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The tempter combines cunning with violence: we must meet him
with
prayer and vigilance
The devil has little hold on souls that are given to prayer and
mortification. The most common temptations hardly affect them,
since they forbid them entrance. Should they be occasionally taken
by surprise, it is because they are momentarily off their guard;
and as a rule there are no grave consequences. And it is not the
devil who is the principal instrument in such cases, for every
man, says St. James, is tempted by his own concupiscence, being
drawn away and allured. [88] Such souls are thus only usually
exposed to these temptations in so far as God permits them in
order to purify their conscience, exercise their patience, deepen
their humility, increase their merit, and add brightness to their
crown. It is of such temptations that I now propose to speak.
In the first place, I think we are unnecessarily afraid of them.
It would be presumptuous to defy the devil, but it is a sign of
weakness to be afraid of him. As St. Augustine says, he is a
chained dog, who can bark and worry, but he cannot bite if we keep
out of his reach. Such lively apprehension may arise from
different causes. The imagination has a lot to do with it. We are
struck by what we have read in the lives of certain saints, and
fancy we are going to pass through the same experiences, and be
driven, as they were, to the last extremity. Take courage, timid
soul! Great temptations are only for brave hearts; do not be so
vain as to suppose that God is going to treat you as He treated
such chosen souls, who are very few in number.
This fear may also arise from a craven spirit. Such hearts are
narrow, wanting in generosity, and incapable of great sacrifices.
They tremble at the least danger; all they ask for is a sweet and
untroubled piety, sheltered from the storms and blasts. No sooner
do the winds blow, the skies darken, and the thunders roll, than
they imagine the whole of their spiritual edifice is about to
totter. Faint-hearted soldiers, indeed! You would like to conquer,
but you do not want to fight. The mere sight of the enemy puts you
to flight. Complete victory is reserved only for those who resist
unto blood.
This fear also arises from a want of trust in God. If we trusted
absolutely to His strength, we would have nothing to fear; for
what have we to be afraid of, if God the all-powerful is on our
side? The Lord is my light and my salvation, says the Psalmist,
whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom
shall I be afraid? ... If armies in camp should stand together
against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up
against me, in this will I be confident. [89]
But instead of keeping our eyes on Our Lord, we look only at
ourselves. We measure our strength against that of our tempter
and, being only too conscious of our weakness, we lay down our
arms and turn our back before the battle has even begun. We
pretend that this is humility and a prudent distrust of self, but
it is not. It is self-love and presumption, which attributes
success to our courage, instead of expecting it from God alone. In
our blindness, we do not reflect that God's time for helping us is
when the testing comes. Before that, it would be useless and
dangerous to deem ourselves strong, as St. Peter did. But when the
moment arrives, God will help us, and will do so the more, the
more we put our trust in Him.
And why should we fear temptations? Do we not know that they are
necessary for us, since without them we can make no progress in
the way of perfection? Of course they are necessary to strengthen
us in the very virtues which they assail. We will never reach a
high degree of purity, faith, hope, or love for God or our
neighbour, unless we are strongly exercised in these virtues. Our
Lord taught that it is the storm that proves the stability of a
house; [90] that if the house be built on a rock, far from being
overthrown, it will be all the stronger. The temptations by which
the devil seeks to rob us of our virtues, render those virtues all
the dearer to us. We make greater efforts to retain them, and
quicken and multiply our prayers that God may be pleased to
preserve us from their loss.
Temptations, moreover, are necessary in order that we may know
ourselves as we really are. What doth he know that hath not been
tried, says the son of Sirach. [91] We must have faced the enemy,
and that more than once; have experienced the force of his
stratagems and of his onslaughts; have been tempted again and
again to give in, before we can appreciate that we can do nothing
without God, and all things with Him. [92] Before the battle, we
are either cowardly or presumptuous; it is only in the thick of it
that we learn really to know ourselves. Should we be overcome,
defeat brings with it humility. If, despite all resistance and
foresight, we feel ourselves on the point of giving in, we realize
better the greater need to call upon God for help. If, just when
we think we are irrevocably lost, God suddenly delivers us from
our peril, the very risk we have run forces us to realize that it
is to Him we owe the victory.
