Get behind me, Satan

THURSDAY 20 FEBRUARY (Mk 8,27-33)

Saint Paul warns us: Satan also disguises himself as an angel of light for the ruin of believers in Christ Jesus: “If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me! Please put up with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere (and pure) commitment to Christ. For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough. For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these “super apostles.” Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? I plundered other churches by accepting from them in order to minister to you. And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. By the truth of Christ in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! And what I do I will continue to do, in order to end this pretext of those who seek a pretext for being regarded as we are in the mission of which they boast. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who masquerade as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So it is not strange that his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2Cor 11,1-15). To know Satan one must know God. Whoever does not know God does not know Satan. He worships Satan thinking of worshiping God. He knows the falsehoods of Satan who knows the truths of God and his will. Whoever does not know the Word of God and his will, might never know the words of Satan and his will. He falls into temptation. He follows Satan thinking he is following God. Today the Gospel, Scripture, Tradition, the Magisterium and the great Theology  of two thousand years of history were left, with what results? Not knowing either God or Christ anymore, we are turning into worshipers of Satan.

Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Messiah.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Peter does not know the Scriptures on the Christ of God. Jesus knows every Word of the Father delivered in the Sacred Scrolls of the Law, of the Prophets and of the Psalms. He speaks of himself from these Sacred Scrolls. Peter scolds him. Jesus is talking about a false Messiah. Jesus with great strength tells him to remain a disciple, calling him Satan. No one might be Master of Jesus and no one will have to tell him what to do or not do, how to talk and how not to talk. Master of Jesus is only the Father that speaks to him in the Holy Spirit. Every day, even the Christian is tempted by the thousand Satans who are beside him. It is up to the tempted person to reject any temptation. How might he reject it? If he also knows the Scriptures, he walks in the light of the Holy Spirit and knows what the will of the Father about his life is. Today Satan is dressing as an angel of mercy, acceptance, respect for sin, connivance with evil and its justification and approval of every immorality. The Christian is blind and does not see Satan tempting him.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help us to always see the angel of darkness.