Friday, January 6, 2012

The Devil and Art

With the release of the movie "The Devil Inside" as a high school chaplain I am bombarded with questions about the Devil. One of the things that has been most unexpected in my priesthood is the fascination of young people with the Devil - they want to know about exorcisms, possession, spirits, hauntings, etc. - it is as if the only thing that still stirs them to an awareness of eternal realities is movies and shows about exorcisms - and I am thankful that at least something is still performing that awakening for them.

I ran across a beautiful talk that Archbishop Chaput gave two years ago on the Devil and, ironically, art and beauty. The entire reflection is worth your time, but I found this passage to be relevant to the questions the young people bring:

"If we do not believe in the devil, sooner or later we will not believe in God. We cannot cut Lucifer out of the ecology of salvation. Satan is not God's equal. He is a created being subject to God and already, by the measure of eternity, defeated. Nonetheless, he is the first author of pride and rebellion, and the great seducer of man. Without him the Incarnation and Redemption do not make sense, and the cross is meaningless. Satan is real. There is no way around this simple truth."

The entire talk can be accessed by clicking here.

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