Even AI can recognize the devil’s strategies for separating us from God.

6 hours ago

4 min read

This past Sunday, the Gospel reading came from Matthew 22:34-40, featuring Jesus answering a scholar of the law about the greatest commandment.

Our pastor delivered a powerful homily that did not go unheard. I would like to share it with you, hoping you will contemplate it and maybe even share it with others.

A homily by Fr. Dan Shomaker, Blessed Sacrament Church

(Full video available below)

"Which of the commandments of the law is the greatest?

There are 613 laws in the Old Testament, in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. It was of those laws that the scholars were testing Jesus. But Jesus, being, of course, God, sums them all up by quoting two of the laws: loving God and loving our neighbor. This is one of my favorite topics to preach on: love, which is willing the good of the other as other, which is the definition as given to us by St. Thomas Aquinas.

It made me start thinking about how we love, why we love, and then the opposite: why we don’t. I started thinking about what it would be like if we didn’t love. I didn’t have to think too hard because, because if we look at society, we see all too often - willing the good of the self.

I went to ChatGPT, and I asked the question... “If you were the devil, what would you be doing? It, interestingly enough, gave me 16 answers, which I found terrifying because of its accuracy.

If I were the devil, here is what I would do-

I would make people too busy to pray.
I would convince people that their sin isn’t really sin; it's just a white lie.
I would destroy the family without appearing to attack it
I would make people believe that being nice is the same thing as being holy.
I would turn religion into politics.

-I would convince Christians that their political party is the guardian of righteousness and that those who disagree with them are their enemies.

- I would make political victories more important than conversions and winning arguments more important than loving souls.

I would corrupt the clergy with comfort rather than with persecution.

-I would convince them that a successful parish is necessarily a holy parish. Meaning, making us determine how we judge that which is going well with holiness.

I would make the Eucharist seem ordinary. I wouldn’t need people to deny the True Presence outright; I simply would encourage indifference.

-I would make Mass another obligation and communion something automatic and the tabernacle something easily overlooked.

I would make Confessions disappear, not by closing confessionals but by convincing people that they have nothing to confess.

-I would replace examination of conscience with self-affirmation, and repentance with excuses. It would make confession disappear.

I would use technology to eliminate interior silence.
I would make people suspicious of the Church while convincing them they can follow Christ without her.
I would convince young people that freedom means having no obligations.
I would make people afraid to speak the Truth.

-I would make them so concerned about being disliked, misunderstood, or criticized that they would gradually stop saying anything that might challenge another person's conscience.

I would replace hope with either presumption or despair.

-To some I would whisper God is merciful, so nothing you do really matters.

-To others I would whisper what you have done is so terrible that God could never forgive you.

--Both lies would lead away from repentance.

I would convince good people to fight one another.
Above all, I would make people postpone conversion. I wouldn’t tell them never to repent; I would tell them to repent tomorrow.

-I would convince them there will always be more time to forgive, more time to pray, more time for confession and more time to become saints.

And perhaps my most effective strategy would be this; I would make all of these things happen so gradually that people would believe nothing has changed.

I was shocked when I read it, on how true it is. What we see here is what happens when we live without following the Lord’s command to love, because love is always focused outward, and selfishness is always inward.

God did not make us for ourselves; he made us for the other. He made us for himself, first and foremost, which is why we are called to love with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our strength, with all of our being; everything that is us is to be directed to God. And then to the others, our neighbors, when we are called to will their good. This love requires intentionality. We have to do it every day; it has to be a choice, an act of the will, happening every day, every moment, because if we don’t, the devil wins. If we are not loving with intentionality, the devil wins. We know the devil has lost the ultimate war, but we don’t want him to win any battles either. We don’t want him to draw a single soul away from the Lord.

On this day, let us recommit ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ, as members of the Church, as a community and a communion of faith, to love God intentionally, to love our neighbors intentionally, to will the good, and so destroy any control the devil may have over us or others.

Teacher, which commandment and law is the greatest? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. – This is the greatest and first commandment, and the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Praise be Jesus Christ!