Chapter 9 - Lead us not into Temptation

Every thing is a snare to us in this life; every thing is cause or occasion of temptation. No age is exempt; no time nor place, no condition of life, no occupation is secure from it. Temptations from external objects, which flatter the senses, excite the imagination, allure and seduce the soul; temptations from the world in the midst of which we must live, and whose maxims, principles, examples, authority even and tyranny draw us toward vice, and restrain us from virtue; temptations from Satan, who never sleeps, who goes about incessantly "like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," who respects neither solitude nor places of prayer nor the most holy exercises, who stirs up the passions, who spreads a thick cloud over the spirit, who overwhelms the soul with trouble, who violently shakes the will, and excites such delight that it is almost impossible to discern whether we have consented or not. Temptations still more dangerous spring from our pride, our self-love, our unholy passion, our curiosity, all the vices that we have in embryo, and that age only develops and strengthens. Instead of finding in ourselves any resource against the enemy without, we are our own most formidable enemies. We should have nothing to fear from others if we were not secretly in league with them. Even with a good intention, and after the strongest resolutions, what weakness we show in emergencies! We are astonished at ourselves; we could not have believed that we were so frail. If the hand of God did not sustain us, we should make as many falls as steps.

Nevertheless in spite of all their dangers, temptations are useful and even necessary. "What does he know who has never been tried?" He knows not the extent of his misery and corruption; he foolishly presumes upon his strength; he has not true and deep humility. He knows not God, nor the work of His grace in guiding souls, nor the perfect confidence they ought to have in Him, nor His faithfulness in helping the needy who call upon Him, nor the invincible power of His protection. The more devoted one is to Him, the more acceptable one is in His sight, the more should one expect to be proved by temptation. To wish to be exempt from it, is to renounce the most valuable thing in the practice of virtue.

What shall we do then, and what part shall we take between the necessity of being tempted for our advancement, and the peril of being conquered? Nothing but to throw ourselves into the arms of our Father, and to implore Him to keep us from falling. Let us call upon Him incessantly. We have no fear of not being heard, and helped accordingly. Let us keep very near Him, and evil will not approach us. His holy presence, if we maintain it preciously in our heart, will repulse all attacks of the enemy, and will prevent him, notwithstanding all his efforts, from penetrating into that heart in which God dwells.

But to be assured that God will not let us fall into temptation, in the first place we must never expose ourselves to it rashly, nor seek occasion for it, but rather anticipate it, and flee from it as far as possible. It has been said, that "he who loves perils shall perish in them." That we may feel under obligation to avoid them, it is not necessary that they should be evidently dangerous: it is sufficient that they be suspicious, and that we have good reason to distrust them. In the second place, if the occasions are unavoidable, or entire surprise, let us not be alarmed: let us have recourse promptly to God, in order that He may sustain us in the trying circumstances in which His Providence has placed us, or that He may withdraw us from the evil into which our own imprudence has thrown us; and let us not doubt that He will come to our help. In the third place, it is necessary to have an habitual horror of sin, without distinction of its magnitude or lightness; so that this impression may be the first we receive at the slightest danger of exposure to it. It is necessary, furthermore, to be so accustomed to prayer, that recourse to it on critical occasions may be the first movement of the soul, almost before any deliberation. In general, distrust of ourselves and confidence in God, watchfulness, recollection, the spirit of prayer, fidelity to grace even in little things, will shield us from a great many temptations, or will sustain us in those that God may permit for our spiritual good.

- from The Christian Sanctified by the Lord's Prayer, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou