Satan Exists, and Christ Defeated Him
Gospel Commentary for 1st Sunday of Lent

By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 8, 2008 (Zenit.org.- Demons, Satanism and other related phenomena are quite topical today, and they disturb a great part of our society.

Our technological and industrialized world is filled with magicians, wizards, occultism, spiritualism, fortune tellers, spell trafficking, amulets, as well as very real Satanic sects. Chased away from the door, the devil has come in through the window. Chased away by the faith, he has returned by way of superstition.

The episode of Jesus' temptations in the desert that is read on the First Sunday of Lent helps us to have some clarity on this subject. First of all, do demons exist? That is, does the word "demon" truly indicate some personal being with intelligence and will, or is it simply a symbol, a manner of speaking that refers to the sum of the world's moral evil, the collective unconscious, collective alienation, etc.?

Many intellectuals do not believe in demons in the first sense. But it must be noted that many great writers, such as Goethe and Dostoyevsky, took Satan's existence very seriously. Baudelaire, who was certainly no angel, said that "the demon's greatest trick is to make people believe that he does not exist."

The principal proof of the existence of demons in the Gospels is not the numerous healings of possessed people, since ancient beliefs about the origins of certain maladies may have had some influence on the interpretation of these happenings. The proof is Jesus' temptation by the demon in the desert. The many saints who in their lives battled against the prince of darkness are also proof. They are not like "Don Quixote," tilting at windmills. On the contrary, they were very down-to-earth, psychologically healthy people.

If many people find belief in demons absurd, it is because they take their beliefs from books, they pass their lives in libraries and at desks; but demons are not interested in books, they are interested in persons, especially, and precisely, saints.

How could a person know anything about Satan if he has never encountered the reality of Satan, but only the idea of Satan in cultural, religious and ethnological traditions? They treat this question with great certainty and a feeling of superiority, doing away with it all as so much "medieval obscurantism."

But it is a false certainty. It is like someone who brags about not being afraid of lions and proves this by pointing out that he has seen many paintings and pictures of lions and was never frightened by them. On the other hand, it is entirely normal and consistent for those who do not believe in God to not believe in the devil. It would be quite tragic for someone who did not believe in God to believe in the devil!

Yet the most important thing that the Christian faith has to tell us is not that demons exist, but that Christ has defeated them. For Christians, Christ and demons are not two equal, but rather contrary principles, as certain dualistic religions believe to be the case with good and evil. Jesus is the only Lord; Satan is only a creature "gone bad." If power over men is given to Satan, it is because men have the possibility of freely choosing sides and also to keep them from being too proud (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7), believing themselves to be self-sufficient and without need of any redeemer. "Old Satan is crazy," goes an African-American spiritual. "He shot me to destroy my soul, but missed and destroyed my sin instead."

With Christ we have nothing to fear. Nothing and no one can do us ill, unless we ourselves allow it. Satan, said an ancient Father of the Church, after Christ's coming, is like a dog chained up in the barnyard: He can bark and lunge as much as he wants, but if we don't go near him, he cannot harm us.

In the desert Jesus freed himself from Satan to free us! This is the joyous news with which we begin our Lenten journey toward Easter.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

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Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11.

Today's readings focus on the theme of temptation. The first reading tells the story of Adam and Eve's temptation, and the gospel reading tells of Jesus' temptation in the desert. What's intriguing about both stories is not so much what is used to lure people into state of sin, but how the nature of the temptations can help us define what faith really is.

When the serpent tempts Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of life in Eden, the serpent doesn't tell them that the fruit of the tree is particularly good. "God well knows," the serpent tells Eve, "that the moment you eat of it you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." In other words, the serpent told Adam and Eve that God was holding out on them, and that if they lived by God's direction, they would miss out on vital, life giving experiences.

In the gospel reading when Jesus is tempted in the desert, the devil comes to Jesus with a series of temptations that escalate each time Jesus refuses to succumb. For his final offer, we're told "The devil then took him to a lofty mountain peak and displayed before him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, promising: 'All these I will bestow on you if you prostrate yourself in homage before me.'" Jesus responds: "Away with you, Satan! Scripture says: 'You shall do homage to the Lord your God; him alone shall you adore.'"

The devil's offer to Jesus is not unlike the serpent's offer to Adam and Eve. Basically, the tempter asks us to trust him or her more than we trust the presence of God in our lives to make us happy and whole. And in both cases, the tempter implies that he has more to offer than God.

The sin of Adam and Eve is not greed. Their problem is not that they wanted too much, but that they settled for so little. They believed the lie that God is not enough to fill their lives with joy and satisfaction. Sin, then, has less to do with breaking a rule than it does with breaking our own hearts by attaching them to something that cannot satisfy us. Sin is trading the presence of God in our lives for all the kingdoms of the world. It's a bad deal.

Faith, then, means believing that God is worth more than what any tempter offers us. As we begin Lent and pay renewed attention to the state of our spirits, it would serve us well to ask ourselves what we have set our hearts on to make us happy. Is it money, fame, status or career success? These can all be wonderful things, but we know that by themselves they cannot bring the joy, generosity and compassion promised by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must demand more than that for ourselves.

If you're like me, the very process of spending more time in reflection during Lent is proof of this truth. If find myself invigorated by reminding myself of the rich quality of life promised to those who follow Jesus. The peace of Christ is far greater than the security of a robust bank account. God call offers us more, and challenges us to not be so easily pleased with the puny pleasures offered us by the many voices and influences in our society when the breathtaking reward of his presence is offered to us.

The link says: Fiest Sunday of Lent.