DEVIL’S DASTARDLY DEEDS OF DOOM: ATTACKING OUR PRAYER LIFE…

Saint Ignatius of Loyola in his classic meditation The Two Standards presents a marked contrast: Jesus, humble and attractive standing in the city of Jerusalem and Satan, ugly and horrendous, in Babylon sitting on a dung hill. Jesus invites us to enlist under His Standard by embracing poverty, insults, contempt and humility, as well as all of the other virtues.  Satan, on the contrary, invites through riches, empty honors and overweening pride, and then all the other vices. (Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: The Two Standards: # 136-147).  Being free individuals, God leaves it up to us to make our own personal choice.

NAMES FOR THE DEVIL.  There are many names for the devil found in Scripture and expressed by the saints. Biblical names are the following: devil, demon, Prince of this world, serpent, and ancient serpent, accuser, Satan, Lucifer. Jesus calls the devil two names in one sentence in the Gospel of John, Chapter 8:  a liar and a murderer from the beginning.

PURPOSE AND THRUST OF THIS SHORT ESSAY.  The purpose and thrust of this short essay is to highlight the many ways that the devil, who according to Saint Ignatius is “the enemy of our human nature”, constantly lies to us but most especially in trying to convince us to give up our prayer life, or to pray less, or to pray less fervently.  The following are certain typical lies that Satan launches at the disciples of Christ to destroy their prayer life, or at least to diminish its fervor and efficacy.  The Word of God reminds us that if we have decided to follow Christ then our life is a militancy, our life is warfare, our life is a combat zone. However, as Saint Paul encourages us: “If God is with us, who can be against us?”

TYPICAL TEMPTATIONS OF THE DASTARDLY DEVIL WHO WANTS OUR DOOM!

