I invite the reader to identify the historical and geographical context in which the following letter was written:
My dear Wormwood,
The most alarming thing in your last account of the patient is that he is making none of those confident resolutions which marked his original conversion. No more lavish promises of perpetual virtue, I gather; not even the expectation of an endowment of “grace” for life, but only a hope for the daily and hourly pittance to meet the daily and hourly temptation! This is very bad.
I see only one thing to do at the moment. Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, “By jove! I’m being humble”, and almost immediately pride — pride at his own humility — will appear.
If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt — and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don’t try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed. […]
Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape
Let the reader not be alarmed. This extract really does seem to be written by a “being from the depths,” and the missive applies to all times and places. In fact, this was the intention of Clive Staples Lewis, the British professor who wrote The Screwtape Letters, published in Brazil under the expressive title Cartas de um diabo a seu aprendiz [Letters of a devil to his apprentice].1
In the work, Lewis portrays in a humorous and satirical way the advice of Screwtape, an “experienced devil” who specializes in the craft of bringing souls to perdition, to his inexperienced nephew Wormwood.
In thirty-one letters, the most varied tactics of the infernal spirit are presented in order to deceive a young man – the “patient” –, alienate him from God – the “Enemy” – and lead him to hell, to the “miserific vision”, where Lucifer is treated as “our father in the depths”. The pages are full of notions of theology, anthropology and spirituality, which reveal the author’s deep knowledge of the psychology of human beings and diabolical temptations.
In his preface, Lewis points out two mistakes that people often make when considering infernal beings: not to believe in their existence or, if they do, to take an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. For this reason, the English writer concludes: “They [demons] themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”2 In order not to fall into such deviations, it is essential to know the Church’s teaching on the subject.
A balanced view
The existence of demons is considered a truth of the Faith, corroborated by abundant biblical testimonies from both the Old and New Testaments.This doctrine has been reaffirmed on several occasions in the history of the Church, from the earliest times. The Second Vatican Council alone, for example, makes eighteen allusions to the devil. So there is no way to doubt the existence of evil angels in creation without contradicting the Magisterium. They are very real beings, who prowl around us “like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour” (1 Pt 5:8).
However, we must not fall into the error, also very common in our day, of attributing to evil spirits an omnipotent and irresistible force. Those who think that the devil is a kind of anti-God with complete freedom of action over the universe are very wrong…
The Catechism3 teaches us that Satan’s power is not infinite. He is a powerful creature – after all, he has an angelic nature – but he only acts in accordance with divine permissions and cannot prevent the building up of the Kingdom of God. What folly it is to look to demonic forces to obtain some benefit or solve some personal problem! The devil never gives what he promises; he can offer benefits, but only in an illusory and lying manner.
“Anti-guardian angels”?
Less unanimous from a theological point of view is the thesis put forward by certain authors, according to which there is a “demon of perdition” for each person – an evil spirit that constantly tempts us, in opposition to our personal Guardian Angel.
We find this theological hypothesis formulated in Jewish literature since ancient times, for example in the apocryphal book The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs4 and in the works of the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria.5
The discovery of the Khirbet-Qumran manuscripts in 1947, when several valuable and ancient writings were fortuitously found, also brought to light a manual of discipline, the rule of the ancient Jewish faction of the Essenes. It mentions “two spirits” – one of truth and one of falsehood – that always accompany man on his journey on this earth.6
In the Christian literature of the first centuries, the thesis was accepted by renowned authors such as Hermas,7 Origen8 and St. Gregory of Nyssa.9 The latter argues that Satan, seeking to imitate the Creator who placed the presence of a heavenly helper at our side, appoints a perverse demon to continually lead us into error. For this reason, every man finds himself between these two spirits and has the power to make one or the other triumph. It is very enlightening to attribute to the prince of darkness this mania for parodying divine behaviour in everything, in his own way. In fact, there is nothing original about him at all…
Whether or not we have a “demon of perdition” by our side, it is certain that our enemies do not rest. We are tempted at every turn and, amidst the imminent risks of this war without quarter, we must know how to defend ourselves… and to counterattack. After all, as Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz10 taught, it is the weak who must always be armed so as not to be caught unawares.
Knowing the enemy
An indispensable prerequisite for fighting any battle is knowledge of the enemy and his tactics, of the field where the battle will take place, of the advantages and disadvantages of one’s position.
In our fight for perseverance, we have an adversary – evil – which is organized into different fronts: the world, the flesh and the devil. And the conflict takes place in the theatre of war within our own soul.
Weak human nature, corrupted by original sin, has to contend with itself, for “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh” (Gal 5:17). And as if this struggle against the disordered movements of our nature were not enough, we have moreover to contend with the world, sometimes in a struggle with men so evil and perverse that they seem worse than the demons themselves…
These two concupiscences would be enough to give us occasion for exercise in virtue through continuous combat. However, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, “this is not enough for the evil of demons.”11 And here is our third battlefront: the struggle against “principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).
The enemy onslaught
We have met the enemy. Now we look at his tactics of war.12
The Book of Genesis gives us a detailed account of the first temptation in human history, which led Adam and Eve to disobey God and incur the original guilt. From this account we can draw valuable lessons and clearly see the wiles that, in general terms, the tempter has used to lead people into sin throughout the ages.
