Demons: According to St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross

The Devil Counterfeits God

To deceive contemplative souls, the devil also counterfeits God. Obvious temptations are disguised as false apparitions of saints, or in beautiful or apparently holy words. John says:

The devil often purveys objects to the senses, affording to the sense of sight images of saints and most beautiful lights . . . . And to the sense of smell, fragrant odors; and he puts sweetness in one's mouth, and delight in the sense of touch. He does all of this so that by enticing persons through these sensory objects he may induce them into many evils (Ascent, 133).

Teresa experienced such temptations on several occasions when the devil attempted to present himself to her as the Lord by making a false likeness of Him. But she noticed that the soul becomes troubled, despondent, restless, and is unable to pray. The same is true concerning interior locutions, also difficult for the soul to judge. In these cases, John of the Cross advises that accurate discernment depends on the holiness of the spiritual director: "A person, in consequence, will have to be very spiritual to recognize this" (Ascent 207).

Different Kinds of Temptations

In the Spiritual Canticle, John of the Cross explains three different kinds of diabolic temptations that affect advanced spiritual souls: First, those that vehemently incite the imagination; second, when the first way proves futile, bodily torments and noises that distract the soul; and third, still worse, the sometimes frightful torment of the devil struggling against the soul with spiritual terrors and horrors (476). The Spanish saint gives little detail of the second category of temptations, although as we read in biographies of his life, he was affected by them (Vida y Obras, 111).

In the case of spiritual horrors, "the devil can do this easily, for since the soul at this time enters into great nakedness of spirit for the sake of this spiritual exercise, the devil can easily show himself to her, because he is also spirit" (Spiritual Canticle 476). His mysterious presence poses intriguing psychological and spiritual problems.

It is accepted theological doctrine that ordinarily the diabolic influence is through the senses, especially internal senses of memory and imagination. But both John of the Cross and Teresa suggest that some temptations and horrors may transcend the senses and affect the spiritual powers of the soul. This seems to occur only in advanced contemplatives who have already reached the spiritual betrothal with God in the sixth mansion and are near the threshold of the seventh one, the spiritual marriage. Let us consider John of the Cross' description of the horror that the devil causes through the senses:

When the spiritual communication is not bestowed exclusively on the spirit, but on the senses too, the devil more easily disturbs and agitates the spirit with these horrors by means of the senses. The torment and pain he then causes is immense, and sometimes it is ineffable. For since it proceeds nakedly from spirit to spirit the horror the evil spirit causes within the good spirit, if he reaches the spiritual part, is unbearable (Dark Night, 383).

Later, in Dark Night, John of the Cross suggests the possibility of a purely spiritual contact: "This horrendous communication proceeds from spirit to spirit manifestly and somewhat incorporeally, in a way that transcends all sensory pain" (385).

Near the spiritual marriage, the fight for salvation and the struggle of good and evil are dramatically enacted. The angels assist the soul and the demons try for their last chance. When the spiritual communications are from the angels, the devil may detect some of these favors granted to the soul. "God ordinarily permits the adversary to recognize favors granted through the good angels so that he may do what he can, in accord with the measure of justice, to hinder them" (384). Then the devil cannot complain that he is not given the opportunity to conquer the soul. According to John, he could do this if God does not allow for a certain parity between the two in the struggle for the soul.

The angels produce spiritual communications; the demons, spiritual horrors. But in the end, victory belongs to the good angels. These horrors that purify the soul are followed by a spiritual favor, in accord with the dark and horrible purgation it suffered. The soul "will enjoy a wondrous and delightful spiritual communication, at times ineffably sublime. The preceding horror of the evil spirit refined the soul so that it could receive this good" (385). John remarks, however, that these spiritual visions belong more to the next life than to this.

Teresa experienced similar encounters and observed that the devils produce nothing but aridity and disquiet: