The Web of Evil

A FEW MONTHS ago there was a press scare in England about ‘False Widow Spiders’. These are not native to England, but have for some time been spreading along the south coast, and now further inland. They are venomous, but unlikely to be deadly to human beings, although they might give a nasty bite if disturbed. Nevertheless, there have been reports of swollen limbs and hospitalisation, as well as a school being closed as the result of an infestation. A medical expert has said, “People’s reactions can vary, and in a few very rare instances people have had allergic reactions. Some reports suggest that a number of recent stories have involved bacterial infections with no spider spotted at all – suggesting a hint of scaremongering and fear perpetuating fear.”

 

Arachnophobia

 

Fear of spiders is quite common, and we even have a special name for it, ‘arachnophobia’, but are there any rational grounds for it? In his commentary for the third Sunday in Lent, St. Anthony likens the devil to a spider. By means of evil temptation, “the devil weaves the web of wickedness. The devil spins his web like a spider, of which Natural History tells us: ‘The spider first puts forth the thread of her web, and fastens it at the ends. Then she weaves in the middle, between these ends, and so produces a web strong enough, in a conveniently prepared place, for hunting. She comes into the middle, as one lying in wait for some small beast. If some fly, or the like, falls in, at once the spider moves, leaving her place and starting to bind it and wind it round with the web, until she reaches the point where the prey is helpless. Then, when she feels hungry, she sucks the moisture from it; and without that moisture she cannot live.’” (Sermons I, 151)

 

Sucking at the heart

 

It’s easy to see how the ideas of lying in wait, entrapment, sucking out life and so on suggest the devil. In the Alien films the monster wraps up its human prey for later consumption, as do the giant spiders in Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The whole idea makes our flesh creep!

St. Anthony goes on, “In the same way, when the devil wants to catch a man, he first puts out the slender thread of subtle thought, and fixes it at the ends, the senses of the body. By this, he can craftily find out to which vice the man is most susceptible. Then, in the midst – the heart – he weaves a web of temptation, sufficiently strong and in a conveniently prepared place for hunting. He comes to the middle, as one lying in wait for some small creature. The devil finds no member, in all the human body, which is so suitable for hunting, lying in wait and deceiving, as the human heart: for that is the very source of life.” (Sermons I, 151-2)

Once the devil has caught a sinner in his web, “he begins to bind it with all sorts of temptations, to wind it in darkness until it becomes helpless and enfeebled in mind.” Then he sucks out the very life of the soul. The image is very powerful, and in other places too the Saint uses the picture of a spider or its web to warn against sin. Nevertheless real spiders are not harmful creatures at all, but part of God’s wonderful creation; they are actually very useful creatures. My study at home is liable to invasion from woodlice from the garden, but all I ever find on the windowsill are desiccated corpses, because the guardian spiders have intercepted them and disposed of them.

 

Useful creatures

 

In the children’s book Charlotte’s Web, the heroine is a little spider who manages to save the life of the piglet Wilbur, who was destined to become bacon! It is good that at least sometimes a more positive image of spiders should be given. All creatures serve some purpose in the great symphony of creation, although that purpose may not always be obvious to human beings. St. Francis would not tread on the lowliest worm because everything reminded him in some way of the Creator.

Everything that exists must be in some way willed by the Creator, and to that extent must have good in it. True evil only comes about when a created free being – angel or human – rebels against God and sets its own will against the Creator. That is what the Devil and his angels have done, and in order to frustrate God’s purpose they try to entrap human beings into making the same bad choices. In the Book of Job (one of St. Anthony’s favourites), Satan tests Job’s loyalty to God by inflicting the most frightful sufferings upon him, hoping that by this means he will make Job curse God. Although Job cannot understand why God allows this to happen, he will not reject God. His friends try to explain, but Job knows that it is a mystery that only God can explain. In this life, however, God does not explain; even in the Cross He offers not so much an explanation as the message: This happened to me, too. When God became a human being, He allowed Satan to test Him just as we are tested, and thereby defeated Satan. As Cardinal Newman wrote, “O wisest love! That flesh and blood, which did in Adam fail, should strive again against their foe, should strive and should prevail.”

 

Sister Spider

 

St. Anthony has much to say about the devil’s deceits, of the way he lies in wait to trap us, and of the way Christ has overcome him.

“The devil always acts according to the same manner. In the same way that he tempted Adam in Paradise, he tempted Christ in the desert, and he tempts every Christian in this world. First he tempted Adam by greed, vainglory and avarice, and overcame him by this temptation. Then he tempted Christ, the second Adam, in the same way; but in tempting he himself was overcome, because it was not just a man, but God, whom he was tempting. We share in both Adams, the first by the flesh and the second by the spirit.” (Sermons I, 94)

The Bible, and St. Anthony, use images drawn from the natural order to help us understand spiritual truths, for instance by likening the devil to a serpent or a spider, but we should not suppose that the creatures used to signify evil things are themselves evil. So what should you do if you find a false widow spider in your bath? Please don’t kill it: but don’t pick it up with your fingers, either. Catch it with a glass and a piece of cardboard, and put it out into the garden. That’s where it belongs! And praise God for Sister Spider, who teaches us by her way of life!