Strictly speaking we owe the devil nothing but our enmity.

He is the ancient enemy, the deceiver. Against the absolutism of bumper stickers, the Christian affirms that, in the case of our approach to the devil and his legions, hate is a family value.

There is no hope for Satan's repentance, and we would waste our time praying for it. We are commanded to resist the devil by refusing to fix our gaze upon him — our eyes are meant for Christ.

If we accustom ourselves to looking at Christ who is the truth, we will immediately recognize the serpent condemned to crawl on his belly as he tries pathetically to pass either in the guise of an angel of light or the equally deceptive pose of a lion prowling about, seeking those whom he would devour.

We must see clearly with eyes of faith or we will succumb to the temptation inherent in these disguises and give the devil not just our enmity but either our worship or our fear. Christ himself showed us the way, rejecting Satan's false offer of the kingdoms of the world for one measly show of adoration. And he warned us against the second, telling us to fear only the one who can throw body and soul into hell.

God alone has that authority.

My great worry for the believing Catholic (and that is what I am) today is that fear of the devil is a more powerful temptation than worship.

For us, there is a certain tendency to panic because of what we see as the hold the devil has on this world. I do not say that we are perpetually cringing at the devil's power. Indeed, many do not cringe at all, but seem to valiantly attack wherever the devil seems to show his face, as if we were engaged in a supernatural game of whack-a-mole.

And therein lies the problem.

Our holy vigilance can sometimes be a sort of panic. Colleen Carroll Campbell, in her book, The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy, acknowledged in a very understated way that “conservative Catholics often are overly alert to the missteps of those they regard as inadequately orthodox.”

I think it's more than that. So-called “modern Catholics” often have a point: we “New Faithful,” particularly those of us who are young, are often overly quick to judge other Catholics as inadequately orthodox.

We observe a pattern of facts in people we don't really know, make the inferences necessary, and assume that the devil has seduced them. We realize we must say something. So we attempt to “evangelize” them. Only afterward, do we realize that we have spoken without knowledge.

Aim! Fire! Ready?

A story: A young couple I know are at a party with a number of devout, believing Catholics. One of the young priests sees the two, with their model good looks (he in his early 30s, she in her late 20s), their two successful careers, their nice clothes, and their zero children. Aha! Selfish young Catholics caught contracepting their early fertility away!

Father NewFaithful engages the young woman, attempting to convince her of the glories of Catholic motherhood. She agrees. Not taking Yes for an answer, he attacks the culture of contraception. She clearly agrees. Father NewFaithful takes one more swing at the glories of motherhood as experienced by young marrieds. She strongly agrees, escapes the conversation and cries the entire way home.

My friend, you see, has no children neither because her career is too important nor because she is addicted to a selfish life of money. Nor have she and her husband contracepted during their marriage. My friend has no children because she has had problems conceiving. And because she failed to declare her reasons for lack of children, she received — no questions asked — an attempt to convert her.

At that party the devil received more than his due.

If we don't want our New Springtime of Evangelization to become simply a Hot Angry Summer of Pious Badgering, followed by more defections from the Church because of our insensitivity, our judgment will have to be just — we will have to know whether we have the right target before we aim and fire at it.

The same goes for our evangelization of non-Catholics. It is no surprise that Mark Brumley had to write his very good book, The Seven Deadly Sins of Catholic Apologetics. He understood what Chesterton did: “For the convert's sake, it should be remembered that one foolish word from inside [the Church] does more harm than a hundred thousand foolish words from the outside.”

This unnecessary and dangerous payment to the devil is simply a form of despair mixed with pride: The Holy Spirit, who convicts us of sin and plants the desire to seek God, simply isn't keeping up, so we must do his work for him.

Better we should imitate John Paul II. Colleen Carroll Campbell quotes Rosalind Moss on our late Pope's trust in God's work in people: “He assumes that they want God, that they want to fulfill their calling in life. He assumes they're up to the task.”

David Paul Deavel is an associate editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture and a contributing editor for Gilbert Magazine.

He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife and two children.