Temptations are necessary in order that we may learn not to trust
in our own strength. When the violence of the temptation is
extreme; when our strength is exhausted through long resistance;
when we see no way of escape and nothing seems left to us but to
surrender: then, seeing no hope in ourselves and having no further
defence, we must needs throw ourselves into the arms of God. This
is just the moment God has been waiting for, and never more than
now shall we receive His help. He has forced the issue, precisely
to show us that He alone can save us from destruction, even though
it seems inevitable. He loves to bring us back from the very gates
of death. The Lord killeth and maketh alive, it is written, He
bringeth down to hell, and bringeth back again. [93]
Finally, temptations are necessary to bring us into closer union
with God. When do we call upon Him with greater fervour than when
'our feet are almost gone, and our steps have well-nigh slipped'?
When do we hide in His bosom, if not when the enemy threatens to
deprive us of the life of grace? When all seems well, we forget to
think about God. It is only when temptation recalls us to Him that
we cling to Him, and will not let Him go.
As for those whom God has destined for the guidance of others,
temptations are essential for them, since there is no better
teacher than experience. They are able to feel more compassion for
those who are tempted, and are more patient with them. They
understand the tactics of the devil, they dread neither his
deceits nor his open attacks. They know with what weapons to
oppose him, and how to prevent and frustrate his plans. They are
in a position to encourage others, and to give them salutary
advice. A director who has not passed through similar trials has
not the same advantage. He is timid, hesitating, uncertain how to
decide. He bewilders those who apply to him or, what is worse, he
misunderstands their state, judges them culpable and treats them
harshly; he repels them, and drives them almost to despair.
You fear temptations? But God is faithful, Who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that which you are able; but will make also
with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it. [94] Let
us ponder a moment on these words of St. Paul.
God is faithful. That is to say, He always does what He promises.
He wills that the love of His children should be put to the test,
and so allows the devil to tempt them. At the same time, He has
promised to come to our aid. And what can all the efforts of hell
avail if God is with us? [95] If we turn to Him with confidence in
our hour of need, and do not abandon Him He will never abandon us.
The devil wants to harm us and turn us away from God; God's
intention is to strengthen us, and make us advance in virtue, by
the very things in which we are tempted. The devil can do nothing
of himself, and can only tempt us with God's permission and within
its limits. Moreover, as St. Paul reminds us, God will not allow
us to be tempted beyond our strength. His justice, His
faithfulness, His lovingkindness are all opposed to such a thing.
Therefore, before allowing us to be tempted, He waits until we
have attained a certain degree of strength. He does not bring us
face to face with the enemy right at the beginning of our course,
while our efforts are still weak and hesitating, and the least
rebuff might be too much for us. He prepares us from afar for the
combat; He forms and inures us before confronting us with the
enemy.
Besides this, He gives us the help we need at the time: He is at
our side. Not only does He inspire us with courage, but He fights
with us. The grace He gives us then is always sufficient to assure
us the victory, and even make us always superior to the enemy,
unless, by our presumption or want of trust, by our negligence or
infidelity, we are ourselves the cause that it becomes a
sufficient help and no more, with which God foresees that we shall
fall.
For God is always faithful. And even when we refuse the special
grace of which we have shown ourselves unworthy and with which we
would have been victorious, He gives us an ordinary grace, but one
strong enough to save us from a fall, although in fact it does not
do so through our own fault.
When, therefore, we are faithful on our part; when we have not
done anything to deprive ourselves of His special help, God will
always see to it that the temptation serves for our advance, the
struggle being followed by victory. This is what God wants, and He
will, on His side, do all that is necessary to assure our victory,
provided we place no obstacle in His way.
Let me add that the goodness of God is so great, as well as His
power, that He wills to, and can, make our very reverses turn to
our spiritual advantage, if we turn to Him with a sincere and
loving repentance, to which He invites us with the strongest
advances and the most pressing motives. Thus even the falls of
David and St. Peter, being turned to good account, contributed to
their sanctification.
Why then, need you fear temptations, if your trust in God is all
that it should be? You complain that these temptations beset you
during your time of prayer and at Holy Communion; that the devil
chooses precisely these times to attack you. Say rather, that God
permits you to be tempted just when you are best prepared to
resist evil; when your immediate intention is to unite yourself to
Him; when Jesus present in your heart will Himself repel the
assaults of the devil.
But, you say, this deprives me of peace in prayer. Very probably
your soul may then be agitated and troubled on the surface, but it
depends on yourself whether its depths are calm. It is not in the
devil's power to touch the depths of the soul, which is the true
seat of peace. You may lose the sense of calm, but that does you
no harm. It is for you to hold on to the reality.
