Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Luke 11:15-26

“And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”

Jesus’ question in today’s Gospel passage might seem a simple one, but it deserves sustained reflection.  “And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”

Satan in some sense is the leader of the fallen angels.  Satan and all the fallen angels are intelligent creatures.  Fictional works such as C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters suggest how the fallen angels use reason and logic to further their evil aims.  Certainly history shows how the fallen angels, and those fallen human persons who give themselves over to evil, can accomplish great harm through organized, intelligent efforts.

Nonetheless, we ought to keep in mind that evil in the end always works against the Truth, even if it twists particular truths towards its aims.  Likewise, the soul of a fallen human person, like the spirit of a fallen angel, causes division by his sins:  both within his own soul, and among those around him.