It was early morning in the convent. The friars were leaving their beds and heading for the chapel with sleepy steps. With their usual and orderly calm, they began to occupy their seats and open their books, getting ready to sing their prayers. Some half-stifled yawning could be heard. Suddenly, one of them, Brother Peter, felt himself assaulted by a horrible sensation. From his seat at the back of the choir loft, he saw with terror that the back door, which was seldom used, began to open slowly to let in the most outlandish and frightening individual he had ever seen. Given the unmistakable aspect of the creature, Brother Peter immediately thought him to be the Devil; indeed, that character had all the appearances for him to be so. And so he was. Dressed in a habit, like the rest of the friars, the unmistakable and horrific face of Satan –otherwise impossible to describe—could be seen beneath the hood.

            Brother Peter could barely stifle a cry:

            –Aren’t you…?

            —Do not be afraid. I have no intention to harm you.

            —But, what about the other friars?—, said Brother Peter.

            —Don’t worry—answered the Devil, trying to calm him with a resounding voice. —No one can see me. And even if they did, they would not think it was me. Remember that you have been told that neither Hell nor I exist; that the good-natured God the Father condemns no one and wants only the salvation of all, completely free and with no effort involved. And they have been stupid enough to believe it; or at least they have pretended to believe it. You, on the other hand, are afraid of me, and for that I respect you. I do not bother myself to dialogue with fools who deny my existence; although I must admit that they please me and flatter me.

            Brother Peter started to regain his breath.

            —But then, why have you come here?

            The Devil answered almost immediately, not without repressing a grimace that perhaps was meant to be a guffaw.

            —Peter, you too ask foolish questions? Why does one come to the choir? To pray, of course, you idiot.

            The Brother was feeling more and more amazed by the moment:

            —But, do devils pray?

            The Devil immediately took advantage of the friar’s pause for breath:

            —Well, of course they do, you foolish swine. And why should we not pray? Indeed, praying is one of our most lucrative businesses, you son of a [censured]…! I shall explain it to you, and you will soon understand. It so happens that one of these days I am going to organize a prayer session; it will be an event with a touch of great class, at which I will be accompanied by my main collaborators from your World. You cannot even begin to imagine the fruits that I will obtain; and on top of that, I intend to have a great deal of fun.

            By now, Brother Peter has already achieved some control of himself:

            —But I have always heard people say that the Devil does not like to waste his time. Wouldn’t all that be a waste of time? Wouldn’t it also contribute to increasing, at least to some extent, the practice of prayer?

            Once again, Satan grimaced.

            —You humans are always thinking with your [censured]. You are hopeless. In the first place, it is true that I never waste my time; among other reasons, because I do not have any. My disgusting existence takes place in eternity, where there is no time, because that was where your accursed God put me. Besides – and this is the most important thing about this issue – you cannot imagine how fruitful it is to ridicule a form of worship as unfortunately important as prayer. When your foolish fellow humans see us praying (!?) they will be more reassured in their belief that prayer is a hoax. In this sense, I must admit –much to my delight, of course—that ever since the last Council things have been made very easy for us. In this world of yours, many of my human henchmen –always so foolish, not to say [censured]—think that they are doing me a favor by spreading filth by way of the media, by multiplying the atheist propaganda starting with the schools, or by making the naïve of this world believe that the worst aberrations, which are not proper even for animals, are achievements of progress. No, my hated Peter, no. Those acts of worship which you now celebrate, as well as those ceremonies that you continue to call liturgical, are precisely the best fields for our harvest. You do not believe in them and you also have paired them with ridicule and farce. But, what am I saying? The best of all is the preaching! I have succeeded in making you all, friars, priests, Bishops and Cardinals learn how to preach! Finally, you have decided to bore the people with your words! You never proclaim the true doctrine; you never point out the true problems that affect your flock; you never denounce the true roots of evil, while you are always worried about who says what… And above all this, anyone is able to realize that what your Shepherds preach is totally alien to their lives: it is wonderful! Let me tell you, Peter, if I could I would laugh heartily whenever I see your progressive people launch another new movie against Him Whom you call Jesus Christ. Poor devils…! Little do they know that precisely my best agents are inside…

            Brother Peter almost let out a cry:

            —What do you mean by that?

The Devil seemed to become more furious: —You ask me what I am trying to say? Let me explain it to you…

(To Be Continued)