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Dear friends
A meditation for any of you who would like a read at it.
**What You Can Do About Temptation!
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P. Used with permission, from the Passionist Priests, to help spiritually guide the layman.
It’s not unusual for a confessor to be asked this question: “I want to love God so much, yet I have such strong temptations to certain sins. What is worse these temptations seem so attractive at times. Why is this?”
The Apostle Paul could easily answer that question. He wrote of how he experienced the same conflict-the law of his members fighting against the law of his mind. This constant conflict between our built-in inclinations to evil and our frequent desire to love God is the lot of everyone.
The first thing to say about temptation is-don’t be surprised at it! Scripture warns that we are inclined to evil from the days of our youth-and what is temptation but an invitation to evil. No matter how prolonged or intense the invitation-no one has to accept it. It’s what you do with temptation that really matters!
Is everyone tempted in the same way and in the same degree? Of course not! For one thing, your type of character and temperament makes a difference. Some saints are tempted against purity most of their lives, while others are freed after a brief encounter with temptation. Some are more inclined by nature to pride, while others have to be on guard against sensuality or avarice.
Difference of upbringing also leaves its mark here. A person trained to virtue from his youth will have an easier time of it than one who is not. Each soul usually has one special weakness, as well as past history of certain sins. These also influence his present behavior in time of temptation. Finally, there is the Providential design of God on each soul.
Why does God invite you to union with Himself and then permit you to be tempted so strongly? That’s easy, too. Temptation enables you to merit Heaven by your loyal struggle for “only the violent carry away.” Through it, God permits a means of purification as well as atonement for past sins. It even offers the opportunity to grow in the very virtue against which you are tempted.
Fully-confident that “to those who love God all things work unto good” the saints used their temptations as stepping stones to greater love of God. Each new temptation made them less reliant on self and more reliant on the grace of our Savior. They even found in their temptations an indication of the virtues God wished them to cultivate to a higher degree. Thus, their temptations prodded them on to a greater spiritual progress.
What’s the best way to fight temptation? First be humble-for humility wins God’s grace and grace is made perfect in infirmity. Don’t be over-anxious about temptations because this may increase them; and don’t be over-careless, or temptation may catch you off guard. With alertness, firmness and calmness combat it when it strikes. Certain temptations are better handled by diversionary tactics such as those against chastity, rather than by trying to “push” them out of your mind.
Above all, pray frequently and fight perseveringly. Our Blessed Lord promised help to those who ask and a crown to those who persevere until the end. Some of His greatest saints were molded in a crucible of temptation. The same could be true of you!**
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God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa
A meditation for any of you who would like a read at it.
**What You Can Do About Temptation!
By the late Father Kilian McGowan, C.P. Used with permission, from the Passionist Priests, to help spiritually guide the layman.
It’s not unusual for a confessor to be asked this question: “I want to love God so much, yet I have such strong temptations to certain sins. What is worse these temptations seem so attractive at times. Why is this?”
The Apostle Paul could easily answer that question. He wrote of how he experienced the same conflict-the law of his members fighting against the law of his mind. This constant conflict between our built-in inclinations to evil and our frequent desire to love God is the lot of everyone.
The first thing to say about temptation is-don’t be surprised at it! Scripture warns that we are inclined to evil from the days of our youth-and what is temptation but an invitation to evil. No matter how prolonged or intense the invitation-no one has to accept it. It’s what you do with temptation that really matters!
Is everyone tempted in the same way and in the same degree? Of course not! For one thing, your type of character and temperament makes a difference. Some saints are tempted against purity most of their lives, while others are freed after a brief encounter with temptation. Some are more inclined by nature to pride, while others have to be on guard against sensuality or avarice.
Difference of upbringing also leaves its mark here. A person trained to virtue from his youth will have an easier time of it than one who is not. Each soul usually has one special weakness, as well as past history of certain sins. These also influence his present behavior in time of temptation. Finally, there is the Providential design of God on each soul.
Why does God invite you to union with Himself and then permit you to be tempted so strongly? That’s easy, too. Temptation enables you to merit Heaven by your loyal struggle for “only the violent carry away.” Through it, God permits a means of purification as well as atonement for past sins. It even offers the opportunity to grow in the very virtue against which you are tempted.
Fully-confident that “to those who love God all things work unto good” the saints used their temptations as stepping stones to greater love of God. Each new temptation made them less reliant on self and more reliant on the grace of our Savior. They even found in their temptations an indication of the virtues God wished them to cultivate to a higher degree. Thus, their temptations prodded them on to a greater spiritual progress.
What’s the best way to fight temptation? First be humble-for humility wins God’s grace and grace is made perfect in infirmity. Don’t be over-anxious about temptations because this may increase them; and don’t be over-careless, or temptation may catch you off guard. With alertness, firmness and calmness combat it when it strikes. Certain temptations are better handled by diversionary tactics such as those against chastity, rather than by trying to “push” them out of your mind.
Above all, pray frequently and fight perseveringly. Our Blessed Lord promised help to those who ask and a crown to those who persevere until the end. Some of His greatest saints were molded in a crucible of temptation. The same could be true of you!**
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God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa