Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
“I am Legion for we are many.” (Mark 5:9)
Since the beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis has been warning that following Jesus meant confronting the Devil. The life of every Christian is a battle against evil, just as Jesus had to struggle against the Prince of Darkness and his temptations. And what the Devil desires, above all else, is that we don’t believe in his existence.
What follows are some quotes about the Devil from our Holy Father Francis:
“The Devil is active in the church, drawing us into negativity, cynicism, despair, meanness of spirit, sadness and nostalgia.”
“Let us never yield to pessimism, that is the bitterness that the Devil offers us every day.”
“Although we must do our part, it is Jesus who battles the Devil.”
“The demon is shrewd: he is never cast out forever, this will only happen on the last day.”
“Satan is intelligent, he knows more theology than all the theologians together.”
“The Devil is a con artist. He tempts you to want what he can’t give. He tempts you to put your hopes in what will never make you happy.”
“The devil has made himself at home in church. It’s his favorite place to be.”
“Everything is based on appearances, convincing you that your worth depends on how you look or how much you possess.”
“Where does division come from? The Devil! Flee from internal struggles in the Church!”
Pope Saint Paul VI foresaw this a half century ago: “The smoke of Satan has entered the Church. He sows doubt, uncertainty, unrest, dissatisfaction, anger. It was thought that, after the Council, brighter days would come. But what came were storms, darkness, uncertainty.”
Some US bishops sow seeds of distrust. Pope Francis: “Those American groups, so closed, are isolating themselves. Instead of living by doctrine, by the true doctrine that always develops and bears fruit, they live by ideologies. When you abandon doctrine in life to replace it with an ideology, you have lost as in war.”
And a certain influential world-wide American Catholic TV network has made it its mission to spread doubt and division when it comes to our Holy Father. It feeds on an “us” vs. “them” divide in the US church. It labels entire segments within our church as “other.” This is evil. Francis has confronted this world-wide American Catholic TV network to no avail. Their anti-Francis campaign can only be described as diabolical, wrapped in a false cloak of orthodoxy and prideful piety.
The smoke of Satan has entered the church of God.
My name is legion. For we are many.
-Timothy J. Cronin