St. Michael
ONE
In 1884 Pope Leo XIII had celebrated a morning Mass, he went to a meeting with the Cardinals. Suddenly he collapsed into unconsciousness. The doctors who came to his aid found no cause for the collapse, although his pulse almost ceased. Suddenly he awoke and was fresh as ever. He reported that he had seen a terrible vision in which the Devil and his demons would gain great power and seem to rule in the later half of the 20th and first part of the 21st century. The goal of Satan’s domination was the complete destruction of humanity.
In his vision, Pope Leo XIII saw St. Michael the Archangel appear and cast Satan with all his demons back into Hell. Seeing that we needed the help of the Angelic Army and especially its leader St. Michael, Pope Leo XIII composed the Prayer to St Michael and then commanded it be prayed at the end of every Mass throughout the world perpetually.
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
TWO
The Bible calls Satan the ruler of this world (John 14:30; 1 John 5:18)
God reigns in the heart of those who do His will.
Satan reigns in the hearts of those who turn away from God and live a life of sin.
The more humans reject God and live in obedience to Satan, the more his power grows in the world and the more we see two things: lies and murder. Why? Because at his core, Satan is a liar and a murderer. Jesus said as much. And what do we see growing in the world. Lies and murder. Atheistic Marxism grows by lies that create fear, division and violent revolution. And there can be no worse form of murder than abortion and infanticide.
As humans turn away from God and toward the devil mankind is divided by fear which grows to hate, followed by murder and war.
Satan gains his power through the free cooperation of humans who serve his plans by lives of grave sin and participation in the occult. Satan has no power in the world unless humans give him their will cooperation.
THREE
The Book of Revelation 12:7, Describes a great battle between Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, the devil and his demons. This conflict began with the creation of the angels and it rages to this day and until the end of the world. St. Basil (Hom. de angelis) and other Greek Fathers place St. Michael over all the angels; they say he is called "archangel" because he is the prince or leader of the other angels.
Following Scripture, Christian tradition gives St. Michael four responsibilities:
1. To fight against Satan.
2. To rescue the souls of the faithful from the power of the enemy, especially at the hour of death.
3. To be the champion of God's people, the Jews in the Old Law, the Christians in the New Testament; therefore he was the patron of the Church, and of the orders of knights during the Middle Ages.
4. St. Michael will lead each soul at the moment of death to the Judgment seat of God. So if you don’t believe in presence and power of St. Michael today, you will at the moment of death and you shall tremble.
The entire Church prayed the prayer of St. Michael after every Mass until 1968. Then for some unknown, and demonic reason we abruptly stopped, and literally all hell broke loose in the late 60’s with no-fault divorce, contraception, abortion, the sexual revolution, the breakdown of the family, rampant drug use and the rapid inculcation of Marxist ideologies in our government and education system. I think we need to turn back to St. Michael!
FOUR
Satan’s power comes from sin. Therefore, it stands to reason, the way to defeat Satan is for us to live a lives based on truth, prayer, sacraments, virtue, and holiness and in so doing pledge our love and obedience to Jesus Christ our King. The way to defeat Satan is for us to become saints. The crisis in the world is too many sinners and too few saints. The solution is more saints.
The arena of the fight is and always will be first and foremost the arena of the human heart; it is here that the Christian is called to take up the most powerful arms, grace and the virtues, and combat Satan. “We are here on earth,” says Fr. John Nicola, “with a destiny to fulfill. Right under our eyes a titanic struggle is being fought over the fate of human souls, and meanwhile we go about absorbed in our ‘little’ daily tasks, often oblivious of the larger picture.”
In 1872, St. Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes, France, gave an interview to Gougenot des Mousseaux. She was asked if an encroaching Prus-sian army was predicted by Our Lady. She responded in the negative. Mousseaux asked if there was nothing to fear. St. Bernadette replied that she feared one thing only, “bad Catholics.”
It is time for you to make a choice. Do you want to feed Satan’s power by your personal sin or do you want to become a Saint?
FIVE
The first step to defeat Satan is to personally renounce sin and commit to the path of holiness. Secondly, there is much, very much we can do to help others turn away from sin and toward God.
1st Pray for others, in the Mass, the Rosary
2nd Offer Sacrifice for the Conversion of sinners. The Angel told the children of Fatima to make of everything a sacrifice and offer it to God for the conversion of others. Prayer, work, joy and suffering.
3rd through friendship, invitation, hospitality, sharing life together, genuine interest, good conversation and inviting others into our routine of praying the Rosary we can help many people toward union with God.