On Guard Against the Devil

When Lucifer and his followers were expelled from heaven, they did not lose their natural gifts of vast intelligence, comprehensive understanding, an extensive knowledge of the laws and phenomena of nature, and great physical power. 

Thus, the demons are intimately familiar with the mysterious nature of man, about his soul and body and the profound interrelation between them, about his passions and inclinations, his talents and abilities, his inherited tendencies and weaknesses, and his leanings towards certain sins and vices. 

They use this knowledge against us—each of the fallen angels is filled with the bitterest hatred and malice against every member of the human family, who were created to fill in Heaven the places vacated by Satan and his companions.  Their one aim is to rob men of their appointed glory and plunge them into the abyss of Hell. 

They have only one tool at their disposal to accomplish man’s eternal damnation, and that is mortal sin.  By no other means can he drag a soul into the eternal fire, and this singular fact must make it clear that he will leave nothing untried to make people fall into mortal sin, and after that, to keep him in that state.

In a thousand ways he tried to make sin attractive.  If he is unsuccessful at first, he does not give up, but continues his assaults with untiring patience, using every conceivable trick and artifice in the hope of someday succeeding in breaking his victim’s resistance and making him yield to some grievous temptation.

Thus we see that Satan is the first of the causes of our temptations.  The infinite wisdom of God permits him to tempt us, so that we might earn entrance into Heaven as the reward of our victory over temptation and sin.  God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our strength to resist, and we have his infallible promise that in answer to humble prayer he will give us what grace we need in order to come out of the conflict victorious and rich in grace and merit.