Medjugorje: Our Lady, Satan's enemy woman

Don Gabriele Amorth: THE ENEMY WOMAN OF SATAN

With this title, The Enemy Woman of Satan, I wrote a column for many months on the monthly Eco di Medjugorje. The starting point was offered to me by the constant calls that echoed with such insistence in those messages. For example: «Satan is strong, he is very active, he is always lurking; he acts when prayer falls, he puts himself in his hands without thinking, he hinders us on the way to holiness; he wants to destroy God's plans, he wants to put Mary's plans upstream, he wants to take first place in life, he wants to take away the joy; it can be overcome with prayers and fasting, with vigilance, with the Rosary; wherever the Madonna goes, Jesus is with her and Satan immediately also rushes; it is necessary not to be deceived ... »

I could go on and on. It is a fact that the Virgin continually warns us of the devil, in defiance of those who deny its existence or minimize its action. And it has never been difficult, in my comments, to put the words attributed to Our Lady - whether or not those apparitions are true, which I regard as authentic - in relation to phrases from the Bible or from the magisterium.

All those calls are well suited to Satan's enemy Woman, from the beginning to the end of human history; thus the Bible presents Mary to us; they are well suited to the attitudes which Mary Most Holy has had towards God and which we must copy in order to fulfill God's plans for us; they are well suited to the experience that all of us exorcists can testify, on the basis of which we touch with our hands that the role of the Immaculate Virgin, in the fight against Satan and in chasing him away from those who attack him, is a fundamental role. And these are the three aspects I wish to reflect on in this closing chapter, not so much to conclude, but to show how Mary's presence and intervention is needed to defeat Satan.

1. At the beginning of human history. We immediately encounter a rebellion against God, a condemnation, but also a hope in which the figure of Mary and the Son is shadowed, who will defeat the demon who had managed to get the better of his ancestors, Adam and Eve. This first announcement of salvation, or "Proto-Gospel", contained in Genesis 3, 15, is represented by the artists with the figure of Mary in the attitude of crushing the head of the snake. In reality, also on the basis of the words of the sacred text, it is Jesus, or "the offspring of the woman", who crushes the head of Satan. But the Redeemer did not choose Mary only for mother; he also wanted to associate it with himself in the work of salvation. The representation of the Virgin who crushes the head of the snake indicates two truths: that Mary participated in the redemption and that Mary is the first and most wonderful fruit of the redemption itself.
If we want to deepen the exegetical meaning of the text, let's see it in the official translation of the CEI: «I will put enmity between you and the woman (God is condemning the tempting snake), between your lineage and his lineage; this will crush your head and you will sneak it in the heel ». So says the Hebrew text. The Greek translation, called the SEVENTY, put a masculine pronoun, that is a precise reference to the Messiah: "It will crush your head". While the Latin translation of s. Girolamo, called VOLGATA, translated with a feminine pronoun: "It will crush your head", favoring an all Marian interpretation. Note that the Marian interpretation was already given even earlier, by the most ancient Fathers, from Irenaeus onwards. In conclusion, the work of the Mother and the Son is evident, as Vatican II expresses itself: "The Virgin totally consecrated herself to the person and work of her Son, serving the mystery of redemption under him and with him" (LG 56).
At the end of human history. We find the same fight scene repeated. «And a grandiose sign appeared in the sky: a woman dressed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head ... And another sign appeared in the sky: a large bright red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns "(Ap 12, 1-3).
The woman is about to give birth and her son is Jesus; for which the woman is Mary even if, according to the biblical use of giving more meanings to the same figure, she can also represent the community of believers. The red dragon is "the ancient serpent, called Devil or Satan", as it is said in verse 9. Again the attitude is of struggle between the two figures, with the defeat of the dragon that is precipitated on earth.
For anyone who fights against the devil, especially for us exorcists, this enmity, this struggle and the final outcome have great importance.

