Temptation

The Evil "so often makes use of the eye to penetrate the heart".

• Temptation

(...) You are so hampered by your humanity — it really overwhelms your souls too much — that you cannot follow My ways and you fall; or you stop disheartened. You go on saying to yourselves and to those who would like to assist you, quoting the examples of the Gospel for you: ‘But Jesus, but Mary, but Joseph (and so on for all the saints) were not like us. They were strong, they were immediately comforted in their sorrow, also in the little sorrow which they experienced, they did not feel passion. They were already beings out of this world’.

35.8 That little sorrow! They did not feel passion!

Sorrow has been our faithful friend and it had all the most varied forms and names.

Passion… do not use a word wrongly, by calling passion the vices which mislead you. Be honest and call them ‘vices’, and capital ones in addition. It is not true that we did not know them. We had eyes to see and ears to hear, and Satan caused those vices to dance in front of us and around us, showing them to us with their heap of filth in action, or tempting us with his insinuations. But, since we firmly wanted to please God, his filth and insinuations, instead of achieving the purpose intended by Satan, obtained the very opposite. And the more he worked, the more we took shelter in the light of God, disgusted as we were with the muddy darkness he showed to the eyes of our bodies and of our souls.

But we did not ignore passions in our hearts, in their philosophical setting. We loved our country, and in our country we loved our little Nazareth above every other town in Palestine. We were fond of our house, of our relatives and friends. Why should we not? We did not become slaves to our feelings because nothing is to be our master except God. But our feelings were made good companions.

My Mother uttered a cry of joy when, after about four years, She went back to Nazareth and entered Her house, and kissed the walls where Her ‘yes’ had opened Her bosom to receive the Son of God. Joseph joyfully greeted his relatives and his little nephews, who had grown in numbers and in years, and he rejoiced when he saw that his fellow citizens remembered him and they sought him because of his ability. I Myself appreciated friendship and because of Judas’ betrayal, I suffered as for a moral crucifixion. And why not? Neither My Mother nor Joseph ever placed more love for their home or their relatives before the will of God.

• Holy Family
• Jesus Christ
• Joseph of Jacob (Saint Joseph)
• Passions
• Saints and blessed
• Suffering and pain of Jesus Christ
• Suffering and pain of the Virgin Mary
• Temptation
• Temptations of Jesus Christ
• Temptations of the Virgin Mary
• The Virgin Mary

46.12 As you have seen kindness is always Satan’s disguise when he presents himself. He looks like an ordinary person. If souls are careful, and above all, if they are in spiritual contact with God, they perceive the warning that makes them cautious and prepares them to fight the devil’s snares. But if souls are distracted, separated from God by an overwhelming sensuality, and are not assisted by prayer, which joins them to God and pours strength into the hearts of men, then they seldom perceive the snares hidden under the innocent appearance and they fall into the trap. It is then very difficult for them to free themselves.

46.13 The two most common means adopted by Satan to conquer souls are sensuality and gluttony. He always starts from material things. Once he has dismantled and subdued the material side, he attacks the spiritual part.

First the morals: thoughts with their pride and greed; then the spirit, obliterating not only its love — which no longer exists when man replaces divine love with other human loves — but also the fear of God. Then man surrenders his body and soul to Satan, only for the sake of enjoying what he wants, and enjoying it more and more.

46.14 You saw how I behaved. Silence and prayer. Silence. Because if Satan performs his work of a seducer and comes close to us, we must put up with the situation without any foolish impatience or cowardly fears. We must react with resolution to his presence, and with prayer to his allurements.

It is useless to debate with Satan. He would win, because he is strong in his dialectics. Only God can beat him. And so you must have recourse to God, that He may speak for you, through you. You must show Satan that Name and that Sign, not so much written on paper or engraved on wood, but written and engraved in your hearts. My Name, My Sign. You should answer back to Satan, using the word of God, only when he insinuates that he is like God. He cannot bear that.

46.15 Then after the struggle, there comes victory and the angels serve and defend the winner from Satan’s hatred. They restore him with celestial dews, with the Grace that they pour with full hands into the heart of the faithful son, with a blessing that caresses his soul.

One must be determined to defeat Satan, and have faith in God, and in His help. Faith in the power of prayer, and in the Lord’s bounty. Then Satan can do no harm.

Go in peace. This evening I will gladden you with the remainder.»

• Fighting temptation
• Lucifer - Satan
• Temptation

Here is the Word of the Father that becomes food for you. Come, taste, change the blood of your spirits with this food. Let every poison vanish, let every lust die. A new glory is offered to you: the eternal one, to which all those will come whose hearts will truly study the Law of God.

