Category Archives: Spiritual Warfare

Our Happy Fault

Sin, Spiritual Warfare,

In his classic book, Orthodoxy, GK Chesterton quipped that Christianity begins with the doctrine of Original Sin, which, he says, “is the only part of Christian theology that can be proved.”  His point is that all men must agree on the doctrine of the Fall regardless of whether they profess it or not.  Each of us experiences tugs in different directions that reveal a war going on in our members.  As we near the close of Advent and prepare to celebrate Christianity’s beginnings, meditating on this most important doctrine can bear much fruit.

Any discussion on Original Sin has to begin by recognizing the platypus-like quality of man whose nature is a spirit/matter composite.  He is formed out of the “dust of the ground” that is animated by the breath (or pneuma, from which we get the word spirit) of God.   This leaves man with in a state of being tugged in two directions.  Like all matter, his material being always tends towards decay and death.  His spirit, because it is not composed of parts cannot be subject to decay, is immortal.  As a material creature, man will strive to preserve his material being.  As spiritual creature, man will always feed on truth and goodness.  Despite these incompatibilities there is also a mutual dependence of the various faculties in man.  The material depends upon the spiritual in order to have life and fuller sensation while the spiritual depends on the material in order to know and love.

It would seem based on this description that man, by nature, is at war within himself.  But the spirit/material composite of man is not merely some haphazard mixture.  The spirit has a certain precedence over the material and the material is in the service of intellectual knowing and loving.  This integration in man’s faculties means that the will perfectly follows the intellect while the material faculties such as the passions enable the will to act with a certain intensity that spills into the body.

Even with this integration in man’s faculties, there is still the problem of death.  Because the body is material and subject to decay, the spirit will no longer be able to act through it when that decay reaches a certain level.  This leads to a monstrosity of a soul separated from its body.  To alleviate what appears to be a fundamental “flaw” in human nature, God bestowed Adam and Eve with the preternatural gift of immortality; the whole person, body and soul.  This gift however was conditional.  It was conditioned on the fact that Adam always oriented his faculties toward God and His will.  This immortality was also a result of a share in God’s eternal life which is called sanctifying grace.

Summarizing we can say that, prior to the Fall, man was gifted with sanctifying grace at his creation and bodily immortality.  It is important to remember as well that the perfect integration of his faculties was a natural endowment rather than a supernatural gift.

the-fall-of-man

While we do not know what the actual sin was that Adam committed, we can say what it was not.  It was not a sexual sin like lust as is often suggested.  To suggest that is more telling of us as fallen men rather than Adam as unfallen.  Because he enjoyed the perfect integration of body and soul, it had to be a spiritual sin.  That is why most theologians think that it was the greatest of spiritual sins, pride.  What we do know is that when Adam sinned he lost the gift of sanctifying grace.  In trying to “be like God” in knowing good and evil, he forfeited the way in which he was actually like God (sanctifying grace).  For being like God was not something to be grasped (Phil. 2:6) but instead something to be received as a free gift.  This loss of sanctifying grace is called Original Sin.  In God’s plan, Adam and all his offspring were to be gifted with sanctifying grace at their conception.  When Adam sinned as the head of mankind, he lost that gift for all his offspring.  He also lost the gift of immunity from death so that he and his offspring were made subject to their material limitation (“For you are dust, and to dust you shall return”—Gn 3:19).

Because of the supernatural height, from which he fell, Adam also did damage to his nature.  This damage is what we call concupiscence.  No longer did he have the perfect integration of his faculties.  The intellect became darkened so that the truth became blurry, the will was weakened so that the good became less desirable and the passions ran amok, inclining man towards unreasonable pleasure.  In other words, man was left worse off for having lost Sanctifying grace than if he had not been gifted with it to begin with.

Why would God leave man worse off?  In short it is because man has a supernatural end.  He was made to be with God.  Because friendship can only occur between equals, man cannot reach this end on his own. Therefore God must raise man up by giving him a share in His nature.

