Some may remember this fundamental question from part one of the old Baltimore Catechism: Why did God make you? Answer: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.” Man was created with a purpose, and that purpose is to share in the very life of God by loving and serving him who is all love. Then, since this life on earth is transitory, our sharing in his life is intended to continue into eternity as we love and glorify him forever in heaven. The goal of reaching heaven is one every soul shares, even if someone is not necessarily aware of it. However, there are forces that would prefer we not reach that goal and actively work against us every minute of every day. We will now reflect on the enemies of our salvation – the flesh, the world, and the devil – so we can be more aware of the obstacles we face in obtaining eternal happiness.

Before I get into the enemies of salvation, we need to understand a bit more about what salvation is and why it is so important. I mentioned earlier that every soul is ordered to heaven, even if a person is not aware of it. “[T]he human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude” (CCC #1711). “We all want to live happily; in the whole human race, there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated…God alone satisfies” (CCC #1718). In other words, God created us from the very beginning to be ordered to seek happiness, and God alone is the source of ultimate happiness. Therefore, no matter one’s level of awareness, we are all being pulled by the same heartstrings toward God because they are the fiber of our very nature. The problem is in enlightening this awareness so that our decisions and behaviors are ordered toward God. After all, the consequences of our decisions are eternal. When we seek and settle for happiness in things that are either disordered or even perhaps good in and of themselves, but still lower goods than God, we can end up stopping short of heaven. If that happens, we may be able to say we did what made us happy, but it was only temporary earthly happiness with an eternity absent from God. The value of our eternal happiness is far greater than any happiness or pleasure we can experience here, so now let’s look at the enemies of our eternal salvation.

The first enemy of our salvation is the flesh. This first enemy is by far the most dangerous of the three for two reasons. First, it is the one we can never escape because we take ourselves wherever we go. Secondly, the flesh is the primary means by which the other two enemies can get to us. For clarification,  the flesh can mean our physical bodies, but it also refers to our entire person – our passions, feelings, desires, imagination, and all the ways in which our self-love has been corrupted by Original Sin. In our flesh, we seek out our own pleasure and prideful happiness over the will of God because our free will has been corrupted and darkened by sin. The more we act out of self-love, the more blind to the evil of it we become, and the more ingrained those actions become in our behavior. There are two remedies for fighting this enemy. The first is to meditate on the teachings of Jesus Christ regarding the vanity of earthly pleasures because of the misery they will bring us in the afterlife. The second is continual self-denial to purge your senses of the gratification that earthly pleasures bring you, as well as occasionally abstaining from lawful pleasure as a means to strengthen and conform your will to God’s. For example, we combat the sin of lust by practicing chastity. Within the context of marriage, couples may prayerfully discern to periodically abstain from the marital embrace, such as when practicing Natural Family Planning. If happiness is our goal, as stated earlier, it may seem counterintuitive to delay or deny yourself happiness or pleasure, but we must always remember the eternal goal over the transitory one. While we strive to avoid various vices by cultivating their opposing virtue, we must also be careful to avoid their opposite extremes. If a person struggles with gluttony, for example, the antidote is temperance, which would be strengthened by the penitential act of fasting, but shouldn’t be taken to the extreme of starving oneself. Self-denial and mortification of even good pleasures can be a good thing, when the purpose is to draw one’s mind to higher spiritual goods.

The second enemy to salvation is the world. We have just established the number one enemy, the flesh. Now, consider that you are living in a world amongst billions of other souls who are also battling against that same common number-one enemy. Some may be on a similar journey as you, striving to temper worldly happiness in favor of eternal salvation. Most others are not. Some may be oblivious, making suggestions and appealing to your self-love out of ignorance. “[T]he Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it (Jn 14:17). Others are openly hostile to God and the Gospel, mocking it or opposing any attempt at virtue. “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first” (Jn 15:18). All these other souls have varying degrees of influence over you, whether they are close friends or family, or public figures on a large or small scale. Keep in mind that no matter who it is, all souls suffer the same effects of Original Sin, including concupiscence and a darkened intellect, so we must be very discerning in who we choose to listen to. Not everyone has our eternal best interest at heart. Similarly, someone who may seem to be suggesting something unpleasant in the earthly sense may have the good of our eternal soul in mind.

The third enemy to salvation is the devil. Satan is eternally miserable in hell, and his only goal is to drag as many souls down to hell with him as he can. To that end, he is continually tempting souls away from the true, the beautiful, and the good. “He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44). Satan tempts you is by appealing to your flesh, or your self-love. He lies to you about the nature of what will make you happy and blinds you to the nature of eternity. In other words, if he suggests that if you do what will make you happy here on this earth, it won’t really be that bad in the long run. Keep in mind that sometimes he will make these suggestions directl, but sometimes he will use others in the world (see the second enemy to salvation) and transform himself into an “angel of light” (2Cor 11:13). He has been studying you for your entire life and knows precisely where your self-love leaves you vulnerable. He knows where you struggle with temptation and sin, and he also knows the company you keep and the people who can most easily trigger you in a particular situation. Your best protection against the devil is to continue practicing self-denial so that when temptation arises, it is easier to say “no.” Scripture also advises us on how to combat Satan: “Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:13-17).

Contemplate the transitory nature of your time here on earth and the reality of eternity. Without a doubt, your very nature is ordered toward happiness. To what degree are each of these three enemies of salvation trying to sabotage your eternal happiness? How can you cultivate an awareness of these enemies and make one or two concrete changes to combat any inordinate desires for earthly pleasure in favor of your future eternal happiness? Ask God for help where you are weak and frequent the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion to receive his healing grace. From your conception, he has put the desire in your heart to seek and love him, so he wants nothing more than to see this fulfilled.

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