From the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, immediately after His Baptism, Satan shows up, first to tempt the Lord in the desert and then in the demonic possession of suffering souls who shout out the identity of Christ. 

The Lord rebukes these evil spirits and casts them out with divine authority (Read Mark 1:21-27, 5:1-20, 7:24-30, 9:14-29).

These extraordinary phenomena reveal both the identity and the mission of Jesus. 

As the Son of God, He has entered human history to break the power of Satan, to rescue exiled humanity, and to reclaim the world for His Father. 

The devil knew the enormous stakes in this contest and therefore struggled mightily to deflect the Lord from His divine mission. 

Of course, Lucifer knew the odds are stacked against him; he is a fallen angel and Jesus is God. 

Nevertheless, evil will do its best to diminish the power of the Lord, claiming premature victory on Good Friday, only to be crushed in the glory of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. 

The presence of evil in the world

The Catholic Church, in accordance with Scripture, has always taught that Satan and his minions are fallen angels, created good by God, but now in prideful and perpetual rebellion against Him.

Ever since the Enlightenment, modern man, however, has often dismissed the devil as a medieval myth, created by the Church to explain the existence and power of evil and death. 

Nevertheless, Satan is real, an evil and dark spirit, who seeks to draw us away from God and down into the darkness of hell. 

We should not preoccupy our minds with the devil in an unhealthy or obsessive way, but spiritual prudence gives us a healthy concern regarding the dark forces arrayed against us.

We certainly cannot blame the Evil One for all of our sins and errors, but the genocide of the Holocaust, the scourge of abortion, the many wars and false ideologies which destroy millions of lives cannot all be explained away simply by bad human choices. 

Spiritual defense

The Lord and the Church have given us remarkably powerful resources to protect us from sin and evil and to combat the forces of the Enemy.

Baptism, the Mass, worthy reception of the Eucharist, Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, the Rosary, holy water, sacred images, and house blessings all aid us in our desire to live in saving relationship with the Lord and to avoid the temptations and traps of sin and evil. 

A humble and sincere Confession drives out the sway of darkness in our hearts with great effectiveness. 

The mission of the Church becomes clear considering Christ’s fundamental battle against evil.

The Church is not simply a social service organization to make the world a better place, as noble as that may be. 

The Church exists to extend the victorious salvation won for us in Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, so that every human being created by God comes to know, love, and serve the Lord in this life and to enter the eternal beatitude of Heaven.

The Church’s vast enterprises of evangelization, catechesis, celebration of the Sacraments, education, health care, service to the poor, advocacy for justice and mercy in the world — all of these ongoing and remarkable initiatives — have one purpose; to lead the human race into the saving arms of the Lord and to proclaim the dignity of the human person, created by the Father and redeemed in Christ.   

Christ’s saving grace

Satan and hell are real and powerful. The astonishing Good News of the Gospel is that Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven are infinitely more real and powerful. 

The Lord has already gained the victory for us, graciously offering everything we need to live in loving and saving union with Him. 

As Saint Paul so emotionally discovered in his life, this Gospel of the Lord contains the grace and truth of God Himself. It is for Christ that we live, love, strive, and suffer, knowing it is all worth it in the end.