If man was left with his natural faculties intact, he would tend only towards his natural end, which is virtue.  By leaving his nature wounded, God knew that man cannot even reach his natural end.  This experience of frustration leaves man to seek outside help so that when God reveals the path out, man knowingly will follow (this is why the Bad News always must precede the Good News).  God offers this help to mankind through Baptism where the spirit is given the gift of sanctifying grace.  This is why it is said to “forgive” Original Sin.  But the effects or stains remain.  He may endow the soul with actual graces in overcoming these defects, but he leaves it to us to heal from the effects.  It is like when medicine is given for a disease—it is not the medicine that heals, but the body itself.  The medicine simply aids the natural healing process of the body.  This is why the distinction between Original Sin and its effects is important.  We are given an initial “shot” of sanctity, but we must then struggle to grow the divine life within us.  The full effects of the Fall will only be healed at the resurrection of the body.

Viewed through our post-Fall lenses, it seems somehow unfair that we all lost the preternatural gifts because of the act of one man.  To that I would reply that it is just as unfair that the actions of one man should redeem us.  Looked at from a deeper level, we see that we have everything upside down.

This deeper level has to always be from the standpoint of Christ and His act of restoration.  His intention is to restore us as a single people, so closely united that we are referred to as His Mystical Body.  From the economy of salvation God does not look at us as a collection of individuals but as a single body.  This is the doctrine of the Communion of Saints—there can be no good done by an individual member of the Church that does not redound to the welfare of all.   Among the members of the Mystical Body there is a spiritual commonwealth of riches which includes all the wealth of graces acquired by Christ and all the good works performed with the grace of Christ.  We have difficulty seeing this because there exists so much division even within the Church, but it does not take away from the truth that God’s intention for mankind was for us to be one.  Therefore it ought to be very clear that God would deal with us as one.  Otherwise Jesus taking on a human nature to redeem all mankind would not make sense.  Through the Hypostatic Union humanity is now by nature united to God and we, in response, must now become a mixture of Christ nature (both human and divine).

In truth, the question of fairness should really enter into the discussion.  The nature that has been transmitted to us as offspring of Adam may be damaged, but it is still a gift that we have no right to.  If we have no right to our nature, then we certainly have no right to the super-nature that Adam had.  In the end, it makes little difference because maintaining the divine nature requires a period of trial for all of us.  Now God simply grades on a curve by giving us a share in Christ’s virtues.  That is something Adam never had and certainly more than levels the playing field.

 

Hidden in Plain Sight

Devils, Spiritual Warfare

There is always a great temptation that in growing familiar with a thing we may begin to ponder its meaning to little.  This is most certainly the case with the Lord’s Prayer.  When it comes to this prototypical prayer that Our Lord gave to us, we should marvel at its depth.  As a testament to its inherent depth, we find saints and doctors of the Church, when reflecting on the meaning of each of the seven petitions, coming up with different conclusions.  This ought to awaken an awareness in us that this prayer is meant to be contemplated rather than merely recited.  Praying without contemplation of its meaning is mere saying.  In order to combat this tendency, I would like to offer reflection on the last two petitions, namely “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil.”

Any reflection on these two petitions must first start with two fundamental assumptions.  The first regards temptations.  On a superficial level, it appears that Our Lord was implying that it was God who leads us into temptation.  But St. James in his epistle tells us: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted with evil and He Himself tempts no one” (James 1:13).  This means that it is not God Himself that tempts us, but ultimately all temptation comes from the devil.  This of course fits with Our Lord’s experience of temptation in the wilderness when the devil shows himself lord of the other two enemies of mankind (the flesh and the world) by tempting Him to turn the stones into bread and to receive all the kingdoms of the world.

