Who is the devil. His power is limited



The devil is a personal being, real and concrete, of a spiritual and invisible nature, and who by his sin separated himself from God forever, "for the devil and the other demons were created by God naturally good; but they, of themselves, became evil". He is the father of lies, of sin, of discord, of misfortune, of hatred, of all that is absurd and evil on earth. He is the crafty and envious serpent that brings death to the world, the enemy that sows evil in the heart of man, and the only one we have to fear if we are not close to God. His only end in the world, which he has not renounced, is our perdition. And every day he will try to accomplish that end by every means in his power. "It all began with the rejection of God and his kingdom, usurping his sovereign rights and trying to upset the economy of salvation and the very ordering of all creation. A reflection of this attitude is found in the words of the tempter to our first parents: You shall be as gods. Thus the evil spirit tries to transplant in man the attitude of rivalry, of insubordination to God and opposition to God which has become the motivation of his whole existence".


The devil is the first cause of evil and of the confusion and ruptures that occur in families and in society. "Suppose, for example," says Cardinal Newman, "that over the streets of a populous city darkness were suddenly to fall; you can imagine, without my telling you, the noise and clamor that would ensue. Passers-by, carriages, carriages, carriages, horses, all would be mixed together. Such is the state of the world. The evil spirit that acts upon the children of unbelief, the god of this world, as St. Paul says, has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, and behold, they are forced to quarrel and argue because they have lost their way; and they dispute with one another, saying one this and another that, because they do not see".

In his temptations, the devil uses deception, since he can only present false goods and a fictitious happiness, which always turns into loneliness and bitterness. Outside of God there is, there cannot be, neither true good nor true happiness. Outside of God there is only darkness, emptiness and the greatest sadness. But the power of the devil is limited, and he too is under the dominion and sovereignty of God, who is the only Lord of the universe.

The devil - nor the angel - does not penetrate our intimacy if we do not want him to. "The unclean spirits cannot know the nature of our thoughts. They can only glimpse them by means of sensible indications, or by examining our dispositions, our words, or the things towards which they perceive a propensity on our part. On the other hand, what we have not externalized and remains hidden in our souls, is totally inaccessible to them. Even the very thoughts they suggest to us, the reception we give them, the reaction they cause in us, all this they do not know by the very essence of the soul (...) but, in any case, by external movements and manifestations".

The devil cannot violate our freedom to incline it towards evil. "It is a certain fact that the devil can seduce no one, except he who freely gives him the consent of his will".

The holy Curé of Ars says that "the devil is a great chained dog, who harasses, who makes a lot of noise, but who only bites those who come too close to him ".  However, "no human power can compare with his, and only divine power can overcome him, and only divine light can unmask his wiles.

"The soul that overcomes the power of the devil will not be able to do so without prayer, nor will it be able to understand his deceptions without mortification and humility".