The Great Rescue

 

He has gone to search for Adam,
our first father, as for a lost sheep.
Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
He has gone to free from sorrow
Adam in his bonds
and Eve, captive with him…
—Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), n. 635

 

 

The Explanation of our hope is the heart of the Gospel. It explains why Jesus died on the Cross for us: for God so loved the world… 

But if we don’t understand what Jesus fully accomplished through His death and Resurrection, we risk remaining in darkness — liberated but not freed; delivered but still deceived; victims instead of victors. 

 

The Great Darkness

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

The primary work of the devil was the seduction of the human race, resulting in the fall of man. Satan’s victory was death: the eternal separation of man from God. Can you imagine how the People of the Old Testament felt about dying? Because of the stain of original sin, they knew their final resting place was Sheol — the “place of the dead.” 

You remember them no more; they are cut off from your influence. You plunge me into the bottom of the pit, into the darkness of the abyss. (Psalms 88:6-7)

There was no hope. Every threat, every sickness, every disease was a cause for despair; life was lived under a constant cloud of fear and gloom. Satan became the “ruler of this world,”^[1]cf. John 12:31 and the Israelites became “the people who sit in darkness.”^[2]Matt 4:16

Original sin entails “captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil”. —Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), n. 407

And then John the Baptist was born. He would…

…go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give His people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace. (“The Canticle of Zechariah”, Luke 1:76-79)

Satan was put on notice that something was up…

 

The Triumph

The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what Satan understood about the person of Jesus. Certainly, the devil knew the Scriptures well; he knew the prophecies of a coming Messiah, even that he would be a “suffering servant.”^[3]cf. Isaiah 52:13-53:12 But he didn’t necessarily understand their full meaning. As Aquinas said, 

The minds of demons are utterly perverted from the Divine wisdom… they can be misled with regard to supernatural matters; for example, on seeing a dead man, they may suppose that he will not rise again, or, on beholding Christ, they may judge him not to be God. —St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I:58:5

Indeed, Satan’s temptations in the desert may have been calculated attempts to reveal Christ’s true nature. But the Lord didn’t take the bait. Jesus seemed to leave enough doubt in Satan’s mind as to the true extent of His Mission. In fact, it’s arguable that Satan presumed the crucifixion of Jesus would be a decisive victory. For after His resurrection, St. Paul writes:

He brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this He set aside, nailing it to the Cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in Him. (Colossians 2:13-15)

This “triumph”^[4]Greek: thriambeuõ and Paul’s imagery evoke the victory march, when Roman generals would parade disgraced prisoners of war through city streets, displaying their spoils and sometimes executing the captives at the end of the military march. 

As such, Fr. John Riccardo argues that Jesus was not the hunted but the hunter, or as St. Augustine said, “The Lord’s Cross is a kind of mousetrap for the devil.”^[5]cf. Sermon 263

What happens in the Passion? From the moment of the Garden of Gethsemane on, God more and more… disguises, camouflages His divinity. He sweats blood. He allows himself to be arrested. He allows himself to be chained. This is God we’re talking about. The one who made the universe. He allows himself to be slapped. He allows himself to be spit on. He allows himself to be stripped naked. He allows himself to be ripped to shreds by scourging. He allows himself to be crowned with thorns. He allows himself to be nailed to a tree… See, as the Lord camouflages His divinity, he’s trying to pick a fight. Satan won’t fight God. He knows he has no chance. And so the Early Church would often say that it’s only fitting that the one who deceived our race at the very beginning should himself be deceived, and in the process, bring about his own destruction. It’s as if the enemy stands before the Lord as He’s hanging on the Cross and says… “In a matter of minutes, you’re mine. Because no one escapes death. And you’re about to die.” And that is exactly what Jesus wanted to happen. —Fr. John Riccardo, “Proclaiming the Kerygma”, YouTube

This is exactly how the Church Fathers saw Jesus — as the aggressor:

…waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, [Jesus] trampled upon his head, as you can perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed” (Gen 3:15). —St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 125 – c. 202 AD), Against Heresies, Book V, Chapter 21

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus compares himself to one who plunders:

How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. (Matthew 12:29)

For when [Christ] had bound the strong man and triumphed over him by means of his Cross, He even advanced into his house, the house of death in the underworld, and from there He plundered his possessions, that is, He led away the souls which [the devil] was keeping. —Origen, Commentary on Romans, Book V, 10.11; The Fathers of the Church, p. 373

Jesus rescued the lost, and led them away in triumph through His Resurrection. 