This brings us to the second assumption and that is the fact that Evil is not some impersonal force, but has as its source a person (or persons).  The spirit of the world is one that is marked by materialism and scientism.  It views the world as a closed system in which given enough time we can explain everything through science.  God is then squeezed out of the picture as a superfluous hypothesis.  Even if He does exist, He is most certainly remote.  But there is a hidden effect of this spirit that we also often overlook.  If the world contains only what can be seen and measured, then there is also no room for the devil either.  Everything that happens has a material explanation (usually psychological) and the devil too is superfluous.  This “humility” of the devil allows him freer rein to orchestrate his plans.  He remains hidden in plain sight.  We demonize “the culture” or capitalism or socialism and miss the personal responsibility that ought to be assigned to the one who uses these things as means to carry out his diabolical plan—“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).  Properly understood then the last petition is always our pleading with God to protect us from the machinations of the Evil One; “deliver us from the Evil One.”

Although these are viewed as two distinct petitions, they are intimately related because of this link between temptations and the one who tempts.  It is instructive then to look at temptations in general and how it is that Satan tempts us.

Why does God allow us to be tempted?  In turning to the Book of Job, we find that the first two chapters offer us a great deal upon which to meditate.

The first thing that you should take note of is the fact that there is a great battle going on between God’s elect and the forces of the Enemy.  God is not actually a participant in the battle however.  No one can truly fight God because He is all-powerful.  He merely indulges Satan so that ultimately His power is shown through His creatures.  And this is one of the reasons why God allows us to be tempted.  It is for His glory.  Lucifer is the highest of God’s creatures in the natural order.  He is of the first hierarchy of angels, the Seraphim.  He and his minions are so far above humanity in power that it is as if a colony of ants (us) were fighting mankind (the devil and his minions).  Even God’s mightiest angelic soldier, St. Michael is from the lowly eighth hierarchy, the Archangels.  Yet, once the order of grace is introduced, these lowly creatures are made so powerful that they are able to engage these great powers in battle.  A lowly handmaiden is given Lucifer’s place in heaven and now puts on combat boots and squashes his head.  All of this shows forth the power of God’s grace.  To Him be the glory.

Each time we are tempted and overcome that temptation it ultimately serves as a reminder of God’s power.  It is as if it is our own heel that crushes the head of the serpent and pushes him back to the depths of hell.  We grow stronger by the infusion of the divine life in us and the Evil One receives a mortal wound.  We also grow in faith that God always does provide grace in the manner and time that we need it.

Secondly, we are tempted because this is a time of trial and purification for mankind.   Through temptations we are brought low and grow in humility.  This is the experience of St. Paul when he speaks of a “thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated” (2Cor 12:7).  They can also serve as a wake-up call when we fall that we are not quite what we were made to be.  Recall the Pharisee who recounts all his own works to God and imagines himself to be self-sufficient.  He needs a healthy dose of temptation to keep from forming too high of an opinion of himself.

temptation_of_christ

By instructing us to pray “lead us not into temptation” Our Lord was first of all reminding us that ultimately we are powerless in the face of temptation.  It is an act of humility to utter the words.  But because we live in a season of testing, we ask God to remember our weakness when He does give the devil room to work.  We ask Him to limit the amount of power Satan exercises upon us and to give us the grace to overcome them so that they cease to be actual temptations.  We see this as God limits the space that Satan has in working against Job.  The first set of evils he visits upon Job are not allowed to “touch his person” (Job 1:12) and the second he must “spare his life” (Job 2:6).

The petition to be delivered from Evil is not merely a request that we be blindly protected from the ploys of the Evil One but that we are able to recognize them for what they are.  Many people fail to recognize the “ordinary” ways in which the devil is active in their lives.  They may believe in extraordinary demonic manifestations like possession, obsession and oppression, but do not realize that there is an ordinary form of demonic activity to which we are all subject.  We can make tremendous strides in our spiritual journey when we begin to see his ploys more clearly.  To that end, I find that there are four main categories into which they fall.

First there is discouragement.  Psalm 91:6 speaks of “the arrow that flies by day, for the matter that walks in darkness, nor for the ruin and the devil that is in the noonday.”  The great spiritual fathers have identified this “noonday devil” as discouragement leading to sloth.  The fact that it comes at noonday implies that one is already set out on the day’s work and that this devil comes during the heat of the day (i.e. when one is beginning to wear down) to convince the worker to give up the work altogether.

