“I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.”

 
Jesus tells the Seventy-two, “Behold I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.” Jesus give His followers the power to tread upon the full force of the enemy.

What is the full force of Satan and all those who follow him? The full force of Satan is violence and hatred. “The Devil, or Satan and all his wicked angels, who are ever seeking to draw us into sin and always seeking, by temptation and by work or example, to carry us along with them in the broad road that leads to damnation so that we may be damned with them.”[i] Satan has lost, knows he has lost, and is fighting dirty, for misery loves company. Satan is violent and hateful and he wants us to also be violent and hateful.
 
VIDEO – Pro-Abortion group chants “Hail Satan”
In Texas, the government is trying to pass a law that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks and require certain standards on all abortion clinics. There are many people from broth sides at the capital. The first video is of a woman giving her testimony of what she went through when she had her abortion. You can hear around minute 5:00 some of the abortion supporters chanting, “Hail Satan”. The Second video is a video that went viral of the Pro-Lifers singing Amazing Grace while the Pro-Abortion side screaming “Hail Satan!” to try and stop the singing. Abortion is evil, and when someone stands in defense of evil it can make them do evil things.
 
VIDEO – Attack on Argentina Cathedral
On October 7^th, 2012 during the 27^th National Women’s Conference in Posadas, Argentina a group of about 500 activists from various feminists group went to go and desecrate the Catholic Cathedral for the Church’s stance on abortion and same-sex “marriage”. The video shows a group of young Catholics standing linked together to keep the activists from breaking into the Church and desecrating the inside. We see the lies of some of those who promote “tolerance”, but chant in the video “the only church that illuminates is the one that burns.”
 
VIDEO - Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life Protest - which side is violent?
What is remarkable about this video is towards the end, the pro-choice side crosses the street and becomes even more aggressive and confrontational. And, how does the pro-life side respond? By imploring each other to love them, pray for them, and even sacrifice for them; to lay down their lives for them if they must...a true display of Christian charity! And they are portrayed in the media as the oppressors!
 
Is anger a sin? No, simply being angry is not considered a sin. We can be angry for the right reasons. For example, we can be angry if someone we know and love is committing a sin. However, anger is an emotion that could result in sinning. Saint Paul wrote, “Be angry, but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger”[ii] If we let the devil work on us, the anger we have may turn into a desire to harm another person which is when it becomes sinful.

One of the times that Satan attacks us the most is when we are angry. We can remember an acronym H.A.L.T. (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired). When we are hungry, angry, lonely, tired, temptation has its greatest effect on us. Let us have confidence in what we pray during the Our Father, “sed libera nos a malo”, deliver us from evil. It is only by the grace of God that we can have strength in time of temptation and delivered from the evil we are tempted to think and act on. If we ever begin to accept the lie that we cannot over come anger, hatred, or any other vice, let us remember the words of Saint Paul, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”[iii]
 
“If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin.”[iv] Jesus says, “Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.”[v] “If we become angry at the vices and crimes of others, when our office or the duties of our station demand that we watch over the conduct of those under our care, to punish and correct them, (as in the case of parents, teachers, and superiors) then anger is no sin. When one through pure love of God, becomes irritated at the sins and vices of his fellow-men, like King David, or if one urged to wrong, repels the tempter with indignation, this is even a holy anger. Thus St. Gregory says: ‘It is to be understood that anger created by impatience is a very different thing from anger produced by a zeal for justice. The one is caused by vice, the other by virtue.’ He, then, who becomes angry for justice’ sake, commits no sin, but his conduct is holy and praiseworthy, for even our Lord was angry at those who bought and sold in the temple (Jn. 2:15), Paul at the magician Elymas (Acts 13:8), and Peter at the deceit of Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:3). Anger, then, to be without sin, must proceed from true zeal for God’s honor and the salvation of souls, by which we seek to prevent others from sin, and to make them better. Even in this respect, we must be careful to allow our anger no control over our reason, but to use it merely as a means of doing good, for we are often apt to take the sting of anger for holy zeal, when it is really nothing but egotism and ambition.”[vi]
 
Search: Fully Human: No Less... (Part I)
 
Why is it bad to hate someone? To purposefully have hatred toward someone is the exact opposite of charity. If we truly hate someone, then we are not recognizing his or her dignity as a child of God. Jesus tells us, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”[vii] There also have been numerous studies that link chronic anger to heart problems.

How can we prevent anger? There are three things we can do to help prevent anger.
 
First, we should always strive for humility. If we are humble then peace, meekness, and patience are able to blossom.
 