…if he hadn’t been killed, death wouldn’t have died. The devil was defeated by his own victorious achievement… So the true victory of our Lord Jesus Christ was achieved when He rose again and ascended into Heaven; and then was fulfilled what you heard when the Apocalypse was read: “The Lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered” (Rev 5:5)… The mousetrap for the devil was the Cross of the Lord; the bait he would be caught by, the death of the Lord. And our Lord Jesus Christ rose again. —St. Augustine, Sermon 263

Hence, Jesus has defeated the devil… but only at the end of time will Satan be destroyed — after the Thousand Years or “era of peace” when the Gospel will reach to the ends of the earth:^[6]cf. Matt 24:14

…the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)

 

The Rescue

Fr. Riccardo likens the time we’re living in now, until the chaining and final destruction of Satan in the future, as the period after World War II. The Nazis were defeated… but prisoners still had to be liberated and the German army fully disarmed. Fighting continued in some places for months, if not for a couple of years. In fact, due to Operation Paperclip, many Nazi collaborators (German scientists, engineers, and technicians) were integrated into American institutions, which has arguably resulted in a different kind of warfare through military, chemical, and medical industries.^[7]eg. The Pandemic of Control, The Caduceus Key

The implications for you and me should be clear: we baptized believers who are “raised with Christ”^[8]Col 3:1 are not victims, but victors. We are not bystanders but are called to be liberators, to continue to disarm the enemy and participate in recovering the spoils of this spiritual war, namely, souls. 

Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

Jesus is referring to spiritual harm. As we pray in the great Te Deum:

You overcame the sting of death, and opened the kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

The sting of death is the power of sin to separate us from God. Through God’s mercy, freely given through the Sacraments, Satan’s spiritual power and claims are broken. Through the proclamation of the Word, the people in darkness are shown the way out; through repentance, they are liberated from guilt and shame; through the Sacraments, they are filled with the Spirit, strengthened, and restored. And through the charisms, they are built up and equipped to participate in Christ’s army.

This does not mean, however, that suffering and death have ended; rather, Jesus has turned these very evils into the weapons of our warfare:

For though we live in the world, we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ… (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Suffering is no longer a meaningless evil; it serves as a fire to purify and conform us to the Will of God. Death is no longer a dead end, but a doorway to eternal life.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

It is true that, although a defeated enemy, Satan has not yet been chained. He “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour,” said Peter.^[9]1 Peter 5:8 But both he and James add:

Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you. (1 Peter 5:9-11)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

Sure, bullets are still flying; the enemy can still win microbattles. And he wants you to think he can defeat you. This has caused many Christians to shrink away, believing the devil has the upper hand.

Stop giving him glory! Stop watching the bullets and start sending them his way.^[10]cf. Fighting Fire With Fire Become the aggressor alongside Christ; take your place in the Rescue Team.^[11]cf. Our Lady’s Little Rabble Is your marriage or family under attack? Fast and pray. Are you being tempted? Persevere.^[12]ie. “resist the devil”, and remember that temptation is not a sin; see James 1:2-4 Does evil seem to be winning? Stand on God’s promises to His faithful.^[13]James 1:12 Do circumstances seem to be piling against you? Abandon yourself to the Will of God rather than the taunts of demons.^[14]cf. Matt 26:39

Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world… and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. (1 John 4:4, 5:4)

Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power… 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. (cf. Ephesians 6:10-17)

It’s not a matter of working yourself up into an emotional frenzy, but standing on the truth: You are saved, a child of God, an inheritor of the Kingdom, and a co-liberator of souls with Christ. You are not the victim, but the victor.

You are called to the Great Rescue.

 

Christ set us free for freedom…
(Gal 5:1)

Take courage and assume
your true role as Christians.
—Our Lady to Pedro Regis, March 10, 2026 

 

Related Reading

The Tiger in the Cage
Resist

 

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