One of the other subtleties of satan is that he so cleverly works things
that it becomes part of the way we live in our day, to take life EASY.
DON'T EXERT, is the order of the day. Well, you may say, what's so bad
about that? When we don't exert, we do not have power to resist evil, nor
do we have energy to do that which is virtuous. We become like strands of
straw in a fast flowing river. When we do not put forth effort into life,
we become victims of every force in life. Every fad, every promotion of
the media governs our behavior. We do not have the energy to make
decisions for ourselves. Because satan has taken the world to be his own,
he governs it in the way that serves his purpose; he, together with the
demons under his charge, men and women who have given themselves over to him.
CONFUSE THEM! That is the order that satan gives to his legions. When the
mind does not know what to do or what even to think, satan has us in the
palm of his hand. We know what it feels like when we are driving along to
a destination and we become confused because we either took a wrong turn or
missed a road sign. Satan thrives on confusion. Hardly does our world
today recognize the darkness it has been put into because of the
manipulations of Satan in bringing mankind into a state of utter confusion.
What gives him special jubilation is when he sees that he has succeeded in
bringing confusion into Christ's Church. Through this, he has put a noose
around the necks of the faithful, for in the state of confusion, they do
nothing. Spiritual growth, evangelization, and the influence of the Holy
Spirit are brought to a halt, or, to a very slow pace.
Another subtlety Satan thrives on is the introduction of speed into our
daily living. HURRY UP! The mind and the will cannot work well when there
is the pressure brought on by our culture propelling it to speed everything
up. Our way of life is a far cry from that of our grandparents. In years
gone by, there was a more deliberated life. People were not so in a hurry
and so could take more time to think more clearly and to do things better.
It is an interesting point that, as we have with us fast foods, fast this
and that, instant this and instant that, we still complain that we don't
have time to do what is expected of us. "Hurry up and wait" comes to the
foreground quite often. How does Satan gain in all of this? When we try
to pray and when we try to serve God, it does not work when we do it in a
hurry. The mind and especially the heart need to be in a peaceful state if
they are to do their best in the service of their God. God is deprived of
so much when we try to give to Him what is His in a hurry.
The process of separating the faithful from their shepherd is also one of
Satan's subtle ways in gaining control of human beings and revenging
himself on God. He, amongst other means, uses the media to accomplish
this. There is the dissecting of whatever comes out of the Vatican for the
faithful. It is no business of the media, but the media makes it its
business and makes it very difficult for the faithful to give respect and
obedience to what the Holy Father as the Supreme Shepherd, wishes of his
flock. There is so much of the priest bashing going on. Satan has a major
part in this, and through it, prods people to lose reverence for their
priests upon whom in so many ways they depend so much.
There are many more subtleties, too many for us to go into now. From what
has been already put forth, it is clear that satan is shrewd and cunning.
He is pulling out all stops and making use of every one of his fallen
angels, as also people in our midst into whom he has entered, to bring
destruction to faith, to trust, to love, to obedience. We must be careful
not to become obsessed by him or his ways, for then, we, too, play into his
hands.
To counter Satan's strategy of subtleties, we have the strategy of Our
Blessed Mother Mary. We are told by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures that
Mary's strategy will ultimately win out. This is indeed hopeful.
Mary has been teaching us how to detect satan's subtleties and how to
become victorious over satan. This will be treated in the next issue.
NEXT WEEK: Part Four of the sublteties of satan