The second way is to every morning, think about the day and how we are going to face situations that could bring us to the point of anger. If we think of these things ahead of time, we can prepare and have the resolve to be patient and kind in those moments. If something unpleasant pops up, we should ask ourselves, “What will my anger effect? Can I thereby make things better? Will I make myself look ridiculous or injure my health?”
 
Finally, the most important step is to keep a solid prayer life with God. We should ask Him for the graces we need, in particular meekness and patience. Sometimes our own human nature can make it seem impossible to be patient and not angry, but with God’s grace it is possible.[viii]
 
What is violence? Violence is “Physical or psychological force used to compel one to act against one’s choice, or against an inclination to choose in a certain way. Violence may be absolute or relative.”[ix] Violence is a consequence of sin. Bringing violence on another person may “lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a ‘social sin.’”[x]
 
What is the difference between absolute and relative violence? Basically, absolute and relative violence depends on whether the victim’s free will was completely removed or partially removed. “Absolute violence demands resistance by all possible means. It destroys free will, and all imputability of the act is then attributed to the violator, if one acts with full freedom of the will. If the victim does not oppose the act with every possible external resistance, or with external resistance internally adheres to the act brought to bear on him or her, violence is called relative. Freedom of the will is not removed but diminished in proportion to the adherence or repugnance present in the mind of the subject.”[xi]

Are there various degrees of sin within violence? Yes, there are always various degrees of sin. There can even be various degrees within a particular sin. For example, robbing someone of five dollars would be a lesser degree than if I robbed a bank. Both are sinful actions, but one is lesser. With violence, the Catechism teaches us not only to look at the gravity of the sin, but also the people who are being wronged. “Violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.”[xii] The Church is not saying that it is okay to be violent to strangers; but that it would be worse to be violent to the people we know and love.
 
Where in history do we see the epitome of violence towards God? We see the manifestation of violence at our Lord’s Passion. “It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate’s cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas’ betrayal – so bitter to Jesus, Peter’s denial and the disciples’ flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.”[xiii]
 
Why is violence evil? We have to ask ourselves, “What is the end goal of violence?” The answer is death. Violence is also as we learned above an attack against free will and thus freedom. This is why violence is so evil. The news media has a saying, “If it bleeds it leads.” The local news is filled with reports of violent actions locally, nationally, and internationally. Violence is contrary to the fifth commandment, “Thou shall not kill”. Violence hurts or kills a person physically, emotionally, and/or psychologically. Violence against a person or a group of people should be brought to light and brought to justice. This is why the Church teaches that abortion is an extremely violent act. It is the direct and deliberate killing of a defenseless unborn child. There have been over fifty-five million acts of violence (murder) in the womb since 1973. This is in America alone. We need to bring peace to the womb, the family, the community, and the entire world.
 
Is violence ever okay? No, violence is never okay. Violence either relative or absolute is an attack on another’s free will. God, Himself does not attack our free will, and thus God is never violent. Saint Augustine said that we must teach, delight, and persuade. To teach is a necessity, to delight is a beauty, to persuade is victory. In our attempt to teach, delight, and persuade others, the moment we use force or manipulation in attack of a person’s free will we have acted in violence. When a person says, “If you don’t do this, I will…” When we act in this way we are saying that if a person does not conform their will to our will, then we will use force, manipulation, in deed violence. We need to imitate Jesus who does not use force or manipulation, but rather is meek and patience as He teaches, delights, and persuades. There is an art to teaching, delighting, and persuading and this art always respects free will.
 
What if someone is violent to me? If someone attacks us, then we do have a right to self-defense, which is not violence because someone is violating our rights and free will. “The moral premises on which justifiable self-defense is based are the fact that the possession of life includes the right to use the means necessary to protect one’s life, provided such means do not violate the rights of others. In the case of unjust aggression, the use of force and even a deathblow may be the only means of saving one’s life. The rights of others are not thereby violated, for the assailant’s right to live is suspended during the unjust attack. Moreover, the attacker can easily protect his or her life by merely ceasing from the attack.”[xiv]

[i] Ibid.
[ii] Ephesians 4:26
[iii] Philippians 4:13
[iv] CCC 2302
[v] Mt. 5:22
[vi] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 357
[vii] Mt. 5:44-45
[viii] cf. Father Goffines, The Church’s Year, pg. 358-359
[ix] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 563
[x] CCC 1869
[xi] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 563
[xii] CCC 1858
[xiii] CCC 1851
[xiv] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 497