A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent

by Reverend Father Bernard Fellay,
Econome General, The Society of St. Pius X

"THE LIFE OF MAN is a fight," said Job, in the Old Testament. St. Paul often compared the life of a Christian to that of a soldier. When we look at our lives. we can say from experience that life is a fight. We cannot receive the eternal crown, we can not reach the everlasting beatitude without pain, without a constant supervision of all our actions, because there are enemies who try to make us fall, to make us act against our own good and against God, who try to make us openly rebel against God, our Creator.

If we want to defeat our adversaries, we have first to know who they are, and secondly, how they behave, what their tactics are. The better we shall know them, the better we shall vanquish them. As in any battle on earth, knowledge of the enemy serves to play a great part in the victory.

When a general knows how strong the enemy is, and what plan he is preparing, it will be much easier for him to defend himself, and to win.

Who are our enemies?

Holy Scripture and all the Tradition of the Church tell us that we have three enemies: the devil, the world, and ourselves.

In the Gospel of today, the Church makes us attentive to the action of one of these enemies: the devil. St. Matthew describes three temptations of Our Lord in the desert after His forty days' fast. How the devil approached Jesus and how Our Lord answered. If Our Lord permitted Satan to come near to Him, and to tempt Him, that is to give us an example.

But before examining how the devil works, let us consider who he is. First, it is quite evident that the devil exists, and we find him mentioned in almost every page of Holy Scripture.

When we speak of the devil we speak of the fallen angels. The devils are angels: angels that have rebelled against God, that have lost all the supernatural ornaments given to them by God. They have forgotten the brilliant beauty of grace, they are no longer members of the heavenly armies, they no longer praise the Most Holy Trinity. They are fallen angels, separated forever from God, but they are and remain angels, their angelic natures still exist and act: they are still spirits. God's creation can be divided in two main parts: a spiritual and a material part. The earth, the seas, the stars, all plants and animals compose the material "world." They are constituted only with material elements, with matter.

On the other hand, the angels are completely separated from matter. They are spirits and compose the spiritual "world." Between them, in order to make His work complete and perfect, God created human beings, who are a mixture of matter and spirit—our body is matter and our soul spirit.

But let us go back to the angels.

The angels are only spirits and the fallen angels remain spirits, with all the power of a spirit. For example, they still retain an intelligence incomparably superior to that of man: in whatever act of their intelligence, they see all the conclusions that might be deduced from the principles, either in the speculative or in the moral level. They immediately see, I do not say "understand," but they see what they have to do, what they are doing, if it is right or not, and as they clearly see everything, all consequences of their acts, they are, first, absolutely reasonable, and secondly, once they have made their choice, it is impossible for them to change their mind.

And the Devil has not lost all these angelic powers. There is no possible comparison between the angelic and the human nature. The angelic being is far superior, no doubt about it, and thousands and thousands, millions and millions, of devils are our enemies. They try to kill our soul and lead us into hell. They hate God, they will all evil to God, but as they cannot in any way harm Him, they turn themselves against the work of God, the creatures, especially human beings.

That is certainly a frightening view of the world,—nevertheless, it is the truth!

But always remember that God never allows anyone to be tempted beyond his strength.

St. Augustine says that the devils are like dogs fastened by a chain. They bark, and they may bark loudly, but the only ones they can bite are those imprudent enough to be near them.

One must never listen to the devil. NEVER! Those who begin to argue or to play with temptation will fall. No discussion with the devil! Our first parents made the tragic demonstration of what happens when we try to argue with the devil. That is a very important principle: he who plays with fire burns himself ...

But let us examine the tactics of the devil: first, they look at our behavior, they check all our actions to see where there is a flaw, to see what our faults are. After that, they come to tempt us.

As they have absolutely no entry into our souls, in our intelligence and will, the spiritual faculties, unless we let them come in, they can only act on our sensitivities, on our senses, or on the passions.

They offer us attractive things, and suggest that we prefer them to God. Many, many people, nowadays more than ever, only think of material goods, of the riches and pleasures of this world. It is so easy after original sin to follow the appeal of our senses. That is the first temptation the devil tried to give Our Lord: "Change these stones into bread. You are hungry, why don't you eat ...?"

There are other people who are tempted by the spiritual goods, by the honors, power and glory. All these things, like material things, are good, but only insofar as they are desired and used with the right measure. Pride always comes to destroy the right order of things.

In the second temptation, Satan proposes to Jesus to do a wonderful miracle, "throw thyself down." By that act, Jesus would certainly have drawn the admiration of the crowds. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," was the answer of Our Lord.

St. Anthony, in the desert, saw the crowds of the devils on the earth, and he exclaimed: "O Lord who then can now be saved?" And he received as an answer that only the humble will be saved. Humility is the answer to most of our problems, and very often a single act of humility does more to establish peace than many other attempts.

When there is no humility, there is pride, and pride leads, finally, to contempt and hatred of God Himself, as Satan suggested in the third temptation, proposing himself as an object of adoration.

My dear faithful, that is the way the devil tries to hurt us. He always presents to us things that seem attractive, or makes them attractive, by arguing, or by exciting our passions. But remember that as long as the will has not ratified what is proposed by the devil, as long as the will defends itself against the temptation and fights, there is no sin.

There is no sin without the consent of our intelligence and of our will. If the act of the will fails, it is not a human act therefore it is not a sin, at least not a mortal sin.

Finally, how can we protect and defend ourselves against the devil?

First of all, with prayer. We need the help of the angels, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of Our Lord against the powerful devils. With the help of Mary we have no fear; under the protection of Our Lord Jesus we are always secure. Remember, the mere Name of Jesus makes the evil spirits tremble.

Secondly, reject immediately the temptation without any argument, just let your thoughts go to God; reject temptation firmly, with great determination. Make acts of faith, of hope, or charity; don't let your mind be occupied with temptation, for if you do, then trouble comes and one is much weaker in trouble and confusion; one doesn't see clearly anymore—when to go and what to do—and one follows the bad appeals of evil tendencies.

Thirdly, exercise the virtues, especially those contrary to our main faults and vices. This training will be a great help in the moment of temptation, because as a well-trained soldier will not be taken by surprise, so the Christian who is accustomed to fighting his faults will not fall so quickly into the traps of the devil.

Dear faithful, this is a short summary of what one has to know about temptation and the devil. I hope that you will lake time to consider these things very closely these next days: these points are so important and they will determine in great part the success of our battle against the devil.

Above all, and especially today we shall go to Mary and request her help and her protection; we shall put all our confidence in her Immaculate Heart because she has totally beaten the devil, and she will continue to fight him for us. And, at the end, as she says, "My Immaculate Heart shall triumph."

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.