Message of Hope Against Evil
In her book ‘A Message of Hope, Confessions of an Ex-Satanist: How to Protect Yourself from Evil’, Deborah Lipsky recounts her experience in her battle against demoniac powers. A high-profile member of a satanic cult, she writes of her challenges in exiting that cult. She tells us that evil pursues every human being to take them away from eternal salvation. Satan is full of hatred against the Supreme God, but he can not do anything against God. So, he comes after all human beings who are created in the image of God. He wants to destroy every image of God that is existing in the world.
Today’s first reading symbolically presents the idea of the first sin which was the opening for evil powers to get among humans. The sacred writer was contemplating – if everything created by God is ‘good’ then how did evil come into this world. Evil, by itself is a spiritual power; it pre-existed humans and is antithetical to God. To convey many such truths, the sacred writer uses stories and symbols prevalent of his time. Our first reading from the book of Genesis is one of these stories, which tries to explain things that are beyond the human sphere.
The sin of our first parents broke the relationship with God. God wanted to fix this relationship. So, the bible says, that God came in search of his fallen creation – the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9). But it was the humans who were scared to face God because of their sin. So, they hid. To save themselves they blamed ‘the other’. Sin divides and creates disunion. Sin is a disobedience to God. It is an assertion that I do not need God for my existence.
The author makes a beautiful observation. Adam says to God – “I was afraid, because I was naked.” (Gen 3:10). This nakedness is not physical but spiritual. When they disobeyed God, they felt powerless, weak, helpless, lost, and unable to regain the joy they had. Their foolishness made them naked for now they had to own the consequences of their sin.
The last paragraph of our reading is God’s prophecy about what is going to happen in the future – the plan to defeat evil. The way the devil brought sin through the woman is a similar way the remedy for sin would come through a woman. One of the sons of Eve brought victory against evil through his obedience to God and His plans. The head of the devil is crushed on Calvary. We now have the power of Christ to withstand every attack of the devil.
–Fr. Ranjan D’Sa OCD