A LETTER FROM SCREWTAPE
TO NEPHEW WORMWOOD
In the manner of C.S. Lewis*My Dear Wormwood,
Your letter of February 22 was distressing. Why does Ash Wednesday always upset you so? Have you never learned that these Christian rituals are nothing to fear; in fact they are just what we need to do our very best work.In a letter I wrote to you some years ago, which that scoundrel C.S. Lewis got his hands on, I thought I made it abundantly clear that these religious observances are golden opportunities for us. Remember what I told you about the one patient you were so concerned about, the man who decided it was time to go back to church. Didn't I tell you then how to make the situation work for you? Let him go to church. Then just gently preoccupy his time with the hat on the woman across the aisle, or the string hanging from the coat in front of him. Or better yet watch how he reacts to other people's praying. If you can get him to start thinking about how shallow other people are, you've got him in the palm of your hand! You know what pride did in the Garden!So when some of your patients start getting into this Lent thing, don't be concerned. Remember your training. We know from experience that what the Enemy wants from His faithful ones when they go to church is to listen to His Word. Diversion, my dim-witted nephew! Do they have parish bulletins? They're made to order! They'll miss the whole point of how He “suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous” if they're reading about Bingo next week! Now I agree, this is a very critical area. If they get even the slightest meaning out of the Word, they might carry it through the ritaul meal they share and out into their daily lives. This is especially important during Lent: we don't want them remembering the Enemy's love for them and celebrating it with any meaning. All those wonderful distractions will be for naught if they participate fully in the ritual that follows.From what you told me though, this may not be all that difficult. If so many keep coming in late, that will kill the momentum at the very beginning, making it a lot harder to get moving again. So keep making that a low priority in people's minds. And don’t you just love those cell phones!Next you've got to make sure that they keep relying on the attitude that getting involved is not essential. Let them think of the choir and everything that's going on, like those newcomers on display each weekend, is like some sort of a show. Watching and listening are not as dangerous as their actually getting involved by singing and praying together! Don’t let them think about why they come together each Sunday.The fact that the church was packed on Ash Wednesday shouldn't discourage you. In fact Lent is the best time to make a dent in what its all about. His priests want people to remember the covenant and to recall again their weakness in holding up their end of that relationship. Just keep confusing the issue: get them all uptight about when to fast and when to abstain. Make them worry about giving up something during Lent and then make them feel really guilty when they fail!The bottom line, Wormwood, is that we cannot afford to let the power of their coming together each week take hold. We've seen it happen in too many places: people get caught up in the meaning of that ritual meal as a celebration of everyone united with the Enemy and they start to turn their lives around and influencing the world around them. We just can't fight that. Especially during Lent. We'll lose, Wormwood I promise you. Stay alert! Remember to let them think that just being there is all that matters. That should do it.Sincerely,
Your Affectionate Uncle Screwtape
* The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis was published in 1942.Screwtape is a high ranking devil whose nephew Wormwood is a “devil-in-training.” C.S. Lewis uses this conceit to discuss Christian spirituality in England at the time of the Second World War. His work is a classic in spirituality.