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Mary Vs. Satan
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Blessed Virgin Mary (Topic Page) |
Satan / Evil (Topic Page)
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"I
will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her
seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her
heel." (Gen 3:15) [Note: Douay Rheims Translation]
"A
great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with
the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give
birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red
dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were
seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before
the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave
birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all
the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and
his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a
place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for
twelve hundred and sixty days. Then war broke out in heaven;
Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and
its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no
longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient
serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole
world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down
with it... When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the
earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that
she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the
serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a
half-year. The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of
his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. But
the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the
flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. Then the dragon
became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the
rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear
witness to Jesus. It took its position on the sand of the sea."
(Rv. 12:1-9, 13-18)
"Let us
rest assured that an earthly enemy is not so terrified at a great
army as are the powers of hell at the names and protection of
Jesus and Mary." (Muller)
"If you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you
are tempted, she will come at once to your help, and Satan will
leave you." (St. John Vianney)
"Great
indeed is Our trust in Mary. The resplendent glory of her merits,
far exceeding all the choirs of angels, elevates her to the very
steps of the throne of God. Her foot has crushed the head of
Satan." (Bl. Pope Pius IX, "Ubi Primum", 1849)
"All
those who love the Mother of God, that is to say, all true
Catholics, are persuaded that, after God, Mary is our principal
support in our conflicts with Satan. This persuasion is not merely
a pious conjecture; it rests on constant experience and on
dogmatical foundations the most unshaken." (Fr.
Delaporte)
"Mary
must be terrible as an army raged in battle, principally in these
latter times. It is principally of these last and cruel
persecutions of the devil, which shall go on increasing daily till
the reign of the Antichrist, that we ought to understand that
first and celebrated prediction and curse of God, produced in the
terrestrial paradise against the serpent: I will put enmities
between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed."
(Liturgical Year)
"By divine decision, the new Eve, mother of
the new generation of the living, is the irreducible enemy of
Satan and, together with the Savior, has the task of defeating
Satan and crushing his head. The pride of the rebellious angel is
given a deadly blow, from the moment in which God makes use of a
creature, and in particular a woman, to realize the plan of
redemption entrusted to His Son. Satan has other and no less
important reasons for nourishing a particular hatred against Mary.
In this regard, it is interesting to report the testimony of
exorcist priests, who agree that when the name of Mary is
pronounced, a person possessed or disturbed by a demon manifests
the most violent reactions." (Fr. Fanzaga)
"I
will put enmities between thee and the woman; she shall crush thy
head.' Thus does God avenge Himself on His enemy. The victory won
over the woman is made to turn against the proud conqueror, and
become his humiliation and his defeat. In his fiendish craft, he
had directed his first attack, not against the man, but against
the woman. She, by nature, was weaker and more credulous; and if
he conquered her, he hoped - too well, alas! - that Adam would be
led to turn against his Creator, in order not to displease the
creature. All happened as he willed it: but now, see how God uses
the woman to foil and punish him. He enkindles in her heart an
implacable hatred against His and our enemy. This cruel serpent
may raise his proud head, and, here and there, find men that will
adore him: the day will come, when a woman's foot shall crush this
head, which refused to bend before God. This daughter of Eve, whom
all generations are to call blessed, shall be prefigured by other
women: by Debbora, Judith, Esther, and others, all celebrated for
their victories over the serpent. She shall be followed, until the
end of time, by an uninterrupted succession of Christian virgins
and matrons, who, with all their weaknesses, shall be powerful in
cooperating with God's designs, and, as the apostle says, the
unbelieving husband shall be sanctified by the believing wife.'
Thus will God punish the serpent's pride." (Gueranger)
"The
Fathers and writers of the Church, well versed in the heavenly
Scriptures, had nothing more at heart than to vie with one another
in preaching and teaching in many wonderful ways the Virgin's
supreme sanctity, dignity, and immunity from all stain of sin, and
her renowned victory over the most foul enemy of the human race.
This they did in the books they wrote to explain the Scriptures,
to vindicate the dogmas, and to instruct the faithful. These
ecclesiastical writers in quoting the words by which at the
beginning of the world God announced his merciful remedies
prepared for the regeneration of mankind - words by which he
crushed the audacity of the deceitful [Satan] and wondrously
raised up the hope of our race, saying, 'I will put enmities
between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed' -
taught that by this divine prophecy the merciful Redeemer of
mankind, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was clearly
foretold: That his most Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, was
prophetically indicated; and, at the same time, the very enmity of
both against the evil one was significantly expressed. Hence, just
as Christ, the Mediator between God and man, assumed human nature,
blotted the handwriting of the decree that stood against us, and
fastened it triumphantly to the cross, so the most holy Virgin,
united with him by a most intimate and indissoluble bond, was,
with him and through him, eternally at enmity with the evil
serpent [that is, Satan], and most completely triumphed over him,
and thus crushed his head with her immaculate foot." (Pope
Pius IX, "Ineffabilis Deus", 1854)
Also
See: Immaculate
Conception / Sinlessness [Pg.] | Original
Sin (Catholic Basics/Reflections) | Satan
/ Evil (Catholic Basics/Reflections) | Catholic
Basics Section | Devil
/ Satan (Topical Scripture)
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