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(REV 12, 13-16) THE DRAGON PURSUED THE WOMAN [13] When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. [14] But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. [15] The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. [16] But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. (CCC 2852) "A murderer from the beginning,... a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world" (Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9). Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death" ("Roman Missal," Eucharistic Prayer IV, 125). Now "we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one" (1 Jn 5:18-19). The Lord who has taken away your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and keeps you from the wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is accustomed to leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself to God does not dread the devil. "If God is for us, who is against us?" (St. Ambrose, "De Sacr." 5, 4, 30: PL 16, 454; cf. Rom 8:31).
Credit: way-of-witch.blogspot.com