But, again you will say, it keeps me from going to communion. Why
should it? You have only a more pressing reason for going. The
devil insinuates the feeling which would keep you away, only
because he knows what strength you obtain from it, and how certain
is his defeat if you meet him in that strength. Indeed, the most
violent temptations subside and fade away the moment we receive
the adorable Body of Christ. I do not know that it ever happened
that immediately after receiving Holy Communion anyone, no matter
how tormented by the most frightful thoughts beforehand, did not
find himself relieved from them
Again you say: the devil suggests images, thoughts; desires, that
fill my mind with horror. So much the better, if his suggestions
do fill your mind with horror, for then it is a manifest proof
that you reject them, and that God rejects them in you. Do you not
recall that Our Lord said: From the heart come forth evil
thoughts? [96] That means that our thoughts are only evil when the
heart conceives, encourages and takes pleasure in them. How, then,
can your thoughts be evil when your heart abhors them? Sin lies,
not in having an object present to the mind or impressed upon it,
but in the consent given by the will; and nothing is more opposed
to this consent than such a state of mind as yours.
'But I seem to have no strength whatever to resist such
temptations'. Since they fill you with horror, and you would
rather die than take the least pleasure in them, you do resist,
and that with all the strength of your will. You may not realize
it, but your will is in spite of everything, most active. Judge
for yourself by the result. God has reasons for not letting you
know that you are resisting, as you are in fact doing, because He
does not want you to attribute the victory to your own efforts,
and grow vain and self-complacent on the strength of it. He does
not want you to say: 'I was tempted, and I resisted' but 'it was
not I who fought, but God, Who fought and gained the victory for
me'. Are you not glad that the honour should be given where it is
due, and that God has placed you in the happy position of being
unable to deny it?
'Yet it seems to me that I have given my consent'. On what
grounds? 'Because the temptation lasted so long'. That is not a
reason. It merely proves that it was a long testing time for you.
Or is it because you thought you took pleasure in it? There is
such a thing as involuntary pleasure, an impression on the senses,
which is the natural effect of certain temptations. A heated
imagination may be the cause, or it may be the devil. But the
pleasure felt and the impression made are not the same thing as
consent. However, decide nothing on your own. You are in no state
to make any decision while you are disturbed. And once the
temptation has passed, do not think about it any more. It is very
dangerous to go over the whole thing again, and masters ofthe
spiritual life are unanimous in forbidding it. Refer the matter to
your confessor, and once he has given a general decision, and if
necessary repeated it, be perfectly at peace.
The Christian's arms against the devil are watchfulness and
prayer. Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. [97]
Our Lord does not say: in order that you may be kept from
temptation, but in order that it may not enter your heart, and
that you may not succumb to it. Vigilance is necessary against an
enemy who is as clever as he is violent; who, as a roaring lion
goeth about seeking whom he may devour. [98] Vigilance is
necessary for everyone, no matter how holy. Anyone not on his
guard, therefore, is for that very reason in danger from
temptation, and the danger is greater for a good man who presumes
on his strength than for a sinner who dreads the consequences of
his weakness. Remember Our Lord's words when He recommended
vigilance to the apostles: What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!
[99] Vigilance is necessary always. The enemy is ever lying in
ambush, and never sleeps. He awaits the moment to take us off our
guard, and he is as quick to do so as he is clever to know the
moment.
This vigilance consists in the first place in avoiding occasions
of temptation. One must never wilfully expose oneself to
temptation, under any pretext whatsoever. In ancient times, the
bishops were not at all anxious for Christians to expose
themselves to martyrdom, nor even to declare themselves without
necessity.
Several were known to have renounced their faith when under
torment, having thus declared themselves through an indiscreet
zeal. If, therefore, holy prudence did not allow them to seek
martyrdom, even more so were even the most holy among them
forbidden to venture on any deed fraught with peril, without being
assured that it was God's will. And even when it was clearly God's
will, they had to place all their trust in Him, so that the fear
of danger might not weaken their resolution.
