Lent Conquers Demons
One
On Ash Wednesday, the Church wants to remind us of the curse of original sin and the war it started. We are reminded that one day we will die, and return to the ground. Why do we need to be reminded of this? Not out of some morbid wish to ruin my day. Today, we are reminded that in the beginning, we humans listened to the lies of Satan, joined his fight against God. And all the effects of sin; discord, sadness, hunger, disease, and death, are all effects of our choice. “Because you … have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3: 17-19) Whenever I sin, I am contributing to the pollution of this good world. But despite our choices to turn away from Him, God wants to forgive us and bring us back to His love, and heal the hurt we have caused. But we continue to listen to the Devil’s lies. Let the Ashes today be a reminder of the importance of rooting out sin completely from our lives, so that on the day we die, we are passed from the arms of our loved ones into the arms of the Father.
Two
After being baptized , Jesus spent forty days and nights of prayer and fasting in the desert. It is no coincidence that Lent is also forty days: we are just imitating Him. In Luke’s Gospel we read, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil.” (Lk 4:1-2.) Jesus did not need to repent of anything in his baptism; instead of leaving his sin behind in the water, Christ takes on his shoulders all the sin of those who entered the waters before Him so to reconcile us to the Father. As St. Paul reminds us in his letter to Philippians, Jesus chose to empty Himself of his divinity when he took on our form as a slave. Now He is filled and led by the Spirit into the wilderness to find renewed strength and preparation for His ministry. And this ministry has one purpose: to win us back from devil. The devil is real, he is the only real enemy of humanity, and he is still working to get us to join him and turn our backs on God and do the things God has told us not to do. This passage reveals God’s antidote for humanity’s rebellion: the Sacraments, especially baptism, which fills us with the Holy Spirit. Through them, we are healed of the harm we have done to God, and ourselves. However, this healing is not all instant. The Spirit will lead us into the wilderness, not into comfort. We must fight sin and temptation and accept suffering and struggle to be fully healed, and lead others to healing. Lent is the time given to us to fight and defeat the devil this power. We must fight him with the weapons our Lord used: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.
Three
Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving are the Weapons our Lord uses to defeat Satan. His responses show us the logic of these disciplines when it comes to combatting the devil. The devil tells Jesus to turn the stones into bread because he knows Jesus is hungry. Jesus’s response demonstrates to us that though fasting may make us painfully aware of our desire for food, when done out of love and obedience, God will fortify us by becoming our strength. The devil then shows Jesus the glories and riches of the world and promises these to Him in exchange for worship. Jesus rejects this enticement because he is not attached to money or power. In giving alms generously, we overcome our love of money, thus disarming the power of the devil’s temptation. Lastly, the devil quotes scriptures, specifically Psalm 91, to get Jesus to reveal His relationship to the Father, to which Jesus replies, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” (Lk 4: 12.) Prayer creates bonds of intimacy with God that veils the depth or our being from the evil one, who can only guess at who and what we are. This Lent during our prayer, let us ask what is the devil using to tempt me? Do I realize that God has already provided it?!
Four
The devil and his demons prowl like a lion waiting for someone to devour. (Cf. 1 Peter 5:8.) Demons are fallen angels who, along with Lucifer chose their own glory and to serve themselves over serving God. This choice of perpetual self-exclusion from God boils over into hatred for His creation, especially those who bear His image and likeness. Therefore they seek to attack us through temptation to get us to sin. The temptation works because somewhere in the depths of our hearts we hear the seductive voice of the enemy saying, “if you obey God in this or that, you will miss out on fun, excitement, pleasure, etc. Therefore, do you own thing!” This seduction only works when we’ve accepted in our imagination that God can’t be trusted, and therefore must be disobeyed. This is a lie, and this lie leads to death. The enemy tempts us by appealing to our own desires. Our desires are naturally good, but he twists them so that we end up acting against the love of God or neighbor. He always promises enticements like sex outside of marriage, drunkenness, revenge, power, and money. We desire the pleasure they bring but end up destroying ourselves as a consequence by becoming selfish, vain, greedy, and shallow, devoid of love for others and willing to take comfort over greatness. We are too easily led astray and discover the outcomes only too late. Today, look at the things you are giving up not as burdens, but ways to win victory over the devil by victory over our own selfishness!
Five
Luke closes this section of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness with these words, “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee…”(Lk 4: 13-14.) This is how our Lent should end: with Satan defeated, and our souls filled with the power of God. Each of us has a battle to fight, a ministry to those in our life. And we have a territory that needs to be conquered and defended. The most important territory is our living rooms, where we can invite family and friends into a friendship of love and care. And we can do this for Jesus’ sake. The Catechism tells us, “In Jesus, the Kingdom of God is at hand. He calls his hearers to conversion and faith, but also to watchfulness. In prayer, the disciple keeps watch…only by keeping watch in prayer can one avoid falling into temptation.” (CCC #2612.) Is what I’m giving up for Lent truly going to open a place in my heart occupied by some thing that I have turned into an idol? Is something I’m giving out of my material possessions truly a generous sacrifice? Will my time be used more for prayer and silence with God? Do I want to share in the Lord’s Easter victory? Then today is the right day to plan and act for our own share in conquering demons this Lent!