The over 2000-year-old history of the Church shows that the battle between the forces of good and evil has raged with various intensity in the Church at large and in individuals. The saints, in particular, have felt the impact more fully, thus confirming what St. Paul wrote to Timothy, that: “those who want to live piously in the Lord will suffer persecution” (2 Tm 3:12) and, in our case, persecution from the devil.

Take, for example, St. Patrick, who overcame so many difficulties and bore many sufferings in order to plant the Gospel in this country, and you are his heirs. And Jean-Marie Vianney, the saintly Curé of Ars, who led hundreds of thousands of persons to God through his ministry at the confessional and in the pulpit, but was tormented in different ways by Satan, especially when he wanted to rest for just a few hours at night.