Why Doesn’t The Devil Like Us?
It’s a legitimate question. After all, what did we ever do to him? True, we don’t like him and we cast him out to hell whenever we need to, but the reason we act this way towards him is not the cause of his hatred for us, but rather the effect. We know what he’s up to, we know he wants nothing more than for us to join him in hell, so we take the necessary precautions, scalding his wretched spirit with holy water and calling him bad names. When he shows his presence in any way, whether it be in the usual form of temptation, or in more dramatic manifestations, our answer is always the same: “Begone, Satan!”
But again, this is not why he hates us. We do these things because he hates us. So we repeat the question, why does he have so much hatred for us? Why does he want us to go to hell? Are we so morally perfect that he holds us in personal contempt and wants to destroy us? Or is he doing it because he’s the Evil One and just does evil things? Neither answer is fully correct. The fact is, Satan’s business is not with us. It is with God.
God created Lucifer as the greatest and most beautiful of the angels. He made him as a pure spirit, unencumbered with the physical needs of a material body, and gifted with an intelligence vastly superior to anything our pathetic little brains can achieve. Lucifer was the great bearer of light, chosen by God to help bring that light to his creation of our universe. But like all creatures he had free will, and that Will had to be tested. He failed the test, imagining in his pride that he was equal to God himself. His punishment was swift, severe, and eternal. His perceived “rival,” the Almighty Creator, had beaten him and he now spends his eternity in bitter hatred, seeking revenge on God, his archenemy.
He cares nothing about us. He sees us as mere tools in his quest to inflict suffering on God (as if such a thing were possible). He wants to see our souls in hell, not so much because he wants us to suffer (though he most certainly does!), but mostly in order to hurt God by hurting the creatures he loves. And while God in his divine nature cannot suffer, this same God chose to take on human form so that he could suffer. And suffer he did. For us. The Crucifixion was the Devil’s greatest triumph, and we can only imagine the evil pleasure he took in watching our blessed Saviour in his final agony on the Cross. What a great victory over God! And yet it was just the opposite. Christ rose victorious over death and sin, he redeemed mankind from the damnation we deserved thanks to the original sin of our first parents. The gates of heaven were opened to man again, and the Devil realized too late his defeat at the hands of one of these men. True, this Man was the Son of God, but he was also the Son of Mary. And through her role in Christ’s mission of salvation, this holy Mary literally crushed Satan beneath her heel. God created Adam out of the dust of the earth—how humiliating that such a lowly creature should defeat him. And how even more humiliating that a woman, created out of the rib of Adam, should inflict the final blow with her foot.
If we love God, we should try to recognize our own role in this great battle between Good and Evil. Our submission to the Son of God and Mary, and to Mary herself, is our answer to the rebellion of Satan and the children of darkness who follow him. We should love God with our whole soul in reparation not only for our own sins but for the sins of others, and even for those whose love is lukewarm and hesitant. By loving God and obeying his laws, we simultaneously reject the Devil and his works, we thwart his plans for the damnation of mankind, and we save our souls. Most importantly though, we give honor and glory to God by our good works, and restore the order of nature which Satan is so anxious to destroy. May God help us in our struggle.