- But alas! Yes, we can experience in ourselves the fact that in almost all our actions we find ourselves tempted, either by pride, or by vanity, or by thinking about the opinion that others will form of us, or by conceiving jealousy, hatred, desire for revenge... Other times the devil approaches us to present us with the most filthy and impure images. See how, when praying, he stirs our spirit, taking it from one place to another; ¿And don't we even think that we are in a state... (i), when we are in the holy presence of God? And even more, from Adam to us, you will not find any saint who has not been tempted in one way or another; and the greatest saints were precisely those who experienced the greatest temptations. Jesus Christ himself wanted to be tempted, to make us understand that we would also be tempted: it is necessary, therefore, to stick to it. If you ask me what is the cause of our temptations, I will answer that it is the beauty and value of our soul, which the devil appreciates and desires so much that he would be content to suffer two hells, if necessary, in order to be able to possess it. drag to share their sorrows.
Let us never, then, fail to remain on guard, for fear that; At the least expected moment, the devil deceives us. Saint Francis tells us that one day the Lord made him see the way the devil tempted his religious, especially against the virtue of purity. He saw a multitude of demons who were entertaining themselves by throwing arrows at those religious people; some returned violently against the same demons that had thrown them: then they fled giving tremendous screams; Others, when hitting those at whom they were directed, fell at their feet without causing them any harm; others penetrated whole and crossed them from part to part. To reject temptations, Saint Anthony tells us, we must use the same weapons: thus, when we are tempted by pride, we must immediately humiliate and lower ourselves before God; If he wants to tempt us against the holy virtue of purity, we must strive to mortify the body and the senses, watching ourselves more diligently than ever. If he wants to tempt us by being annoying at the time of prayer, we must redouble our prayers and pay more diligent attention; and the more the devil induces us to abandon the usual prayers, the greater number of them we will have to pray.
The most fearsome temptations are those of which we are unaware. Saint Gregory relates that there was a religious man who for some time was very good; One day he conceived the desire to leave the monastery and return to the world, saying that the Lord wanted him out of that monastery. The superior told him: «My friend, this is the devil who is angry that you manage to save your soul; fight against him. The other not being convinced, the superior gave him permission to leave; But, upon leaving the monastery, the saint got down on his knees to ask God to make the poor religious know that all this was nothing but the schemes of the devil determined to lose him. He barely set foot on the threshold of the door to leave, when a terrifying dragon pounced on him. "Help, my brothers, he exclaimed, for a great dragon is coming to devour me!" The religious, upon hearing that noise, went to see what was happening, and found the religious lying on the ground almost dead; They took him to the monastery, and then the unfortunate man truly recognized that all that was just temptations of the demon who was dying of rage when he saw that his superior had prayed for him and prevented him from winning that soul. ¡Oh, how we have to fear that we will not know our temptations! And if we don't ask God, we will never know them.
What are we to take from all this, if it is not that our soul is something very great in the eyes of the devil, since he is so careful not to miss an opportunity to tempt us, in order to lose us and drag us to share his misfortune? But if, on the one hand, we have seen how great our soul is, how much God loves it, how much He suffered to save it, the goods He prepares for it in the other life; ¿And, on the other hand, we have seen all the tricks and traps that the devil lays out for us to lose it, what should we think about all this? What estimate will we make of our soul? What precautions will we take for her? Have we even once thought about its excellence and the care that we should have regarding it?
What do we do with that soul that has cost Jesus Christ so much? ¡Alas, it is as if we had her only to make her miserable and cause her suffering!... We consider her less estimable than the most vile animals; We feed the beasts we have in the stable; We take great care to close the doors so that thieves do not steal them; When they are sick, we go quickly in search of the veterinarian to cure them; Sometimes we even feel moved seeing them suffer. And do we do this for our soul? ¿Do we worry about feeding it with grace, or through the frequency of sacraments? ¿Do we make sure to close the doors so that thieves don't steal it from us? Alas, let us confess to our shame, we let her perish from misery; we let our enemies, which are the passions, tear it apart; we leave all the doors open; The demon of pride arrives, and we allow him to enter to murder and devour the poor soul; The one of impurity arrives, and also enters, to dirty and corrupt it. «Ah! Poor soul, Saint Augustine tells us, you are held in very little esteem. "The proud man sells you for a thought of pride, the miser for a piece of land, the drunk for a glass of wine, the vengeful for a thought of revenge!"
