Fr. Michael Williams

Today’s readings reveal to us the spiritual battle between God and satan.

We need to remind ourselves who God is and who satan is. The Bible tells us that ‘God is love’. God has always existed and always will exist. Before He created anything God existed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a perfect communion of love. Out of His love and goodness God created ‘heaven and earth’. God created spiritual things and earthly things; He created angels and men and women; He created animals, plants, etc. The book of Genesis tells us that God looked at His creation and saw that it was good.

But the Bible also tells us of an evil force that exists. We call it satan or the devil. Where did this evil come from if God only creates good things? God alone is the all perfect Being. Any being which is not God has the potential to become imperfect. God created the angels. Beautiful purely spiritual beings with a far more powerful intelligence and will than a human being because they are pure spirit. The Sacred Scriptures tell us that a significant number of these good angels created by God, through their own will and intelligence, rebelled against God. And they fell and what a fall they had. The book of Revelation reveals some of this to us. We are told ‘war broke out in Heaven (the spiritual realm), when Michael and his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him’.

In any battle the opponents contest something. In the battle between God and satan they are contesting humanity. God wants to save humanity; satan wants to destroy humanity.

In this battle we are not powerless victims. We can choose which side we are on.

The Son of God, Jesus, came down from Heaven to rescue us from the power of death. Jesus did not come down from Heaven just to see what the crack was?

In the first reading from Genesis we are told that God made man and woman; and He made them to enjoy His splendour and His creation.