Are we called to love and pray for the demons and Satan?

Are we called to love and pray for the demons and the satan?

The short answer is yes and no! It is complicated.

It a little like love the sinner, but hate the sin, but with a little more complexity.

Please allow me to explain.

We should always respect the Devil and all the other demons and hold no ill repute towards these fallen angels. The Devil still retains all his angelic powers, so a little respect is always due. Do not play with fire or one is going to eventually get burned.

However we should not pray for them. After all they are our eternal enemies. But nevertheless we should love our enemies as God would have do so: by respectfully keeping our distance from them.

Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified onced blessed Satan when he tried to torment her. She said to this fiend: ”God Bless You!” The Devil naturally took off in horror!

God is love. And God loves everyone he created in the entire universe. The demons were created as naturally good and holy beings, before they sinned and were banished to Hell. Thus is a sense that we should love them as part of God’s creation, but not a supernatural level that we love God or the Holy Angels and Saints should be. Is Satan capable of love?

God is love. We’re taught from a young age that God loves us all, even sinners. But does God love Satan, who by his rejection of God became the author of sin?

Gerardo called from San Diego to ask a question about something his 15-year-old learned in high school religion class. “The teacher told him, ‘God loves everyone and he loves Satan as much as he loves Mary.’ … So my question to you: is that true?”

It’s a startling question. Msgr. Stuart Swetland, host of Go Ask Your Father, gave an eloquent explanation of God’s love.

“God loves Satan or Satan would not exist. If God quit loving any person, they would cease to be. God holds all creation in being and his ongoing creative and recreative love is essential for our existence. So if God quit loving you, or your son, or me or anyone else who is listening, we would cease to exist. God continues to love us,” replied Msgr. Swetland.

“The only thing with your statement as your son related to you from your son’s teacher that I sort of cringed a little at, is to say God loves Satan as much as he loves Mary. Now you’re trying to quantify love and I have a real problem with doing that because I think it misses what love is. And so I wouldn’t use that language myself. I would say, ‘God loves Satan and God loves Mary,’” said Msgr. Swetland.

God’s love is so infinite and mysterious that we can’t comprehend the expanse of it. As Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay often says, if you were the only person who ever existed, Jesus would still have died on the cross just for you. It’s an incomprehensible love. But it’s up to each of us to choose whether we will accept and reciprocate God’s love.

“What it means to love is to want, will, and work for the true good of the person. And in God’s case, God wants what’s best for every one of us,” said Msgr. Swetland. “Now, each of us are free and we can reject God’s offer of relationship; we can reject all the graces God’s given us, and that’s what Satan has done in a definitive way. … He’s determined himself for all eternity in rebellion to God with his Non serviam, ‘I will not serve.’ But God continues to love him even though he doesn’t return God’s love.”

“But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Does God love Satan?

Satan and all the fallen angels (demons) are completely consumed with evil and chose to do evil with all their intellect and sin against God, thus repentance is no longer possible for them. They do not desire God’s mercy. In fact, they hate all that is good in man as well as God.

Being banished to hell is in itself a form of mercy towards the Devil. Satan hates God, the holy Angels and the Saints so much that to be told to remain in heaven would be more intolerant and cruel than all his torments in hell. The evil ones see things differently than us mere mortals.

Evil came into “being” because of the choice of one angel who chose to sin against God by not wanting to be obedient to His Authority as Lord and Creator. That angel, a high ranking cherub angel, was named Lucifer. And once he chose to rebel against God, he took about a third of the angels with him in rebellion (Revelation 12:4). Lucifer thus became the Devil and Satan, which means accuser and adversary of God, and he and his fallen angels became devils/demons. But Saint Michael the Archangel, along with Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel, and Remiel, led the rest of the loyal angels to God against Satan and cast Satan and his demons out of Heaven and into Hell. (Revelation 12:7-9, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6).

But why did Lucifer sin against God and dare to say “Non serviam!” (“I will not serve!”)? Because of pride (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:17, Proverbs 16:18) and envy (Wisdom 2:24 – But through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it). Lucifer was prideful of his high status, power, wisdom, and beauty, but what he had was not enough for he wanted to be adored and worship like God. Therefore, he did not want to be second to God in honor and so he chose to not serve his Master. Somehow, this rebellious idea of not serving God then appealed to the other angels who sided with Satan.

According to Canon 1 of the VI Lateran Council in 1215, the fallen angels were good. Does any goodness still exist within these demons and can they repent since God is merciful to sinful humans who repent of their evil? According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, no. There is not good left within Satan and his angels and they are completely consumed by evil. As a result of this and because they chose to sin against God with their full intellect and will. As Paragraph 393 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death."

In the same manner, it is thus argued that it is also the irrevocable character of the choice that the other angels who remained loyal to God made and thus they cannot give into sin because their wills are now so attuned to God’s Will. Thus, according to this doctrine of the Catholic Church, it is now impossible for a second rebellion of angels to ever take place. - The Catholic Teachings On The Angels - Part 2: The Fall Of Satan

Before the death of a human being, man is able to repent of past sins, but not after death.

Essentially, Catholics believe that after death, the soul is inclined towards good (God) or evil (pride or opposition to God) and there is no changing sides. The story of Lazarus points this out quite well.

What is true for man is true for Satan and all the demons in hell. Like man, the Devil had his chance.

Satan does not desire nor deserve God’s mercy. He desires the fall of every single person on earth. He tempted Jesus in the desert and persecuted God’s servant Job.

It is not that God is not merciful towards Satan and his satellites as much as they refuse to have mercy shown them. Satan hates God, the Holy Angels, and all mankind and desires all men to join him in hell, just as all the damned do.

Just one more last reflection on Satan, the demons and souls in Hell.

They neither merit or desire our prayers. So no, do not pray for them. But calling down God’s blessings on them may send them flying away in times where he is genuinely tormenting us. Thus say the Prayer of St. Michael as often as possible.

A Letter From Hell

This Letter from Hell recounts the tragic story of the eternal damnation of a young woman named Ani.

Both the narrative and the letter transcribed below were found among the papers of a deceased nun, who in the world was known as Claire and worked with the condemned woman. This letter was revealed to Claire in a dream shortly after Ani was killed in a car accident.

The narrative received an Imprimatur from the diocese of Treves, Germany in 1953, authorizing its publication as highly instructive. While an Imprimatur is not an affirmation of authenticity, it does guarantee that the text is free from doctrinal error.

Claire!

Do not pray for me. I am damned. As I tell you this and relate to you certain circumstances and details about my condemnation, do not think that I do so out of friendship. Here we no longer love anyone. I do it as “a part of that power that always desires evil but always produces good.”

In truth, I would like to see you here where I will remain forever.

Do not be surprised at my intent. Here we all think the same way. Our will is petrified in evil—in what you call “evil.” Even when we do something “good,” as I do now in opening your eyes about Hell, we don’t do it with good intentions.

Although I hate the devil, I like him because he and his helpers, the angels that fell with him at the beginning of time, strive to cause the loss of the people on earth. There are myriad demons. Uncountable numbers of them who wander through the world, like a swarm of flies, without their presence even being suspected.

It does not fall to us who have been condemned to tempt you; that is left to the fallen spirits. Our torments increase every time they bring another soul to Hell, but hatred is capable of anything!