The fall of Lucifer and victory of St. Michael

On September 29th and 30th, our full-time Pilgrims re-enacted the fall of Lucifer and the victory of St. Michael, a play that was very much appreciated by the young and not so young people. Here is the text of the play, that contains the teaching of the Church about the fall of Lucifer and the means to protect oneself against the attacks and temptations of the devil.

The creation of the angels

(The curtain opens with God the Father seated on His throne.)

"In the beginning God created heaven and earth. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said:'Let there be light'. And there was light." (Genesis 1:1-3.)

On the first day of Creation, God created the angels in heaven, brilliant like stars in Heaven. All these spiritual beings were created in the state of grace, being destined to adore God and share His bliss for ever. The greatest, most beautiful and most intelligent of the angels was called Lucifer, a name which means "light-bearer".

(Lucifer enters the scene and kneels before God.)

However, the Divinity itself was not to be made manifest to them face to face and unveiled until they should have merited such a favor by obeying the divine will. The law and command was given to them, to acknowledge God as their Maker and supreme Lord, and to fulfill the end for which they have been created.

(Enter Mary, with the baby Jesus.)

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev. 12:1); she was expecting a son. This woman was the Virgin Mary, and Her son Jesus Christ, the future Redeemer of humankind.

God the Father then revealed to the angels the future incarnation of His Divine Son, Who they were to adore in His Sacred Humanity, and He then also revealed to the angels the dignity and glory of the Blessed Virgin Who as the Mother of God, they were to venerate as their Queen.

In his pride, Lucifer could not accept that a woman inferior to him in nature should at some future time be made his Queen. He then blasphemed and cried out:

"Unjust is God in raising the human nature above the angelic. I am the most exalted and beautiful angel, and the triumph belongs to me. It is I who am to place my throne above the stars and who shall be like unto the Highest; I will subject myself to no one of an inferior nature, and I will not consent that any one take precedence over me or be greater than I. Non serviam! I will not serve God, I cannot accept His will!"

The renegade angels, who were accomplices of Lucifer, took up the same rebellious cry. In his revolt, Lucifer brought with him one third of the angels of Heaven: the tail of the red dragon drew a third of the stars of heaven (Rev. 12:4)

(Lucifer leaves and is replaced by Satan.)

The seven capital sins

Once the most beautiful angel of heaven, Lucifer became Satan, in the form of a horrible red dragon with seven heads, the seven mortal sins, which are commonly called capital, for in these are contained all the other sins and they constitute as it were the regiments that rise up against God. They are the sins called pride, envy, avarice, anger, luxury, gluttony and sloth. They are the seven diadems with which Lucifer was crowned after being changed into a dragon.

(The seven devils representing the seven capital sins come to the front as their name is called.)

Pride – is a disordered estimation of oneself, in which we prefer ourselves to others and think that we are above them. No-one is exempt from this sin, and we would have a great illusion if we thought that we were never proud. To fight against this sin, we must practice the virtue of humility.

Envy – is a thought that our neighbor has better things or circumstances than we have and we are happy when something bad happens to him because of this. Envy produces jealousy, hatred, fights, calumnies, vengeance, revenge and other sins of this sort. To fight against this sin, we must practice charity towards our brothers and sisters.

Avarice – is a disordered attachment to worldly goods, especially money. There are several examples of this: Firstly, negligence of our religious duties and hardness of heart in regards to the poor, injustice and dishonesty. A person who has avarice in his heart is never satisfied, the more he has, the more he wants. To fight against this sin, we must practice detachment from worldly goods.

Anger – is a desire for revenge, vengeance, and also a desire to do violence to those who "get in our way". We must dominate anger with patience. There is an anger that is holy, called indignation, however this is only in the case of injustice against the laws of God and should not be confused with a disordered anger because someone did something that hurt our pride, for example.

Impurity or luxury – brings man to the level of an animal, and a disordered view of life. Leads to a disrespect for the human person, as the image and likeness of God. Promotes man to think of others as merely objects for his own pleasure, instead of equal beings created by God. To fight against this sin, we must practice chastity.

Gluttony – is a disordered love of food and drink, if we drink or eat to excess, beyond the necessary nourishment of our bodies. To fight against this sin, we must practice temperance.

Laziness or sloth – is a disordered love of sleep, that causes us to neglect our religion, or our duties in life. To fight against this sin, we must practice our duty in life.

(Then the various sacramentals are shown on the screen.)

To chase away the devil and temptations, we must have recourse to prayer and to sacramentals: the Rosary, holy water, the St. Benedict medal, the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, etc.

(Enter St. Michael…he kneels before God the Father… then he stops and challenges Satan.)

Then rose St. Michael the Archangel, who took the head of the angels who had remained loyal to God. Saint Michael, burning with zeal for the honor of God and armed with divine power and with his own humility, replied to Satan: "Quis ut Deus? Who is there like unto the Lord, who dwells in the heavens, or who to compare himself to Him? Be silent, enemy, cease thy dreadful blasphemies, and since iniquity has taken possession of thee, depart from our midst, wretch, and be hurled in thy blind ignorance and wickedness into the dark night and chaos of the infernal pains. But let us, O spirits of the Lord, honor and reverence this blessed Woman, who is to give human flesh to the eternal Word; and let us recognize Her as our Queen and Lady."

(Battle between St. Michael and demons on the stage, one at a time. After he finishes with them, Satan goes up for the final battle.)

"And there was a great battle in heaven; Michael fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought with his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who seduced the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." (Rev. 12:7-9)

(Satan crawls off the stage after being defeated by St. Michael.)

Through the sins which these disgraced angels had committed, they made themselves unworthy of the eternal vision and company of the Lord. Their memory was blotted out from His mind. Having lost the right to the places, which had been reserved for them, if they had obeyed, it passed over to mankind. The rebellious angels were precipitated in the center of earth, which is hell, where they will be eternally deprived of joy and light.

From that moment, Satan and his followers conceived ferocious hate for Jesus and Mary, as well as for all mankind, which could still obtain a place in Heaven that they, the rebellious angels, had lost for ever.

As soon as he entered Hell, Lucifer exerted all his astuteness and diabolical malice in conferring with the demons and concocting plans to bring human beings to rebel against God so that they too may lose Heaven and go to Hell. Satan said to the other devils:

"Towards this end we must apply all our forces, all our solicitude and knowledge. We will subject the human creatures to our influence and will, in order to destroy them. We will persecute this race of men and will deprive them of the reward promised to them. We will exert all our vigilance, to prevent them from arriving at the vision of God, which was denied us unjustly. I will sow new sects and errors, and set up laws contrary to those of the Most High in all things. I will sow discord, excite wars, and stir up nations against each other. I will raise up proud and haughty men to extend the dominion of sin and after they shall have executed my designs, I will bury them in this eternal fire, and in so much the greater torments, the more faithfully they followed me. This is my kingdom and this is the reward which I will give to those who follow me."

(The demons and Satan leave the scene.)

And St. Michael and his faithful followers won a glorious victory. Heaven was purged of the evil angels, and the veil that covered the Divinity was removed for the glory and happiness of the good and obedient angels.

"And I heard a loud voice saying: Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ; because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night." (Rev. 12:10)

In reward for his zeal and fidelity, the holy Archangel Michael was made prince and commander-in-chief of all the heavenly angels.

(Here St. Michael is crowned by God the Father.)