The devil is in the details. That means something may look easy at first, but if minor details are not taken into account, then major problems can arise.
The devil is also in the water.
Recall Pharaoh let the Israelites leave Egypt. Then, regretting his decision he said, “What have I done?” He had just let his slave labor force go free. So, he went after them. Trapped, the Lord told Moses to raise his arms, and the Israelites made their way dry-shod over the Red Sea. When Pharaoh and his chariots went after them, they were destroyed.
Christian tradition has always seen this dramatic event as a prefigurement of baptism. The Israelites, the people of God, were saved by water, and Pharaoh and his soldiers who represented the world and the devil were drowned. So water saved, and water killed. It still does. Water gives life, and it takes it away.
Most of the earth is covered in water. And the whole world is under the power of the Evil One. Listen to John the Apostle:
We know that we belong to God,
And the whole world is under the power of the Evil One.
We also know that the Son of God has come
And has given us discernment to know the one who is true. (1 Jn 5:19)
Is the devil true? Is the one who Christ called a “murderer from the beginning” a real person or just a myth? The Catechism states, “Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy” (CCC 391). Scripture and Tradition have taught that this seductive voice is attached to a person, a fallen angel, we call the devil or Satan.
For centuries, as part of the Church’s baptismal rite, the priest would address Satan directly: I cast you out, unclean spirit, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Depart and stay away from this servant of God. For it is the Lord Himself Who commands you, accursed and doomed spirit, He Who walked on the sea and reached out His hand to Peter as he was sinking.
What an intense address. And why wouldn’t it be intense? The battle for a person’s immortal soul officially commences at his baptism. During that battle, the priest goes toe to toe with Satan. And what beautiful imagery. The one baptized sinks down into the waters, but Christ reaches out His hand to save him, while leaving the devil to drown.
The above exorcism was erased from the Baptismal Rite in 1970. It’s interesting: The rock and roll song Sympathy for the Devil hit the airwaves right around the time this particular exorcism was suppressed. Rolling Stone magazine once rated Sympathy for the Devil the 32nd greatest rock-and-roll song of all time. It was written by a band from England, the Rolling Stones, whose previous album was titled Their Satanic Majesties Request. The song’s author has stated Sympathy for the Devil has a “hypnotic feel” to it.
This is interesting because in 2014 the Church of England, the Anglican Church, started by King Henry VIII in the 1500’s so he could divorce his wife, removed the word devil from its baptismal rite. Anglican parents and godparents are no longer required to renounce the devil and his works, because according to the Church of England, to do so is no longer “culturally appropriate.”
And so, while fading-away 80-year-old rock stars from England are still singing Sympathy for the Devil, and laughing all the way to the bank, it would appear the Church of England also has sympathy for the devil.
Listen to a bit of the exorcism of the blessing of Epiphany Water, approved for use in 1890, but discarded in 1970:
We cast thee out, every unclean spirit, every devilish power, every assault of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect, by the name and power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and command thee to fly far from the Church of God . . . Presume never again, thou cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute the Church of God . . .
So, what is the lesson in all of this? The lesson is to not have sympathy for the devil. Satan has been condemned to being the prince of this fading away world. And that is his own fault. He’s not a victim. He made his choice. And you are not a victim either. It’s your own fault if you, a person with a God-given intellect and will, follow after the devil’s seductive voice.
Think about this: For all eternity Satan will be asking himself: “What have I done?” And so, while he has time, he does all he can to gather a slave labor force for hell. So, he goes after you. This is the intense situation in which you find yourself. This is what gives your short life on earth meaning and makes it an adventure.
But how can you beat the devil? How can you go toe to toe with Satan, an adversary with superior intelligence and power? Satan never sweats, he never gets tired. He never sleeps. On top of that, he has an army of demons. But what do you have? You have the water. You have the water which delivers grace. As St John wrote . . . the one begotten by God He protects, and the Evil One cannot touch him.
Not only do you have the water, you have the blood. St John wrote: “This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood” (1 John 5:6-8). We have the blood because Christ, after being baptized, did not remain down at the Jordan River telling everyone they were once saved always saved. No, the baptism was just the beginning, the preparation, the gateway for His climb up the mountain to Jerusalem.
When the Israelites were trapped at the Red Sea, the Lord told Moses to lift up his arms, and they all made their escape. But that was just the beginning of their forty years in the wilderness. At Holy Mass, the new Moses lifts up His arms on the cross where water and blood flow from His heart. But that is just the beginning of your escape. For He calls you to your carry your own cross and follow after Him.
So do that, but know this: Carrying your cross in a world that hates Christ is not culturally appropriate. But who cares what the culture thinks? The culture can mock, ridicule and persecute you—but it cannot save you. So take courage. Christ went down into the water like a column of fire and made it holy. And you have it. You have the water that saves life and kills death. You have the water which is the gateway to heaven.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
