Apprentice 2 Jesus

I was writing a paper on St. Antony, one of the Desert Fathers who lived in 3rd Century Egypt. The aspect I was studying in his life was demonology. The Desert Fathers knew they had to do battle in the desert. They knew there was a real devil and real demons.

Antony taught that those living an ascetic lifestyle would face all kinds of attacks from demons. They would come at you through thoughts, then all kinds of other ways. The one who would stand strong in faith and walk humbly in the spiritual disciplines would be able to thwart every attack.

But would that be the end of it? NO! Once the demons realized they could not bring down a monk, they would call out their LEADER. The devil himself would show up. In all of it, Antony counseled the monks that they had the upper hand. They believed in God. The devil only had deception.

Life may not give us very many breaks. Too often we look for “peace”, meaning we really don’t want to go out and battle the devil. Yet, if there is peace, that means the devil may not feel bothered by us. THAT should bother us.