Letter Six: The Enemy in the Streets
My Dear Family,
Why are matters of sexual morality so hard to talk about around our family tables and in our church environment? Why are we so quiet? There are various reasons. I find Catholics often are still hung up with embarrassment about their bodies, suffering from ancient misconceptions infiltrating the Church through gnostic ideologies that reject the goodness of creation. Another reason is that we live in a polarized world, affecting our families and our congregation, about sexual mores. Who wants the fight? Either way, fear rules; rather than face the issue straight on, we sink into silence.
We must realize that behind fear and silence is the faceless presence of Satan. We are embarrassed to talk about him as well. Our culture depicted him in a red onesie with a pointed tail and horned head, saw how ridiculous he looked, and then discarded him as a figment of our imagination. To speak of him as a reality is to be deemed unsophisticated. We freely speak of evil, but not of the devil. However, Holy Scripture speaks far more of the devil than “evil.” It is critical to know that Satan is the master of incognito; he doesn’t want people to be aware of him, to see him as he really is, or else everyone without exception would flee from his ugliness.
Just as we believe that all the goodness, beauty, and truth surrounding us is not random, but reflects the design of our Creator, so we cannot believe that all the evil, ugliness, and lies around us are mere random occurrences, but reflect the malicious design of Satan, the fallen archangel. By his fall, he lost all the powers and privileges of his original position; he can only work through deceit and fear.
My children in the Lord, our bodies are the arenas in which our life dramas are played out. The devil has no power to force himself on us; in this way he is said to be a “gentleman.” He must come through our invitation; his lies are the way he enters. His motive is envy; he cannot stand our happiness, so he constructs an alternative utopia, a “joy” apart from God, where he appeals to our senses, thus opening a way to enter in and to destroy.
But we are aware of him and are not afraid. By the power of God, we will protect our families and church, and go out into the streets in joyful love to help those in need.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. John Worgul
Takeaway
People seem to be more comfortable thinking about evil in the abstract, but Satan is our very real enemy, who attacks us through our minds and bodies, using fear and deceit. He wants to destroy us.
Discussion Questions
- When you notice evil in the world, do you believe it to be random or do you recognize it as the work of Satan? How might our response to evil differ based on these two perspectives?
- What are some things in today’s culture that we’ve grown numb to—things that might seem normal or even celebrated, but are actually harmful or spiritually destructive? Why do you think we’ve become desensitized to them?
- How does the enemy most often try to gain a foothold in our lives or communities today? Where do you see his influence slipping unnoticed?
- What helps you stay spiritually alert—not fearful, but discerning—in a world where deception is often subtle and normalized?