• LATER!!! The devil will often say: “Why don’t you pray later, just a little later, there is no real hurry. Calm down, wait a bit!”
• CUT IT SHORT! The enemy says: “Look, you’re praying too long, you’re going to hurt yourself. You pray an hour??? That is way too much; just do half an hour.”
• PRAY TOMORROW. Lucifer can come at you with such: “Look, you’re really not feeling well today. Get back in shape and get healthy, then you can pray. God understands your weakness!”
• WORK IS YOUR PRAYER. Satan whispers in your ear: “Now just work hard and offer that up as your prayer. Work is even better than prayer because by working you’re helping others. Paul says: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  Never forget: the devil will even use and distort Scripture to achieve his end—our condemnation!
• WASTING YOUR TIME. The demon can deceive you in these or similar words: “To be honest, you’re wasting your time; your time which is so valuable and important, and which you could be using in a much more profitable fashion. Ben Franklin didn’t pray that much and look how famous he was!”
• YOU REALLY ARE A FANATIC! Lucifer has many tactics and one of these is simply this: to rouse up loved ones to start attacking you, deriding you and making fun of you with words like these: “You really are a religious fanatic; you’ve lost your marbles; you’ve lost your mind.” Remember that Jesus was called crazy by those close to Him.
• HYPOCRITE: A REAL FAKE!  The enemy has many weapons in his armory and here is yet another. “You think you’re holy because you pray so much, but you fall and make mistakes—indeed, what a hypocrite you are!
• GOD IS NOT HELPING YOU. The accuser can hurl this or similar words at you: “If you really were close to God through your prayers, then you would never have fallen into that sin. Just give up on these useless prayers.”
• DEVIL OF IMPURITY. Many saints like Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Benedict, Saint Margaret Mary, and Saint Thomas Aquinas were virulently assaulted by the devil of impurity; some of these attacks came in prayer, some even while praying in the presence of the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Then the enemy can attack with the firearm: “If your prayer is so important, God would not allow these humiliating and embarrassing thoughts to cross your mind.” Indeed, the devil never gives up in his assaults.
• DEVIL OF GLUTTONY. How often does it occur that just when you are in the middle of your prayer period, the devil comes in as a Chef presenting an exquisite gourmet meal that he invites you to taste and devour. The devil knows our weaknesses.
• THE DEVIL OF WEARINESS AND SLEEP. We know too well what happened that first Holy Thursday night after the Last Supper when Jesus was praying fervently in the Garden of Olives. Not far from Jesus were His three best friends: Peter, James, and John. They fell asleep when they should have been accompanying the Lord Jesus in prayer. How common indeed it is that when we want to pray and even go to pray, we become drowsy to the point of falling asleep in our prayer period. Absence of prayer contributes to abandoning Our Lord and falling into sin—as evidenced by the Apostles who fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane… then fled from the cross, while Peter even denied Christ, not once but three times!
• THE DEVIL OF RIGHT PRIORITIES. Then the ancient serpent, the devil, can tempt us using these or similar words: “Helping the poor, the sick, the handicapped and the disabled is more pleasing to God then wasting your time in prayer. In fact, Jesus said that He is truly present in the poor, hungry, thirsty, sick and imprisoned. Help out these unfortunates and that is enough in your relationship with God.”
• VOCAL PRAYER ONLY. The devil can even use good means so that the better and best will be neglected. Here the enemy comes again: “Just race through those vocal prayers without thinking about them; that is more than enough. Mental prayer, meditation, contemplation and the Holy Hour—all that is for nuns and monks, not for you. You are confusing your vocation!”
• SO YOU THINK YOU ARE A SAINT!!! Once again, with friends or relatives, but especially family members who have little or no faith, these words can be placed in their mouths by the devil: “So you really think because you pray so much that you’re a saint, ready to be canonized! Before long they will be making holy cards of you!”
• RECALL OF PAST SINS. The tempter can attack interiorly with this insidious but persistent thought: “In the past you committed so many sins; who are you to be spending so much time in prayer now???”
• THOUGHT WORLD AND PRAYER. The devil, taking advantage of the mind, can assault with other poisonous arrows, especially in the thought world, with such verbiage as: “Your mind is so dirty, so filled with ugly thoughts, and there you are kneeling in prayer. You’re not worthy to be praying so much!”
• HORIZONTAL MEDITATION. Or the devil of comfort and laziness can convince you to simply stay in bed and do your prayers there, and you end up by falling asleep. This is called the devil of HORIZONTAL MEDITATION; or if you like the devil of HORIZONTAL CONTEMPLATION.
• THE DEVIL OF GOD’S DEAF EAR. Astute and wily as he is, the devil can convince you that God does not listen to your prayers. Why? For the simple reason that you have been begging the Lord for a prolonged period of time and He has not granted your request; it must be because God doesn’t hear you. Why waste God’s time and yours in prayer???’
• THE DEVIL OF NEXT WEEK. We all need to go on vacation; you should take a vacation from prayer! The devil reasons as such: “Give yourself a break and give God a break; come back next week to pray. God understands.”
• JUST MASS AND THAT’S ENOUGH. Lucifer, Star of the Morning, now perverted as the devil can even use one prayer to pit you against another prayer. He can come at you with this: “The Mass is the greatest prayer! Just go to Mass and give up that mental prayer, that meditation you are doing.”
• RELIGIOUS FANATICS IN ASYLUMS. Then the devil can attack as such: “There are many fanatics who ended up in an insane asylum for praying too much; you’re on the way; you’re next! Prepare your bags and suitcase!”
• BAD CONSCIENCE. The devil can even prevent sinners from having recourse to the Sacrament of Confession. Living with a bad, accusatory conscience can deter us from turning to prayer.
• THE DEVIL OF PLEASURE. In our modern hedonistic society, the devil can convince you with these words to move you to give up prayer: “You only have one life to live, live it up! Get all the GUSTO out of life. It’s Miller time; not prayer time.”
• TRIALS AND CROSSES AND THE DEVIL. Then the devil, masked as an angel of light, can try to scare you away from prayer with the idea: “Ever since you started mental prayer you have had so many crosses and trials! Give up mental prayer and you will have less trials and crosses, life will be easier and more pleasant.”
• FAMILY NEGLECT AND PRAYER. Finally, the devil can even accuse you of neglecting your family with these or similar words: “You’re praying so much that your family is being neglected. Tend to your family and that will please God.”

In conclusion, Saint Alphonsus, asserts emphatically that prayer is the key to salvation! In the Catechism of the Catholic Church on prayer, Saint Alphonsus is quoted: “He who prays will be saved; he who does not pray will be damned.” What air is to lungs, so prayer is to the soul. Being keenly aware of this fact, the devil, who is the enemy of our salvation, will do all he possibly can while we have life to attack our prayer life. If the devil cannot win the battle with one strategy, then he will use another strategy. It is incumbent upon all of us who are in spiritual combat to be aware of the insidious temptations of the devil that he launches against our prayer life, and to pray more and with even greater fervor! May Our Lady who crushes the head of the infernal serpent help us to forcefully reject all the temptations of the devil and cling to Jesus as the anchor or our faith and the anchor of our salvation!