan must similarly assign a particular demon to counteract the angel’s guidance. It is an interesting idea, and one that has some truth behind it. You may have heard him whispering in your left ear at times: “No one will see. No one will know, go on it won’t do any harm, it’s only a small sin, etc.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that Satan was not alone in his rebellion against God: “Satan or the devil and the other demons are fallen angels who have freely refused to serve God and his plan. Their choice against God is definitive. They try to associate man in their revolt against God” (CCC 414).

Satan’s fall is further described in the book of Revelation, where St. John writes, “he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (12:9).

Beyond that, little is definitively known about the devil. It is a truth of faith that Satan and his demons exist,  Let’s be alert and aware.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus performs an exorcism of a possessed man and discovers a “legion” of demons (see Mark 5:9). A Roman legion at the time of Jesus was between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers. This means that at the very least 3,000 demons were tormenting a single individual! Wow!

Jesus also cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene in an episode that is briefly mentioned in Mark 16:9.

This seems to correspond with the very nature of evil, which has a tendency to act like a pack of wolves surrounding its prey.

But the good news is that God is more powerful than any legion of demons, ghouls, ghosts and the like. For example, Jesus mentioned the vast number of good angels at His command when he said, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) Jesus is saying that the Father can send down as many as 60,000 angels to help Him!

Now remember we always have our Guardian Angel at our side, but God can always send down more angels to us if we call out to Him in our time of need. Don’t forget you have friends in high places!

So even if a particular demon were “assigned” to tempt and torment us, especially in these dark nights of the Season of the Saints, we have no cause to fear demons, ghouls, ghosts or devils when we are living in close union with God. 

As St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (8:31) Let’s stick close to Our Lady and Our Lord! Beware the Devil prowls about seeking whom he may devour!

Fr David Jones OLW