In the second place, vigilance consists in a humble distrust of
oneself. The Lord is the keeper of the little ones, says David: I
was humbled and He delivered me. [100] He who is lowly in his own
eyes, and relies on God alone, will as surely not fail, as he who
trusts in his own strength is bound to be discomfited. To the
latter, even victory would be harmful, because of the presumption
to which it would give rise, and it might even lead eventually to
an irretrievable fall. No man shall prevail by his own strength,
we read in the Book of Kings. [101] If God, then, is our strength,
equally must our trust be in Him.
But do not confound, as many do, mistrust of self with faint-
heartedness. A faint-hearted man looks only at himself and,
comparing his danger with his weakness, turns his back on it, when
what he should do is to face it. The true Christian distrust of
self, while being aware of its own frailty, looks to God for its
strength, and when God calls it to battle fears naught. Indeed, on
the contrary, the more it feels its own incapacity for resisting,
the more certain is it that the divinestrength will sustain it.
When I am weak, says the apostle, then am I powerful. [102] And
again: I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth me. [103]
Vigilance consists, moreover, in a constant fidelity. Never give
up the practice of interior prayer and mortification. Follow
exactly the guidance God has given you in this matter, even in the
smallest things. Observe in every particular the rule laid down
for you, or that you have embraced. Allow yourself no wilful
breach of it, and the devil will have no power over you. His very
assaults will turn to his own confusion.
Above all, try always to remain calm in time of temptation. Do not
let your mind dwell on what is passing within you, and never argue
with the devil. You will only be entangled with your own thoughts
if you do, and you will be caught in his snares. Keep close to God
and let the storm pass. Your anxiety and arguing will only
increase the tempest and make it last longer. And when it has
passed, quietly continue on your way, without scrutinizing
yourself to see if you have taken any pleasure in it, or given
your consent.
To vigilance Our Lord would have you join prayer; and both must be
continuous. We ought always to pray and not to faint, says St.
Luke. [104] This continual prayer is, as has been said elsewhere,
but the directing of the heart towards God, and the heart's secret
cry for help. The devil cannot harm a soul thus disposed, and ever
shielded by the buckler of prayer.
Besides the general attitude of prayer, however, which should be
the soul's habitual state, it is a good practice, in times of
temptation, to take refuge if possible in your oratory, or in the
presence of the Blessed Sacrament. If that is not possible, then
at least have recourse to ejaculatory prayers, which are as so
many arrows wherewith to wound the foe. And let these prayers be
calm and submissive, and full of trust. Do not ask impatiently for
the temptation to pass, for such a request may come from self-
love. You are humiliated at being subjected to such horrible
thoughts, and you would like to shake off the feeling. But
humiliation is one of the best effects of temptations, and that is
why God permits them. Yield yourself up wholly, therefore, to God,
and bear with the temptations as long as God wants you to. He
alone knows what good is wrought by them. He has a fixed time for
relieving you of them, and that will take place as soon as you
have profited by them as fully as it is His will that you should.
Three times St. Paul asked to be delivered from an annoying
temptation, which God permitted in order that he might not fall
into the sin of vainglory, because of the greatness of the
revelations given him. And what was Our Lord's answer? My grace is
sufficient for thee; for power is thus made perfect in infirmity.
[105]
For temptations are the counterpoise of graces received, and our
graces are always in exact proportion to our temptations.2 We
delight in graces that raise us up, and we fear temptations that
humiliate us. But such humiliation is itself a grace, indeed a
greater grace than that which we previously enjoyed, for it
shields us against those dangers to which we might otherwise be
exposed. That is why God allows us to be tempted, and His infinite
power is all the more apparent by reason of our weakness.
Now however horrible and humiliating our temptations, we must
never hide them from our spiritual guide. We must open our heart
to him, and keep nothing back. God will bless such frankness,
which is in itself a great act of humility to which many graces
are attached. It will also inspire the director to strengthen and
encourage us as he sees fit. The devil will do all he can to
silence those he tempts, confident that he will succeed if only he
can persuade them to say nothing about the matter.
Be faithful, then, and from your guide you will receive peace and
light and strength. His decisions will calm you, his counsels
bring you light, and his exhortations give you fresh courage.
Having explained your case to him in all simplicity, abide by his
advice with complete confidence. Do not allow yourself to judge
otherwise than he has decided, not even in thought. Do not say: I
did not make my case clear; or, he did not understand me. There is
no end to that kind of argument. Acquiesce and submit. Moreover,
be strictly faithful in observing all he tells you, whether it be
to help you to avoid temptations, or to weaken or overcome them
altogether. |