Fr. Michael Williams

When I was on my ward rounds in the hospital a few weeks ago I encountered a lapsed Catholic. Nothing new there! But this particular chap -and he was friendly enough- proceeded to tell me why he was lapsed. Apparently, it was simply because evolution had proven the Bible to be false! In particular he was alluding to the creation account in the Book of Genesis. He seemed to have a very narrow understanding of Genesis.

The Book of Genesis, some of which we have heard today in the first reading, was never intended to be a science manual; it is simply a beautiful and poetic account of God’s creation written four thousand years ago in a primitive literary form. But despite it’s primitive format the Book of Genesis contains deep truths- namely that God has created everything out of nothing in an ordered way; that He has created man and woman in his own image and likeness, and that He has not abandoned humanity to the dark forces of evil, which seek to destroy humanity.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says of the passage we have just heard: ‘The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history…[and how] the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents’.

Within this account of Genesis we encounter, ‘the serpent, the most subtle of all the wild beasts’. Here we are introduced to the reality of a fallen evil principle operating within the God’s creation, that seeks to beguile and lead astray humanity with its whispering voice: ‘Did God really say you were not to do that’? As we know humanity has been led astray, and thus the fall of the human race takes place, where sin and death begin to take hold in human history. We can see the consequences of this fall from grace all around us.

Too often today people see the devil as a comic figure with horns and a pitchfork! Something like Man Utd supporters wear on their chest! But in all seriousness the fallen angel, Satan, is still ‘prowling around’, trying to whisper his way into people’s lives and draw us away from God. In a way he has been subtly whispering into the ear of the lapsed Catholic I mentioned, who says evolution had proven the Bible to be false!

It’s in the gospel that we see how Jesus shuns the deceits of the devil by constantly having recourse to God the Father. Three times Satan presents Jesus with a deceit, and three times Jesus rebukes him with Sacred Scripture which refers to God the Father.

This Lent let us make a commitment to draw closer to God through the Sacraments, the Scriptures, and the service of our neighbors.

Ultimately, if we stay close to Christ, the Vanquisher of Satan, we have nothing to fear and we won’t be led away from God our Saviour.