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"It is most unfortunate for ourselves if we do not know that we are tempted in almost all our actions, at one time by pride, by vanity, by the good opinion which we think people should have of us, at another by jealousy, by hatred and by revenge. At other times, the Devil comes to us with the foulest and most impure images. You see that even in our prayers, he distracts us and turns our minds this way and that. (..)

And even more, since the time of Adam, you will not find a saint who has not been tempted -- some in one way, some in another -- and the greatest saints are those who have been tempted the most. If Our Lord was tempted, it was in order to show us that we must be also.

It follows, therefore, that we must expect temptation. If you ask me what is the cause of our temptations, I shall tell you that it is the beauty and the great worth and importance of our souls which the Devil values and which he loves so much that he would consent to suffer two Hells, if necessary, if by so doing he could drag our souls into Hell.

We should never cease to keep a watch on ourselves, lest the Devil might deceive us at the moment when we are least expecting it. St. Francis tells us that one day God allowed him to see the way in which the Devil tempted his religious, especially in matters of purity. He allowed him to see a band of devils who did nothing but shoot their arrows against his religious. Some returned violently against the devils who had discharged them. They then fled, shrieking hideous yells of rage. Some of the arrows glanced off those they were intended for and dropped at their feet without doing any harm. Others pierced just as far as the tip of the arrow and finally penetrated, bit by bit.

If we wish to hunt these temptations away, we must, as St. Anthony tells us, make use of the same weapons. When we are tempted by pride, we must immediately humble and abase ourselves before God. If we are tempted against the holy virtue of purity, we must try to mortify our bodies and all our senses and to be ever more vigilant of ourselves. If our temptation consists in a distaste for prayers, we must say even more prayers, with greater attention, and the more the Devil prompts us to give them up, the more we must increase their number.

The temptations we must fear most are those of which we are not conscious. St. Gregory tells us that there was a religious who for a long time had been a good member of his community. Then he developed a very strong desire to leave the monastery and to return to the world, saying that God did not wish him to be in that monastery. His saintly superior told him: "My friend, it is the Devil who is angry because you may be able to save your soul. Fight against him." But no, the other continued to believe that it was as he claimed. St. Gregory gave him permission to leave. But when he was leaving the monastery, the latter went on his knees to ask God to let this poor religious know that it was the Devil who wanted to make him lose his soul. The religious had scarcely put his foot over the threshold of the door to leave when he saw an enormous dragon, which attacked him. "Oh, brothers," he cried out, "come to my aid! Look at the dragon which will devour me!" And indeed, the brethren who came running when they heard the noise found this poor monk stretched out on the ground, half-dead. They carried him back into the monastery, and he realized that truly it was the Devil who wanted to tempt him and who was bursting with rage because the superior had prayed for him and so had prevented the Devil from getting him.

Alas, my dear brethren, how greatly we should fear, lest we do not recognize our temptations! And we shall never recognize them if we do not ask God to allow us to do so."

Source: The Sermons of the Curé of Ars, p.90, 1960

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

"Our Divine Lord, having been our model in every thing, would be our model in temptation also. For this end He allowed Himself to be led into the desert.The good soldier has no fear of the battle, and so a good Christian ought to have no fear of temptation. All soldiers are good in garrison: on the field of battle we see the difference between the brave and the cowardly.

The greatest of all temptations is to have none. We may almost say that we are happy in having temptations; it is the moment of the spiritual harvest, when we lay up stores for heaven. It is like the time of harvest, when we rise very early, and take a great deal of trouble; but we do not complain, because we gather in a great deal.

The devil tempts only those souls that wish to abandon sin and those that are in a state of grace. The others belong to him: he has no need to tempt them.

A saint, passing one day before a convent, saw a quantity of devils tormenting the religious, without being able to succeed in seducing them. He passed afterwards by a town, and saw a single one sitting down with his arms across, and guiding the whole population. Then, the saint asked him how he came to be alone in a great town, while there were so many tormenting a handful of religious. The devil answered him that he was quite enough for the town, because he tempted those who were already inclined to hatred, impurity, drunkenness, and it was done in a moment; while with the religious, it was more difficult. The army of devils occupied in tempting them lost their time and their trouble; they could gain no ground. So they waited till others should come, who might grow weary of the austerity of the rule.

In a monastery, during the Holy Sacrifice, one of the brothers saw devils prowling round those good religious. He saw one in particular stamping on the head of a monk, and another advancing and receding by turns. After Mass, this brother asked the two religious what had occupied their minds during Office. The first said he had thought of a floor he wanted to have made in the convent; and the second said that the devil had come to attack him, but he had always tried to drive him away. This is what all good Christians do; and, therefore, temptation is to them a source of merit.