Firstly, the Serpent makes a discreet insinuation: “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” (3:1).
The devil begins by moving the conversation in the direction that suits him. Thus, to people who are particularly inclined to sensuality or to doubts against the Faith, he will speak to them in general terms, without yet inciting them to evil: “Is it true that God demands a blind adherence of your intelligence to the truths of the Faith, or the complete immolation of all your natural appetites?”
We must never enter into dialogue with the tempter. And there are two ways of resisting: directly – for example, by speaking well of a person when we feel tempted to slander, or by making a public act of manifestation of faith when human respect incites us to be ashamed of Religion – or indirectly, which is especially the case in temptations that refer to faith or chastity, from which we must immediately turn away, we can win only by fleeing. Logical argument or frontal confrontation against these temptations would only serve to entangle us even more in the enemy’s fallacies.
On Eve’s part, there was no rejection; on the contrary, she began to engage in a dangerous dialogue with the Serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die’” (3:2-3). Consequently, the evil one found himself free to announce his fallacious proposal: “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (3:4-5).
When, through our own fault or weakness, we fail to reject the devil’s first insinuations, we are in grave danger of succumbing. Our strength weakens and sin becomes more and more attractive: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise…” (3:6a).
The soul then begins to waver and become troubled. A strange nervousness takes hold of his whole being. He does not want to offend God, but the panorama before him is so seductive!
Finally, if a person gives in to temptation in a serious matter, violently banishing the divine presence from himself, becoming an enemy of God and deserving of hell, shame and remorse assail him: “and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons” (3:6b-7).
The sinner, disillusioned and frustrated, has only one way out: to recognize his wickedness and ingratitude, and ask God for forgiveness.
Our preparation
But how can we prepare ourselves for this great war for our salvation? Of course, we cannot wait with our arms crossed for the enemy to approach and then take action.
The fundamental strategy and the weapons we will use to overcome temptation were given by the Divine General to His Apostles on the night He began the Passion, His most glorious battle: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Mt 26:41).
The castles of defence that withstand the most violent onslaughts are built in times of peace, so in periods of calm we must keep our eyes on the enemy, suspecting that he will return at any moment and preparing ourselves to resist. This vigilance must manifest itself in fleeing dangerous occasions, in mastering our passions and in renouncing idleness, the mother of all vices.
Along with strategy, we have the powerful weapon of prayer. Our perseverance in virtue depends on effective graces, without which any effort will be in vain. We must therefore humbly and insistently ask God to grant them to us.
We can count on the help of our Guardian Angels and the Saints in Heaven; we can count on the maternal aid of the Blessed Virgin, the one who crushes the head of the infernal enemy. So we must not fear: for victory in battle depends on the “strength [that] comes from Heaven” (1 Mc 3:19).
And if we are defeated in any battle, the powerful Sacrament of Confession can recover all the ground in our soul that the enemy boasted of having conquered. A true soldier does not surrender in the face of enemy machine-gun fire; when we are struck, we must then bandage our wounds, get up and continue the fight. Let us remember that the tempter rejoices more in the discouragement and loss of confidence caused by our faults than in the faults themselves.
In this great war, the decorations for heroism are in the shape of a cross, painted red for the blood of fighting souls who are guaranteed, at the end of the race, entry into the palace of the Heavenly King.
Finally, a very important point: enlistment is not optional… It encompasses everyone with the use of reason, men and women, of all ages, because, whether we like it or not, journeying this valley of tears means being a militant on a battlefield. ◊
Notes
1 LEWIS, Clive Staples. The Screwtape Letters. Uhrichsville (OH): Barbour, 1990, p.71-72; 75.
2 Idem, p.15.
3 Cf. CCC 395.
4 Cf. TESTAMENTI DEI DODICI PATRIARCHI FIGLI Dl GIACOBBE. Testamento di Giuda, c.XX, n.1. In: SACCHI, Pablo (Org.). Apocrifi dell’Antico Testamento. Novara: De Agostini, 2013, v.I, p.823.
5 Cf. PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA. Quæstiones in Exodum. L.I, n.23. In: Œuvres. Paris: Du Cerf, 1992, v.XXIV, p.101-105.
6 Cf. RULE OF THE COMMUNITY (1 QS 3: 18-19). In: GARCÍA MARTÍNEZ, Florentino (Ed.). Textos de Qumrán. 6.ed. Madrid: Trotta, 2009, p.52.
7 Cf. HERMAS. Le Pasteur, c.36, n.1-10: SC 53, 173-175.
8 Cf. ORIGEN. Homélies sur Saint Luc. Homélie XII, n.4: SC 87, 203.
9 Cf. ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA. La vie de Moïse. L.II, c.45-46: SC 1, 131-133.
10 Cf. CLAUSEWITZ, Carl von. De la guerra. Barcelona: Obelisco, 2021, p.442.
11 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Suma Theologiæ. I, q.114, a.1, ad 3.
12 This subtitle and the following one were based on the comments of Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, OP (cf. Teologia da perfeição cristã. 4.ed. Anápolis: Magnificat, 2021, p.279-282).