In our lives what this often looks like is that it starts with some idea or expectation of where we should be on our spiritual journey or how much fruit our apostolate should have borne at this point.  This is the “arrow that flies by day.”  Next comes the feeling of discouragement.  We find that it was really too hard to begin with or that we have been doing it wrong all along.  The temptation usually is not to give up altogether but to change something or to put our energies into something else that is “better.”  He can exploit our desire for growth by equating spiritual progress with change.  But discouragement never comes from God.  To arm us against the Accuser, the Advocate gives us the gift of courage to overcome the great stumbling block that discouragement can put in our path.

Second, the Evil One uses Division.  The Greek name for the devil, Diabolos, means “one who tears asunder.”  He does this by fostering division with those we are close to.  It usually starts with an accusation that we latch onto.  Once we are hooked on it, he then supplies us with reasons why they do it.  For example, a man is driving in the car and his wife is telling him to pass the car in front of him.  The devil is quickly there to point out to the man “she always does that when I am driving.”  Notice the absoluteness (always) of the statement so that there is an implication that she has a serious problem.  Once the man agrees with this, the devil then gives him reasons such as “she is so controlling.”  Now the man gets angry that his wife doesn’t trust him and she is left to fill in the blanks (again with the help of the Evil One) why he makes such a big deal out of such a small thing.

The antidote to this weapon of division is what I like to call “compassion in small things.”  It is an attempt to see things from other people’s perspective.  Returning to our example, the man might simply say “No she doesn’t always do that.  In fact she usually only does it when she is worried about being late.  She must be worried.  Let me reassure her.”

Third, there is distraction.  The primary goal of the evil one’s distractions is to have us lose focus and our sense of direction.  This happens in four main ways.  The first is to generate fear about the future.  This is a major theme in CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters.  The senior tempter, Screwtape invites his nephew to exploit fear of the future because all vices are future directed.  He says, “[G]ratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.”

The second form of distraction is to remind us of slights and offenses we have suffered at the hands of others.  For most people this temptation arises most often in prayer.  This is because prayer is a time of great vulnerability where we open ourselves to God and therefore can be a time when we are reminded of other times of vulnerability and when we were wounded.  The antidote is to remember that God is the ultimate vindicator of wrongs against us and to place our trust in His mercy.  This is closely related to the third form which is to play the comparison game with the situations of others.

If these fail, then there is always the pleasures available at the present moment.  A chief way this is done is temptation through curiosity and I believe the main weapon is the internet.  I think we would all be surprised at the amount of time we spend online each day if we were to log the number of times we stop to look at email, texts or Facebook.

Our Lord Himself called Satan, “the father of lies and a liar from the beginning.”  Obviously then the last form of temptation and the root of all temptations is deception.  As the father of lies, he will always tempt us to deception as well.  Usually this comes in two forms.  First is by equating information about someone with the truth about the person.  This is where we are tempted to label someone as liberal, conservative, gay, straight, etc. and assume that tells us all we need to know about the person.  We even do this with ourselves by assuming a label tells everyone else all they need to know about us.  We can label ourselves as “orthodox Catholics” without even considering those places where we are like the Pharisees.

Second is by tempting us to lie to conceal or avoid some pain.  This is almost always at the heart of every falsehood we tell as a thorough examination of conscience will reveal as our motive for lying.  It could be an attempt to shield us from the pain of being embarrassed about our past, the pain of disappointing someone or of getting caught in something we should not be doing.  Ultimately what we fear is the truth and the lies end up trapping us.  But only the “Truth will set us free.”

St. Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises says the devil is like a lover who tries to seduce a young girl or another’s wife; once his machinations are revealed the evil one is vexed and he flees.  Let us bring to light the trappings of the evil one by earnestly praying “Deliver us from Evil.”