2. Maria in history. Let's move on to the second aspect, to the behavior of Mary Most Holy during her earthly life. I will limit myself to a few reflections on two episodes and two consents: the Annunciation and the ordeal; Mary Mother of God and Mary our Mother. An exemplary behavior should be noted for every Christian: to implement God's plans on himself, plans that the evil one tries in all ways to hinder.
In the Annunciation Mary shows total availability; the angel's intervention crosses and upsets his life, against all imaginable expectations or plans. It also demonstrates a true faith, that is, based solely on the Word of God, to whom "nothing is impossible"; we could call it a belief in the absurd (a motherhood in virginity). But it also highlights God's way of acting, as Lumen gentium remarkably points out. God created us intelligent and free; therefore he always treats us as intelligent and free beings.
It follows that: "Mary was not a merely passive instrument in the hands of God, but cooperated in the salvation of man with free faith and obedience" (LG 56).
Above all, it is highlighted how the fulfillment of the greatest plan of God, the Incarnation of the Word, respected the freedom of the creature: «He wanted, the Father of mercies, that the acceptance of the predestined mother preceded the Incarnation because, just as a woman had contributed to death, a woman had contributed to life "(LG 56).
The last concept already hints at a theme that will be immediately dear to the first Fathers: the comparison Eve-Mary the obedience of Mary who redeems the disobedience of Eve, announcing how the obedience of Christ would have definitively redeemed the disobedience of Adam. Satan does not appear directly, but the consequences of his intervention are repaired. The enmity of a woman against Satan is expressed in the most perfect way: in full adherence to God's plan.

At the foot of the cross the second announcement takes place: "Woman, here is your son". It is at the foot of the cross that Mary's availability, her faith, her obedience are manifested with an even stronger evidence, because it is more heroic than the first announcement. To understand this we must strive to penetrate the feelings of the Virgin at that moment.
An immense love immediately emerges, combined with the most excruciating pain. Popular religiosity was expressed by two very significant names, traced in a thousand ways by the artists: the Addolorata, the Pietà. I will not go on because, to the evidence of this sentiment, three more very important for Mary and for us are added; and it is on these that I dwell.
The first feeling is of adhesion to the will of the Father. Vatican II uses a completely new, highly effective expression when it tells us that Mary, at the foot of the cross, was "lovingly consenting" (LG 58) to the immolation of her Son. The Father wants so; Jesus accepted so; she too adheres to this will, however heartbreaking it may be.
Then here is the second sentiment, on which too little is insisted and which instead is the support of that pain and all pain: Mary understands the meaning of that death. Mary understands that it is in that painful and Humanly absurd way that Jesus triumphs, reigns, wins. Gabriel had foretold her: "It will be great, God will give him the throne of David, he will reign forever over the house of Jacob, his kingdom will never end." Well, Mary understands that it is precisely in that way, with death on the cross, that prophecies of greatness are fulfilled. The ways of God are not our ways, much less the ways of Satan: "I will give you all the realms of the gloomy, if you prostrate you will adore me".
The third feeling, which crowns all the others, is one of gratitude. Mary sees the redemption of all humanity implemented, including her personal one which has been applied to her in advance.
It is because of that terrible death that she is always Virgin, Immaculate, Mother of God, our Mother. Thank you, my Lord.
It is for that death that all generations will call her blessed, who is queen of heaven and earth, who mediates every grace. She, humble servant of God, has been made the greatest of all creatures since that death. Thank you, my Lord.
All his children, all of us, now look to heaven with certainty: heaven is wide open and the devil is definitively defeated by virtue of that death. Thank you, my Lord.
Whenever we look at a crucifix, I think the first word to say is: thank you! And it is with these sentiments, of full adherence to the will of the Father, of understanding the preciousness of suffering, of faith in the victory of Christ through the cross, that each of us has the strength to defeat Satan and get rid of it, if it has fallen into his possession.

