One of the best ways of fighting the devil is by developing a close relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Because, the devil hates her and runs far away from those who are close to her.
So, according to an Italian exorcist Fr. Sante Babolin, “while I was invoking the Most Holy Virgin Mary insistently, the devil answered me: ‘I can’t stand That One called (Mary) any more and neither can I stand you any more.’
He went on to discover that “the strongest reactions’ of the devil during the exorcism takes place when references are made in regards to her apparitions”.
However, Fr. Babolin frequently invokes the Virgin Mary under her titles of Our Lady of “Lourdes, Fatima or Guadalupe.”
Also, a famed exorcist known as Fr. Gabriele Amorth confirmed this reality where he was dialoguing with the devil and the devil said to him, “I am more afraid when you say the name of the Madonna, because I am more humiliated by being beaten by a simple creature, than by Her.”
Pope Francis also, related similar words in a homily at St. Mary Major, “ For any home the Madonna reigns in, the devil does not enter; where there is the Mother, disturbance does not prevail, neither does fear win.”
But why is the devil so afraid of the Virgin Mary, a very simple girl from Nazareth?
During the Rite of Exorcism the priest would say this prayer “The glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, commands you; she who by her humility and from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception crushed your very proud head.”
This particular prayer refers to a prophecy foretold in the book of Genesis, where God told the serpent in (Genesis 3:15), “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel”.
The verse however, can be translated as “she will strike your head,” and She has traditionally been applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Her humility was so strong that it crushes the “proud head” of Satan and is the surest defense against Satan and his attacks. As the devil said to Fr. Amorth , “She annoys me because she is the humblest of all creatures, and then I am the proudest; because she is the purest of all creatures, and I am not; because, of all creatures, she is the most obedient to God, and I am a rebel!”
Therefore, if someone wants to defeat the work of evil in their lives and in the world, one of the strongest and surest responses is to fly to the Virgin Mary. However, St. Padre Pio agreed with this as he said, “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life smoothly without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and ensure you pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the only weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God goes through the Blessed Mother.”