Really, where are our well-praised prayers, our devout communions, our holy masses heard, our resignation and conformity to God's will in hardships, our charity toward our enemies? Is it possible that we pay so little attention to such a beautiful soul, whom God loved more than himself, since he died to save her? ¡Oh! we love the world and its pleasures; On the other hand, everything that refers to the glory of God or the salvation of the soul angers and annoys us and we even complain when we are forced to do it. ¡Oh! What will be our regret another day!... On the surface, it seems that the world gives us some pleasure; but we were wrong. Listen to what Saint John Chrysostom tells us, and you will see how he who cares about saving himself is happier than he who only runs in search of pleasures and leaves his poor soul abandoned. “While I was sleeping, this great Saint tells us, I had a very singular dream, which, when I woke up, offered me many reasons for reflection and meditation before God. In that dream, I saw a delightful place, a pleasant valley, in which nature had gathered all the beauties, all the riches and all the pleasures capable of pleasing a mortal. What amazed me most was seeing in the midst of that vapor of delights a man with a sad countenance, an altered face and a worried spirit; From his disposition one could guess the confusion and emotion of his soul: sometimes he remained motionless, staring intently at the ground, other times he walked with great strides and with a lost air; Others stopped suddenly, exhaling deep sighs, sinking into deep melancholy, bordering on despair. Contemplating all this attentively, I saw that that valley of delights ended in a frightening precipice, in an immense chasm towards which the man seemed to be dragged by a strange force. Despite so many delights, that man seemed agitated, because, in view of those abysses, it was impossible for him to enjoy a single moment of peace and joy. But, directing my gaze towards the distance, I saw another place with a totally different appearance from the valley that I have described to you: it was a gloomy and dark valley, formed by abrupt mountains and sterile deserts; The most desolate dryness completely dominated those places; no vegetation or foliage, just brambles and thorns: everything inspired sadness, desolation and horror. But my surprise was great when I saw in that valley a pale, thin, exhausted man, yet with a serene face, a calm appearance, and a satisfied air; Despite his not very dashing external appearance, everything suggested that he was a man who enjoyed peace of mind, but, looking even further into the distance, I saw, at the end of that valley of misery and that horrible desert , a delicious place, a pleasant corner where all kinds of beauties were discovered.
He walked with determination, without stopping before the obstacles of the brambles and thorns that sometimes came to wound his flesh; The beams seemed to revive his strength. After a while, seeing all that, I asked why one was so sad in a place of pleasure and the other so calm in a mansion of misery. Then I heard a voice that said: These two men are, respectively, the image of those who are entirely devoted to the world, and of those who sincerely consecrate themselves to the service of God. The world, that voice told me, offers its followers wealth and pleasure from the first moment, at least in appearance: the unwary give themselves to them inconsiderately; but they soon have to recognize that they did not achieve what they thought. The saddest and most discouraging thing is that in the end they inevitably encounter an abyss into which all those who walk down that seemingly pleasant path will fall. The other, the voice continued, experiences in himself the opposite: and that is that, in the service of God, there are above all trials and hardships, he must dwell in a valley of tears; You have to mortify yourself, do violence to yourself, deprive yourself of the sweetness of life, spend your days in great hardship. But the spirit is encouraged by the sight and hope of an eternally happy future; Hard is the life of the man who lives in that sad valley, but the thought of the happiness that awaits him, consoles him and sustains him in all his struggles. Everything is consoling for him, and his soul is already beginning to taste the promised goods that await him and which he will soon fully enjoy.
¿Can we find a more exact and natural comparison to understand the difference between those who during their lives only seek to serve God and save their soul, and those who leave aside their God and their soul, to run after pleasures, which lead to hell?
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