Chapter 7 - The Devil

​This is one of the longest chapters in the book. There is a reason for this. One cannot make progress in the spiritual life unless one knows the enemy. This enemy does not want our progress. The devil hates God and therefore those who strive to love God. If we do not wake up each day and live our day knowing that we are entering into a spiritual battleground – then we will have many pitfalls and possibly be overcome by giving up the fight – not knowing that we were even in a battle!
St. Teresa did not view the devil as some mysterious, malicious power but a living being. She knew him on a personal level. In this chapter we will learn from her experience and her teaching about the nature and the power of the devil, the frequency and the modes of his intervention in the spiritual life, the means of discerning his presence and of resisting his attacks.

1. NATURE AND POWER OF THE DEMONS

The demons are fallen angels. They are created by God with an intellect and a will. They were formed by God with different levels of power and light and all were destined to participate in His life for all eternity in Heaven. They were given a trial of their love and servitude to God. Lucifer led in the rebellion of not serving God and many followed. They were cast from Heaven and found themselves for eternity in the hatred of God, deprived of the sovereign Good and of infinite Love.
To these angels which are now evil spirits filled with hatred for God, God had given permission to intervene in the world. Since they are pure spirits, Satan and his angels can dominate the inferior world of matter and the senses. The devil knows the laws and reactions of the world. He can move them to action and use them intelligently for his own ends. It must be known that the fallen angels cannot penetrate into the higher faculties of the soul unless the will gives one entry. The spiritual relations of the soul with God are for them an impenetrable mystery. But by means of sensible impressions and images that are presented to the intellect and the will and have normally an influence on their activity, the devil can intervene indirectly in the activity of the soul and the spiritual life. These can be so subtle and so rapid that the soul can be easily deceived and not suspect the activity of an evil spirit.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus relates that the mysterious illness from which she suffered at the age of nine, was produced by the devil who, she said, wanted to take revenge on her for the great harm that her family was to do to him in the future.

1. INTERVENTION OF THE DEVIL IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

The parable of the Kingdom of God likened to a sower sowing his field shows us the ways of the devil, his activity always on the alert to counterfeit the divine activity and destroy it, his skill in profiting by darkness to hide himself and the divine patience that permits the devil’s action to develop at the same time as the work of grace.

1. Frequency of the Intervention of the devil

Fr. Marie Eugene mentions that at evening prayer of Compline, the words of St. Peter are said each evening, “Be sober, be watchful! For your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour.” Father mentions how this is repeated in prayer each night to remind us of the urgency of this exhortation because it is constant.  The hatred of the demons is violent and always on the alert; they use any and every occasion to impede the action of God in souls. The demons moreover are numerous, their resources are various; no one can prudently think himself safe from the attacks. Such is the opinion of St. Teresa, she speaks of the devil throughout her writings and at every stage. She says: “As the devil’s intentions are always very bad, he has many legions of evil spirits in each room to prevent souls from passing from one to another, and as we, poor souls, fail to realize this, we are tricked by all kinds of deceptions. The devil is less successful with those who are nearer the King’s dwelling-place.” Interior Castle, p. 210 After the sixth Mansions, the devil becomes less dangerous to the soul. This is because the soul has already undergone many trials in the previous Mansions and has proven faithful to God and to prayer. The devil is very active in the lower Mansions so that the soul does not reach this height but gives up. Remember, the evil spirits do not know what is going on in the soul – they can only see the exterior – the times of prayer, the Masses gone to, the frequenting of the Sacraments, etc. The action of the devils against souls eager for perfection is normal and frequent. St. Teresa says, “ When the devil sees that the soul’s character and habits are such that it is ready to make further progress, all the powers of hell will combine to drive it back again.” Interior Castle, p. 215 “He works like a noiseless file.” Interior Castle, p. 211

1. Manner and Purpose of the Action of the Devil

The devil, our enemy, tries to bring souls to evil by temptation, to hinder them in their progress to God by disturbing and deceiving them.

1. Temptation

Temptation is rarely the exclusive work of the devil. He uses his knowledge of the dominant tendencies of a soul and his power over the senses in order to intensify a pleasure, to quicken a desire, to make a solicitation more attractive and more actual, so that it will invade the field of conscience and win the consent of the will. St. Teresa mentions often of the obstacles that the devils create in order to keep the soul from advancing toward God.

1. Disquiet of soul

Disquiet brings a soul to a halt, at least for a while, and makes it hesitate as to the course to be taken. This interior disquiet can so envelop the soul in darkness that it becomes an easy prey to the wiles and strategy of the evil one. With beginners, he instigates all sorts of anxieties about sacrifices to be made, about the future, loss of health, etc. St. Teresa states in the Interior Castle, p. 214: “For here the devils once more show the soul these vipers – that is the things of the world – and they pretend that earthly pleasures are almost eternal; they remind the soul of the esteem in which it is held in the world, of its friends and relatives, of the way in which its health will be endangered by penances… Oh Jesus! What confusion the devils bring about in the poor soul, and how distressed it is, not knowing if it ought to proceed farther or return to the room where it was before.”
We see even in the writings of St. John of the Cross in his Dark Night, he states: “As the devil sees that he cannot succeed in thwarting them in the depth of the soul, he does what he can to disturb and disquiet the sensual part, to which he is able to attain – now by means of afflictions, now by terrors and fears, with intent to disquiet and disturb the higher and spiritual part of the soul by this means, with respect to that blessing which it then receives and enjoys. At other times, when the spiritual communication is not made in any great measure to the spirit, but the senses have a part therein, the devil more easily succeeds in disturbing the spirit and raising a tumult within it, by means of the senses, with these terrors.”
It is also mentioned here that the devils can cause disquiet among a group of souls, a society, a community, a parish, etc. This was expressed by St. Teresa when she explains the turmoil that the devil stirred when she started the Reform. She as well as the community were agitated by her first convent, St. Joseph of Avila, The devil had guessed the importance of the work that was beginning and his zeal for destroying it appears to us today well justified.

