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| Satan about to enter the serpent so he can deceive Eve |
Taking courage therefore in the precept, which was given to Adam and
Eve, and having prepared the snare, Lucifer entered with all his energy upon
the work of entrapping them and of opposing and hindering the execution of the
divine Will.
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| After entering the serpent, he waited to make sure that Eve was alone |
He first approached the woman, and not the man, because he knew
her to be by nature more frail and weak, and because in tempting her he would
be more certain that it was not Christ whom he was encountering. Against her
also he was more enraged ever since he had seen the sign in the heaven and
since the threat, which God had made in it against him. On all these accounts
his wrath was greater against Eve than against Adam. that he took the form of a
serpent (Gen. 3, 1), and put Eve to the test.
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| Now that Eve was almost alone, he advance toward her for the temptation |
When Lucifer saw the two fallen and their interior beauty and grace and
original justice changed into the ugliness of sin, he celebrated his triumph
with incredible joy and vaunting in the company of his demons.
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| Satan and his demon celebrate his triumph |
But he soon fell from his proud boasting, when he saw, contrary
to his expectations, it was not the mother of Christ he tempted. All hell was again
in confusion. His consternation grew, when he heard the sentence, which God
pronounced against the guilty ones, in which he himself was implicated. More
especially and above all was he tormented by the repetition of that
threat: The Woman shall crush thy
head (Gen. 3, 15), which he had already heard in heaven.
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| The serpent now saw that it was not Blessed.Mary he tempted but Eve and not Christ but Adam. |
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God apepeared and pointing to Blessed Mary, He said to the serpent, "She shall crush your head" (Gen. 3:15) Douay Rheims version
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From that on, he attempts to circumvent all women, and persecutes all
those whom he sees excelling in the perfection of their works and life,
expecting to find among them the one who was to crush his head. And thus the Immaculate Mary triumph and satan was vanquished.
