reflection
The final battle
between Our Lord and the reign of Satan will be over marriage and the family b y F R . L I N U S C LO V I S
This talk was given at the Voice of the Family conference “Handing on the deposit of the Faith – the mission of the Catholic family today”, held at Newman Hall, University Catholic Chaplaincy, Cardiff, 6-8 September 2019. INTRODUCTION Carlo Cardinal Caffarra (1938-2017), the founding president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, recounted in 2008 that Sister Lucia, the Fatima visionary, had written to him, saying: “Father, a time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.” The then Fr. Caffarra had written to Sr. Lucia in 1984 asking for prayers to overcome the difficul-
ADAM AND EVE EXPELLED FROM EDEN BY AN ANGEL (1728), ETCHING BY H. WINSTANLEY AFTER G. RENI, WELLCOME LIBRARY, LONDON.
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ties he was experiencing in operating the pontifical institute established by Pope St. John Paul II three years earlier. Sr. Lucia’s ominous response, concerning the spiritual battle that would soon engulf the family, ended with a passage full of hope: “And those who will work for the good of the family will experience persecution and tribulation. But do not be afraid, because Our Lady has already crushed his head.” THE WAR BEGAN IN EDEN Satan’s war against humanity began in the Garden of Eden. His opening salvo was the seductive mendacity with which he led our primordial parents into disregarding God’s prohibition to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “You will not die,” he said, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:4-5) The man’s disobedience resulted in the loss of the grace of original holiness and, immediately, he and the woman experienced the first death, the death of the soul. Additionally, the control their soul’s spiritual faculties had exercised over their bodies was shattered, the harmonious union of man and woman became subject to tensions as lust and domination thenceforth marked their relationship, and their peaceful rapport with creation was ruptured as the visible creation became alien and hostile. The CAL X M A R IA E