1. A liar and the father of lies

Disquiet is a preparation. It creates an atmosphere favorable to the decisive action of Satan, in the same way as recollection precedes and prepares one for the action of God. St. Teresa calls him “a lover of lies and a lie himself.” Dissimulation and lies are the means that he could not do without; they constitute his whole strategy of attack. In order to ensure every chance of success for his simulation, he depends on the tendencies of the soul and its desires, giving an evil the appearances of the particular spiritual good desired by the soul. The devil gives consolations which will feed the spiritual greediness of a soul, urging it to excesses in exercises of piety and in mortifications; or, at least, will make it find the aridities that follow spiritual joy, so painful that it will be discouraged. St. Teresa speaks of a false humility that paralyzes the soul and withdraws it from perfection. The devil does not fail to counterfeit the supernatural graces of God. There are few extraordinary favors that do not have a counterfeit.
In the Living Flame by St. John of the Cross, he points out how the devil, “ takes his stand, with great cunning, on the road which leads from sense to spirit, deceiving and luring the soul by means of sense, and giving it sensual things, as we have said, so that it may rest in them and not escape from him.”
                                                                                               
 

1. MEANS OF RECOGNIZING THE ACTION OF THE DEVIL

Counsels from St. Teresa that will help to discover the interventions of the devil in the spiritual life:

1. In doubt – it is better to be mistrustful and to wait. This will not harm the soul if it is under the action of God because it will find in this struggle a means of showing its virtue

and of making progress.
 

1. The first fruit that indicates the action of the devil is the lie. The false angel of light cannot for long sustain his role without betraying himself in some contradiction.
2. The intervention of the devil could not produce in the soul the effects of peace and humility that the action of God brings. Jesus said, “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” The devil, the enemy of God and deprived of Him, produces the contrary effects.

 

1. HOW TO COMBAT THE ACTION OF THE DEVIL

1. Arms for fighting the devil

The first condition for triumphing over the devil is not to give in to excessive fear. He is an enemy with power and cleverness but we must not forget his deficiencies, his ignorance of the supernatural world, his powerlessness to enter into the higher faculties of the soul, his status as a reprobate which allows him only temporary victories and leaves him eternally conquered! As soon as he senses our fear of him – he can win the victory. We must trust in the fact that God is all powerful and allows these confrontations here on this earth to try us and to draw us closer to Him. Grace is sufficient. God will always help us when we call out to Him and He has given us so many helps. We can pray and fast. This is in Scripture. We can make acts of faith and humility – a world the devil does not know. We can use Holy Water, a sacramental that St. Teresa relied on often when in need. We can ask our guardian angel and St. Michael for assistance. Most importantly, we can turn to Our Queen and Mother who is appointed to crush his head. She will throw Her Mantle over us and protect us when we call out Her Name.
A testimony from St. Teresa from her Life p. 205, “From long experience, I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They also flee from the Cross, but return; so holy water must have great virtue. For my own part, whenever I take it, my soul feels a particular and most notable consolation. In fact, it is quite usual for me to be conscious of a refreshment which I cannot possibly describe, resembling an inward joy which comforts my whole soul. This is not fancy, or something which has happened to me only once; it has happened again and again and I have observed it most attentively.” “And so we all used to carry a little gourd of holy water, suspended to our cincture, and she wanted to have hers.”
 

1. Tactics

We must use the arms mentioned above to combat the evil spirits but we must not desire the struggle or seek it. We are to focus on traveling toward our goal and loving God with our whole hearts, minds and souls and when we encounter evil along the path, it is only then that we engage in warfare. An excellent strategy is one of flight which shelters the soul from the attacks, blows and tricks of the devil. One accomplishes this by moving through faith and humility into the supernatural regions where the devil has no entrance.

1. The exercise of faith or anagogical acts

St. Paul to the Ephesians mentions an armor that the Christian must put on for the spiritual combat stating: “Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high. Therefore take up the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having your feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace, in all things taking up the shield of faith with which you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the more wicked one.” Eph. 6:11
In the Dark Night, St. John confirms this by stating that the white vestment of faith protects the soul from the devil. Faith lifts the soul above the domain of the senses, over which the devil can exercise power, and introduces it into the supernatural world which he cannot enter. By the soul lifting itself to God, it is protected from the temptation of the devil. We must immediately send acts of faith to God when the soul begins to be tormented. Once this becomes a habit, flight from the enemy will be spontaneous and will have beneficial results.

1. Humility

In order to escape the ruses of Satan, St. Teresa recommends especially the virtue of humility. This virtue seems to enjoy a sort of immunity because Satan is pride. She confidently states that the devil can do no harm to a soul that is humble. She states, “God will not permit him to deceive a soul which has no trust whatever in itself.” Satan is fixed in an attitude of pride by his revolt against God. Everything the devil always does bears the visible mark of pride. St. Teresa’s definition of humility is simply – Truth. God is the Creator and we are the creatures. All honor and glory belong to the Creator – we are merely unprofitable servants bought with the Blood of Jesus. We belong to Him – therefore – He can do with us as He wishes and we owe Him everything. Everything good was achieved by God’s grace and our cooperation.
The Chapter ends with the understanding that God allows the evil one to tempt us and try us in our lives in order to strengthen us, to prove us, to humble us, to increase our merits, to make our virtues more pure and strong, and to make our progress toward Him more rapid.