Christmas Journey: The angel who opposes God

"Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous, as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning." 1 John 3:7-8

In our last meditation, we learned that we are in the midst of a spiritual war. Somewhere within our inner person, deep within our heart, the devil is constantly taunting us to fall prey of our disordered desires. He waits patiently for us to turn away from God. He preys on our moral weakness and is always tempting us to sin.

One of the places in the Bible where we meet the devil is in the book of Job. In this book, the devil is referred to as Satan. Satan means the adversary or the accuser. "Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God" (CCC 2851). His role in the book of Job is to destroy Job. Here, Satan seems to be a member of the heavenly court. But we know that, even though at some point he may have been part of the heavenly court, when he stood in fierce opposition to the designs of God, he was thrown out of heaven and is no longer part of God's kingdom.

When we first meet Satan in the book of Job, he is expressing concern over God's interests in human beings. He insists that human beings are all unfaithful to God in the end and would condemn God if given an excuse to do so. He claims that humans are ungrateful for God's concern for them.

John Calvin and Martin Luther, two of the early Protestant reformers, advocated for a similar view called "total depravity." It meant that no human action is ever devoid of sin because everything we will comes from a tainted heart, and not even grace changes that fact. The Catholic Church found a sort of middle ground, one that allows for the possibility of genuine righteousness, but also acknowledges human imperfection and fallenness.

Moral conscience, present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil. It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments. When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking (CCC 1777).

God insists that Satan is wrong. Job is a righteous man, and he proves that it's possible, in principle, for human beings to be truly faithful and righteous. Satan is so persistent that he asks God to give him reign to destroy Job. He argues that if God lifts his protection from Job and allows him to suffer, then he will turn against God and curse Him when things do not go His way.

God agrees because He was completely confident in Job's righteousness. Satan begins to torment Job with all kinds of maladies. Eventually, Job loses his whole family and all his wealth. His friends advise him to curse God, but Job stands firm in his righteousness. Job does ask God for an explanation, but he never turns away. God shows Satan that there is moral hope for the human race.

How do we react when we encounter suffering? If we are good people, who follow God and try to live a holy life, why do we have to go through struggles? Do we blame God every time something bad happens to us or our loved ones? Do we turn away from Him and begin to sin against Him? Or do we carry our cross, following the example of Jesus, uniting our pain to God?

When we are going through a difficult time in our lives, we need to grab on to God with all our strength. Otherwise, we are in a lot of danger to fall prey to Satan. The accuser uses our moments of weakness to lead us into temptation. The good news is that within our conscience, lives a delightful guest, known as the Holy Spirit. He is the opposite of Satan. While Satan accuses us and prosecutes us, the Holy Spirit defends us. The Holy Spirit is known as the "paraclete" which means the defendor.

When our inner voice is accusing us, we have to be careful because it could be the voice of Satan. Satan will make an accusation based on our unworthiness. For example, if we feel that we have sinned, we may think: "I'm not worthy to go to mass or communion because of my sin." This is Satan. Yes, we are all unworthy but God is merciful. We need to differentiate between the voice of the Holy Spirit that leads us to God and the voice of Satan that leads us away. Our ultimate decision should be to believe the Holy Spirit and not Satan, so as we walk on this journey, we move closer to the Father.

We cannot understand the mystery of suffering, but we should not allow suffering to open the door to sin. Sin is an explicit act, not merely a disordered desire that we cannot control. God is greater than the inner heart and therefore greater than that tempting voice speaking through our conscience. God knows the real truth about each one of us even better than we know ourselves. If we stay faithful to God in our conduct, follow His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight, then it doesn't matter what our weaknesses are. The evil one will have no power over us.

Holy Spirit, intercede for us and have mercy on us. Keep us away from the angel who opposes God.

Sources: 

1-The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible

2-Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)

3-"Entertaining Angels" by Mike Aquilina (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)

4-"Angels and Saints" by Scott Hahn 2014

5-"Angels Throughout the Ages" by Dr. Richard Bulzacchelli (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)