3. Mary against Satan. And we come to the topic that most directly concerns us and which can only be understood in the light of the foregoing. Why is Mary so powerful against the devil? Why does the evil one tremble before the Virgin? If so far we have explained the doctrinal reasons, it is time to say something more immediate, which reflects the experience of all the exorcists.
I begin precisely with the apology that the devil himself was forced to make of the Madonna. Forced by God, he spoke better than any preacher.
In 1823, in Ariano Irpino (Avellino), two famous Dominican preachers, p. Cassiti and p. Pignataro, they were invited to exorcise a boy. Then there was still discussion among theologians on the truth of the Immaculate Conception, which was then proclaimed dogma of faith thirty one years later, in 1854. Well, the two friars imposed on the demon to prove that Mary was Immaculate; and moreover they ordered him to do it by means of a sonnet: a poem of fourteen hendecasyllabic verses, with an obligatory rhyme. Note that the demoniac was a twelve year old and illiterate boy. Immediately Satan uttered these verses:

True Mother I am of a God who is Son and I am daughter of Him, although his Mother.
Ab aeterno was born and he is my Son, in time I was born, yet I am his Mother
- He is my Creator and he is my Son;
I am his creature and I am his mother.
It was a divine prodigy to be my Son an eternal God, and to have me as a Mother
Being is almost common between Mother and Son because being from the Son had the Mother and being from the Mother also had the Son.
Now, if the being of the Son had the Mother, or it must be said that the Son was stained, or without stain the Mother must be said.

Pius IX was moved when, after having proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, he read this sonnet, which was presented to him on that occasion.
Years ago a friend of mine from Brescia, d. Faustino Negrini, who died some years ago while practicing the exorcist ministry at the small sanctuary of the Stella, told me how he forced the devil to make him the apology of the Madonna. He asked him, "Why are you so afraid when I mention the Virgin Mary?" He heard himself answered by the demoniac: "Because he is the humblest creature of all and I am the most proud; she is the most obedient and I am the most rebellious (to God); it is the purest and I am the most filthy ».

Remembering this episode, in 1991, while exorcising a possessed man, I repeated to the devil the words spoken in honor of Mary and I enjoined him (without having the faintest idea of ​​what would have been answered): «The Immaculate Virgin was praised for three virtues. You now have to tell me what the fourth virtue is, so you are so afraid of it ». Immediately I heard myself reply: "It is the only creature that can overcome me entirely, because it has never been touched by the smallest shadow of sin."

If the devil of Mary speaks in this way, what should the exorcists say? I limit myself to the experience we all have: one touches with one's hand how Mary is truly the Mediatrix of graces, because it is always she who obtains liberation from the devil from the Son. When one begins to exorcise a demon, one of those whom the devil really has inside him, one feels insulted, made fun of: «I feel good here; I will never get out of here; you can do nothing against me; you are too weak, you waste your time ... » But little by little Maria enters the field and then the music changes: «And she who wants it, I can't do anything against her; tell her to stop interceding for this person; loves this creature too much; so it's over for me ... »

It has also happened to me several times to feel reproached immediately for the intervention of the Madonna, since the first exorcism: «I was so well here, but it was she who sent you; I know why you came, because she wanted it; if she hadn't intervened, I would never have met you ...
St. Bernard, at the end of his famous Discourse on the aqueduct, on the thread of strictly theological reasoning, concludes with a sculptural phrase: "Mary is all the reason for my hope".
I learned this sentence while as a boy I waited in front of the door of cell no. 5, in San Giovanni Rotondo; it was the cell of Fr. Pious. Then I wanted to study the context of this expression which, at first glance, could appear simply devotional. And I tasted its depth, the truth, the meeting between doctrine and practical experience. So I gladly repeat it to anyone who is in despair or despair, as frequently happens to those affected by evil evils: "Mary is all the reason for my hope."
From her comes Jesus and from Jesus every good. This was the Father's plan; a design that does not change. Every grace passes through the hands of Mary, who obtains that outpouring of the Holy Spirit who liberates, comforts, cheers.
St. Bernard does not hesitate to express these concepts, not a decisive affirmation which marks the culmination of all his speech and which inspired Dante's famous prayer to the Virgin:

«We venerate Mary with all the impetus of our heart, our affections, our desires. So it is He who established that we should receive everything through Mary ».

This is the experience that all exorcists touch each time.

Source: Echo of Medjugorje