On the difficult relationship between God and man and on the virtue of hating demons

There is a fresco in the Santa Maria del Carmine church in Florence by the Italian Early Renaissance artist Masaccio. It shows the difficult relationship between God and man. Shades of beige, dirty yellow dominate the painting. Red and grey-blue create the background. On the foreground there are naked people: Adam covers his face with his hands in shame, Eve’s face distorted by despair is facing up. There is another figure: The angel clothed in a red dress: in his right hand there is a sword, the finger on the left hand shows the path to leave Eden. On the left side of the picture there is a fragment of the paradise gate. The amazing story of the Almighty and Good Creator and His Creation, although marked by deep sadness, in fact opens another chapter of the promise of restoration and re-unity between God and man. This is the Bible!

God’s hope towards us is being stopped in many hearts by the Enemy of human race. Demons, who were also behind the Fall and drama of the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, nowadays change the beautiful story of the Creation in our hearts into the story of the banished God, or the accused God. God is punished, indeed. He is portrayed as the guilty one of all misfortune. Behind the scene of that image of God is Satan. If we tried to paint another painting of the difficult relationship between God and man, we would have to consider the reverse of the biblical scene. We would need to show God moving out, God who has lost his Paradise: a sword in our right hand, the finger on the left hand showing the path to leave Eden. Somewhere in our picture, there should be a fragment of the paradise gate. There would be no hope in our mind. People do not give another chance to God and His death is already announced. Creation becomes the story of an episode and an incident. There is only a creative man, fully in charge of what is around him, with the vision of life limited to consumption. This damage in mentality, indeed, is done by the demons, the great liars. It results in the despair and disordered faces of men and women. Being full of distrust, people continue to create hell for each other. This is the work of demons.

God has been embracing the punishment of Adam and Eve as well as their enormous unconditional rejection. He has done that with astonishing humility and serenity for the sake of love for each one of us. His humility and love towards us destroy demons and send them to hell which is their place. He teaches us that hating demons in that way is a virtue. It is important to hate them with absolute hate. We have to treat them with disgust. Otherwise we are lost amongst their traps. If we treat them with politeness, we open our hearts to them.

Fr Stan