Scripture prefigures Mary in many ways, beginning with Eve, the first woman and “mother of all the living.” God cursed the Serpent who conquered Eve, saying: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; she shall crush your head, and you shall bruise her heel” (Genesis 3:15, Vulgate). This foretold of the great battle between Satan and the seed of the Woman (Mary) found in Revelation 12.

The devil is real: for “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Yet the press scoffed at Pope Paul VI’s warning:

“What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time? Don’t be surprised at our answer… to be defended against the evil we call the Devil… He is the malign, clever seducer who knows how to make his way into [Christian souls] through the senses, the imagination and the libido, through utopian logic, or through disordered social contacts… exposing their souls—baptized souls, so often visited by the Eucharistic Presence and inhabited by the Holy Spirit!—to licentious sensual experiences and to harmful drugs, as well as to the ideological seductions of fashionable errors. These are cracks through which the Evil One can easily penetrate and change the human mind” (General Audience, November 15, 1972).

The Pope reminds us how Scripture constantly portrays Satan as Christ’s adversary, who often tries to work in our lives without detection. We allow him into our world, through drugs and alcohol abuse, pornography, or through suggestive shows and dress wherein we relinquish dominion of our imagination, thus inviting other spirits to control us. This leads to violent and impure acts, a kind of “selling” ourselves to the devil in return for him filling some emotional “need” or relationship-hole, a cheap substitute for real love.

Yet Mary is our great hope against Satan. Although “the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus”—that is, on you and me (Revelation 12:17)—the Woman is victorious. The Mother of Pure Love wants to help us crush the head of the serpent in our lives. Her pure virginal love can crush our pride, anger, resentment, and sensuality so as to bring about our conversion, casting Satan out of our lives, families, and society.

Let’s increase our Marian devotion:

• Pray the Rosary daily, especially in the family. This powerful prayer brings us to contemplate with Mary the events of Christ’s life. In the Rosary, even distractions become prayer, suggesting things we should share with Our Lady.

• Wearing the Scapular broadcasts a powerful message to the devil that Mary is our mother, who promises to save from Hell those who die wearing the Scapular—Satan, you lose!

• Put an image of the Virgin Mary next to your computer, TV, or any other source of possible temptation—I use a Madonna and Child Christmas stamp on my laptop. This image will remind us of the person we love, whom we want to please not offend. Then tell Our Lady: “Mary, may I only have eyes for you. May I only have a heart for Jesus.”

• Make a pilgrimage to some shrine of Our Lady. This doesn’t need to be fancy. Simply visit a church, outdoor grotto, or Marian statue. Pray one part of the Rosary (5 decades) on the way to the shrine (walking if you can); one part of the Rosary with the Litany of Loreto at the shrine; and one part of the Rosary on your return. For good measure, bring her some flowers.

If you feel particularly weak to temptations, ask someone to be your prayer-partner in each other’s battles against the Evil One—“where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” Christ says (Matthew 18:20)—Mary will join you too!