Pope urges Christians to learn from Gospel how to fight against devil

April 11, 2014 - Pope Francis urged Christians on Friday to learn from the Gospel how to fight against the devil, who exists even in the 21st century. Celebrating his morning Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican, the Pope in his homily said that Christian life is a struggle against evil as was the life of Jesus. Talking about the temptations of Jesus after His fasting in the desert, the Pope said the devil began by seducing Jesus telling him to throw Himself from the top of the temple. It was the same with Adam and Eve, where the devil appeared like a spiritual director. Once driven back, the devil does not give up. He comes back even stronger with a gang, this time with the enemies of Jesus, who reject Him as a carpenter’s son. Then finally comes the justification: “Don’t you realize that it is better that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." The Pope said that a temptation begins lightly but grows and infects others, becoming common and at the end justifies itself, calming the soul. As an example, he spoke about backbiting. It begins with a person jealous of another. This is shared with others contaminating them too, the Pope pointed out, adding, this is how backbiting goes about. Hence a temptation first appears as something harmless, then infects others and finally ends with justification, like water that trickles and ends up in a flood. The Holy Father said the prince of this world does not want our holiness, that we follow Christ. The Pope said, some might consider the devil outdated for the 21^st century, but he warned, the evil one still exists and we need to learn from the Gospel how to fight him.