Start from love. There is nothing greater. When you know how to love, you will already know everything, and God will love you, God’s love means help against all temptations.

• Eucharist
• Jesus Christ - Word of God
• Temptation
• Who is Jesus? How Christ defines himself

«When all the trees bloom in spring, the happy farmer says: “I will have a good crop” and that hope causes his heart to rejoice. But from springtime to autumn, from the month of flowers to the month of fruit, how many days, winds, rains, sunshine and storms must pass, and sometimes wars or the cruelty of the mighty ones and diseases of plants, and at times diseases of the men of the fields, so that the plants, no longer hoed up, no longer watered, pruned, supported or cleaned, although they promised copious fruit, wilt and die or bear no fruit!

You follow Me. You love Me. Like plants in springtime you adorn yourselves with purposes and love. Israel, indeed, at the dawn of My mission is like our sweet countryside in the bright month of Nisan. But listen. Like the excessive heat in dry weather, Satan, who is envious of Me, will come to scorch you with his wrath. The world will come with its icy winds to freeze your blooms. And passions will come like storms. And tedium will come like a persistant rain. All My enemies and yours will come to sterilise what should be the fruit of your inclination to bloom in God.

I am warning you because I know. Will everything then be lost, when I, like a sick farmer, even more than sick: dead, will no longer be able to speak to you and work miracles for you? No. I will sow and cultivate as long as I have time. Then everything will grow and ripen for you, if you keep good watch.

Look at the fig-tree near the house of Simon of Jonas. Whoever planted it did not find the right and most favourable spot. Planted as it was near the damp northern wall, it would have withered, if by itself it had not found protection to survive. And it sought sunshine and light. There it is: all bent, but strong and proud, drawing the rays of the sun from early dawn and converting them into nutrition for its hundreds and hundreds of sweet fruits. It defended itself by itself. It said: “The Creator wanted me, that I may give joy and food to man. And I want to join my will to His”. A fig-tree! A speechless tree! A soulless tree! And will you, children of God, the children of man, will you be inferior to a wooden plant?

Keep good watch to bear fruits of eternal life. I will cultivate you, and at the end I will give you such a powerful juice, that you will never find a more powerful one. Do not allow Satan to laugh at the destruction of My work, of My sacrifice and of your souls. Seek light. Seek sunshine. Seek strength. Seek life. I am the Life, Strength, Sunshine and Light of those who love Me. I have come to take you whence I came. I am speaking to you here, to call you all and point out to you the ten commandments that give eternal life. And with loving advice I say to you: “Love God and your neighbour”. It is the first condition to fulfil everything else well. It is the most holy of the holy commandments. Love. Those who love God, in God and for the Lord God, will have peace both on the earth and in Heaven, for their abode and their crown.»

People go away with difficulty after Jesus’ blessing.

• Creation - Flore
• Discipleship - Following Jesus Christ
• How to perfect and sanctify yourself
• Jesus Christ preaches in Capernaum
• Preaching of Jesus Christ
• Temptation

«Everyone can be tempted. Sinners are only those who want to be such.»

• Fighting temptation
• Sin
• Temptation
• Words of wisdom

Man can, if he wants, not sin.

• Fighting temptation
• Sin
• Temptation
• Words of wisdom

We have everything in us: good and evil. We carry everything with us. And the breath of God blows on the good and vivifies it like a thurible of sweet-smelling holy incense. And Satan blows on evil, thus kindling a furious blazing fire. But diligent goodwill and constant prayer are like damp sand on the hellish fire: they suffocate it and put it out.

• Defense of the Work
• Fighting temptation
• Free will
• Freedom
• Good and evil
• Goodwill
• Prayer
• Temptation
• Words of wisdom

Judas, answer this question of Mine. Will one who is hungry, suffer more by saying: “I will now sit down at the table” or by saying: “There is no food for me”?»

«He suffers more in the latter case, because the simple thought that he is without food, will bring back to him the pleasant smell of food and his bowels will be tortured by biting desire.»

«Right: temptation is as biting as that desire, Judas. Satan makes it more intense, more real, more alluring than any accomplished act. Further, the act satisfies, and at times nauseates; whereas temptations do not subside, but like pruned trees, they grow stronger and stronger.»

• Fighting temptation
• Sin
• Temptation

• Chair
• Lucifer - Satan
• Lust
• Temptation
• Woman