LET'S EQUIP US AGAINST DEMONIAL ASSAULTS: THE ARMOR OF GOD

(third part)

 

Now the diabolical possession, of which even the Lord Jesus was accused is an extraordinary action, very rare, of which the Church follows a strict procedure and rules for its certification. But ordinary action, daily, of the Devil is the temptation that comes to strike man both in the body and in the psyche.

– Catechesis –

 

 

 

We are now more than a month into Autumn, time has changed, summer is a memory and we recently left summer time. The shorter days and the rains that have arrived force us to wear more suitable clothing to protect ourselves from the cold or bad weather.

This is also the period in which for Christian communities the pastoral year begins again, projects are made and proven initiatives are carried forward or new ones are invented that involve all operators. Among these I also include digital pastoral workers who, using social platforms, are committed to announcing the Gospel to our contemporaries. Despite the weather marked by falling leaves and the earth asking for rest, in the Church in this period there is a buzz of activity. I also remember that the Jubilee will be celebrated and in 2025 we will remember the 1700 years from the first approval of Nicea-Constantinople Symbol (Council of Nicaea, year 325).

In all this we must not forget the good of our spiritual life and recognize that it can be undermined, if not even jeopardized by many opponents, in particular from the assaults of the Devil and the spiritual forces that serve him. In this regard, I remember that I have already dedicated two articles to this topic (WHO e WHO), which I would now like to expand by discussing how this spiritual battle can be faced. Are, as I said at the beginning, to make up for the harshness of the colder period we dress appropriately, how we must cover ourselves to defend ourselves from demonic assaults, from the temptations and traps that confront us?

In my first article you have him (cf.. WHO) I took inspiration from a passage from the Letter to the Ephesians, in chapter six, which I would like to revisit here to understand how we must armor ourselves to face the assaults mentioned above. The song is this:

«Put on the armor of God to be able to resist the wiles of the devil. In fact, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this dark world, against the evil spirits that dwell in the celestial regions. Therefore take up the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist on the evil day and remain steadfast after having overcome all trials. Stand firm, so: around the hips, the truth; I wear, the breastplate of justice; i piedi, shod and ready to spread the gospel of peace. Always grasp the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the fiery arrows of the Evil One; also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ef 6, 11-17).

The author of the Letter to the Ephesians it clearly says that our battle will not be against people, even though we experience almost daily that life is a struggle, rather it will concentrate against the powers of evil that are unleashed threateningly and subtly, outside and also inside us. In Ephesians 6,12, in particular, we are talking about a triple combat: against Principalities and Powers; against the rulers of this dark world; against the spirits of evil who live in the "celestial regions". These are very powerful opponents, evil forces that surprisingly live in heaven but are at the service of Satan. A diabolical structure of cosmic dimensions, in a highly sophisticated and highly organized system of evil power. From this perspective, the life of believers becomes a battle supported only with the armor of God which allows one to "resist the snares of the devil" (Ef 6,11), who works with every cunning to separate man from God. He is an expert tempter and seducer, a beast that «like a roaring lion goes around looking for someone to devour». (1 PT 5,8). At this point the invitation is to resist. But how? Our intelligence is not enough nor our poor strength. We need to equip ourselves, so, of the armor that is offered to us by God. Ephesians speaks of full armor, in six pieces, each with a metaphorical meaning linked to a virtue and a gift of the Spirit.

The armour, in ancient times, it was an important military armor that soldiers wore to protect vital parts of the body, in particular, the heart, the lungs, the liver. It was a sort of solid covering of metal and leather that gave a double layer of protection, because you wore over what you were already wearing. Already in the Old Testament, armor is remembered as a military weapon (1 Re 22,34; 2 Cr 18,33; 1 Mac 3,3; Gives 51,3), as a symbol of animalistic strength, difficult to break down (Gb 41,5). A well-known biblical reference concerns the young David when he goes to face the strong Goliath. This one

«He had a bronze helmet on his head and was covered in plate armour, whose weight was five thousand bronze shekels" (1Sam 17, 5).

Davide, instead, goes to meet him after having freed himself from the bronze helmet placed on his head and the armor with which Saul had covered him.

«David said to Saul: “I can't walk with all this, because I'm not used to it”. And David got rid of it" (1 Sam 17,38).

Goliath's armor it is a symbol of brute and violent force; what Saul gives to David is a human instrument for defending one's life before the enemy. However, this same armor worn by David prevents him from moving, symbol as it is of trust in one's own human abilities alone rather than in God, the only one who can save his people. David without "armor" is symbolically covered by the trust that protects him more than military armor and allows the Lord to give victory to his people. The same God by the way, we read in the A.T., it is covered with powerful and effective armor that destroys evil (Shall 35,2; Sap 5,17- 18) and with it he clothes his faithful (Shall 91,4).

The author of the Letter to the Ephesians, in the New Testament, uses this military metaphor to remember that the Christian as he fights against the evil forces that arise in history, you shouldn't be afraid, nor fear. At Baptism he was covered with a special armor that protects his person. That, otherwise, from the one that prevented David from walking, being a gift from God that makes one adhere to Him, allows you to walk quickly in its streets. The prophet Isaiah had stated: «He has clothed himself with justice as with armor, and on his head he placed the helmet of salvation" (Is 59,17); so also those baptized in Christ Jesus are "put on the breastplate of righteousness" (Ef 6,14) which however excludes, as I was saying, any form of violence towards one's neighbor. The armor of justice, indeed, it is convinced adherence to the will of God. It coincides with faith and charity because «we who belong to the day, we are sober, dressed in the armor of faith and charity, and having the hope of salvation as a helmet" (1Ts 5,8). According to Saint Paul, justice and faith combined with charity protect in the fight against evil.

Coming specifically to the six elements that make up the armor, used metaphorically by Ephesians, Let's look at the belt first, which corresponds to the truth. You have to gird up your hips to undertake the journey. Even Jesus "knowing that the time had come to pass from this world to the Father" (GV 13,1) he put a towel around his waist to wash the feet of his disciples. In our passage more than girding your loins to serve your brothers and become humble, we need to do it to fight. And the Christian clothes himself with the truth, which in the most original and profound biblical sense corresponds to the faithfulness of God.

The strong piece of the armor, however, is the breastplate, that is, justice which represents not only adherence to the divine will but also the passionate desire for good towards every living being. Then to follow the shoes, necessary to undertake a long march to announce the gospel to everyone. At this point you need to grab a defensive weapon: the shield that for the Christian is faith, understood as unconditional trust in the Lord Jesus and in his and our Father. Only with this shield will we be able to counter all the "fiery arrows of the Evil One" and resist that roaring lion. But in this fight, how can we defend the head? You must wear a helmet, that of salvation. The Christian is called to make God's helmet his own to protect his head from harmful and negative thoughts, counteracting every temptation to discouragement. Finally you need to take the sword: the only weapon useful for attacking. It is the Word of God that kills the wicked. How Jesus holds the "Word of God" in his fight against the devil who tempts him in the desert, we must do no differently. The temptations themselves come to test whether the decision to follow God and serve our brothers is truly consistent and the Word has the power to unmask first of all the enemy within us. We therefore prepare ourselves for the fight against Evil and its offshoots by covering ourselves with loyalty, justice, faith, security in God and His Word that, as the Scripture says it is: «effective and sharper than any double-edged sword» (EB 4,12).

Before our song, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians had invited the Christians

«to abandon […] the old man who becomes corrupt following deceptive passions […] and to put on the new man, created according to God in justice and true holiness" (Ef 4,22.24).

To this man who wore the new garment in Baptism, by the Holy Spirit he received, the Apostle Paul presents a whole list of defects to avoid and some very important positive advice. Shortly before, Saint Paul had also said to pray to God to grant Christians:

"to be mightily strengthened in the inner man by his Spirit" (Ef 3,16).

In the end, in the passage we have examined, the Apostle, using the metaphor of the military equipment of the time, urges the Christian to be ready for battle against the powers of the Evil One, when they try to make him desist from the path he has undertaken. They, like the young Davide mentioned above, who won by trusting more in God's help than in his own strength, will be able to resist, repelling the assaults of opposing powers e, together with Christ, ultimately defeat them.

In a future article I would still like to reflect on the elements that make up our spiritual armament, in particular those that allow us to counteract the charges of the evil one and to offend them: «the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God".

Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 4 November 2024

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