From the Friars: Demons and Serpents

“All creation is groaning” (Rom 8:22) says St. Paul in the second reading today. One of the arguments that atheists use against Christianity is the cruelty of the natural world. Animals, for example, live in a constant battle for survival. They are either prey for larger species or they must hunt for their food, or both. The options are to kill, be killed or run and hide. How can this be reconciled with an All-Powerful and All Loving God?

A common explanation is that death and suffering come from the sin of Adam and Eve. This is true for humans but science has shown that animal death and carnivores existed before the fall of our first parents. However, human beings are not the only created persons who have rebelled against God. Satan and his minions fell first and were cast out of Heaven to make war on those who seek to follow the Lord. (Rev 12)

St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor of the Church, taught that creation is a book and each creature a type of word of God. Visible creatures are symbolic of spiritual realities. Original Sin harmed our ability to read this book. So, the Creator gave us another book, the Bible, to teach us how to interpret the visible world. Frightening creatures, for example, are symbols of demons in the Scriptures. (cf. Ps 91:13) In Genesis 3 the devil appears as a malicious serpent.

What science has discovered about history before man can be seen as God showing us the spiritual dangers into which we are born. The fall of man made things worse, as we see with the punishments that resulted. Overall, the Creator is showing us that rejecting Him and His Law will result in a violent world where the selfishness of sin brings struggle and misery to all living things.

But the Redemption that Jesus has won for us also affects all of creation. The whole universe will “share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Rom 8:21) This is our hope, “the glory to be revealed for us.” (Rom 8:18) Let us strive to live according to our dignity as adopted children of our Heavenly Father, so that His Kingdom will become more a reality, even in this fallen world.

God bless you.

Fr. Peter