The most ordinary temptations are pride and impurity. One of the best means by which we can resist them is a life of activity for the glory of God. Many people give themselves up to idleness and indulgence; so it is not surprising that the devil has them in his power.

A religious complained to his superior of being violently tempted. The superior ordered the gardener and the cook to call him every moment. Some time after, he asked him how he was getting on. "O father," he said, "I have no time now to be tempted !" If we were penetrated with the holy presence of God, we should find it easy to resist the enemy. With this thought, God sees thee! we should never sin.

There was once a good saint - I think it was St. Teresa - who complained to our Lord after having been tempted, and said to Him, "Where wert Thou then, O my most loving Jesus, during that horrible tempest?" Our Lord answered her, "I was in the midst of thy heart, taking pleasure in seeing thee fight against it."

At the moment of temptation we must firmly renew our baptismal promises. . . . Now listen well to that. When you are tempted, offer to the good God the merit of that temptation, to obtain the opposite virtue. If you are tempted to pride, offer the temptation to obtain humility; that of immodest thoughts, to obtain purity; or charity, if it is against your neighbor. Offer also the temptation to obtain the conversion of sinners; that spites the devil and puts him to flight, because the temptation is turned against himself: yes, after that he will be sure to leave you alone.

A Christian ought always to be ready for battle. As in time of war sentinels are always placed here and there to see if the enemy is approaching, so we ought to be always on our guard to see if the enemy is not laying snares for us, and if he is not coming to surprise us. One of two things: a Christian either rules his inclinations, or his inclinations rule him; there is no medium. It is like two men taking each other by the collar to try which is the strongest - one will throw the other down. One will almost always end by overthrowing the other; and when he has him on the ground, with his foot upon his neck, he does not care much for him: he has the upper hand. So with our passions; the struggle is seldom equal, either we guide our passions, or they guide us.

My brethren, how sad it is to let ourselves be led by our passions! A Christian is noble; he ought to command his vassals like a noble. Our vassals are our passions. A shepherd was asked what he was. He answered, that he was a king. Over whom do you reign? Over my subjects. And who are your subjects? My inclinations. This shepherd was quite right in saying that he was a king.

We are in this world like a ship upon the sea. What causes the waves? The storm. In this world the wind is always blowing. Our passions raise a tempest in our soul; and these struggles will gain us heaven.

We must not imagine that there is any place on the earth where we could escape from this war. We shall find the devil everywhere; and everywhere he will try to deprive us of heaven. But everywhere and always we may be the conquerors. It is not like other battles, in which one of two parties is always beaten; in this, if we choose, with the grace of God, which is never refused us, we may always triumph.

When we think all is lost, we have only to cry out, "O Lord, save us; we perish!" For our Lord is there, close to us, looking at us with complacency, and saying to us with a smile: "In truth thou lovest Me; I see that thou lovest Me." It is indeed by battles against hell, and by resistance to temptations, that we give God proofs of our love.

How many souls, unknown in the world, will one day be seen enriched by these victories of every moment! The good God will say to these souls, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, enter into the joy of your Master."

Our guardian angel is always there by our side, pen in hand, to write down our victories. We must say every morning,"Come, my soul, let us labor to obtain heaven. This evening our battles will be over." And in the evening, "Tomorrow, my soul, all the troubles of life will perhaps be over for thee."

We have not yet suffered like the martyrs. Ask them if they are sorry now... The good God does not require so much from us. There are some people who are upset by a single word. One little humiliation capsizes the ship... Courage my brethren, courage! When the last day comes, you will say, "Happy struggles, that have purchased heaven!"

Let us then fight generously. When once the devil sees that he has no power over us, he will leave us in peace. This is the way he usually treats sinners who are returning to God; he lets them taste the sweetness of the first moments of their conversion, because he knows very well that he would gain nothing; they are too fervent. He waits a few months, till their first ardor has passed away; then he begins to make them neglect prayer and the Sacraments; he attacks them with divers temptations; then come the battles, and then indeed is the time to ask for strength, and not to let ourselves be overcome. Some people are so weak that when they are a little tempted, they give way, like soft paper. If we were always marching forward like good soldiers, we should raise our hearts to God when war or temptation come upon us, and take courage. But we linger behind; we say, "Provided I am saved, that is all I want. I do not wish to be a saint." If you are not a saint, you will be lost, there is no medium - you must be one or the other; mind that.

All those who will one day possess heaven will be saints. The souls in purgatory are saints, because they have no mortal sins; they have only to be purified, and they are friends of the good God. Let us work hard, my children; the day will come that we shall find we have not done at all too much to gain heaven."

Source: The Spirit of the Cure d'Ars by l'abbe Monnin, p.133, 1865.

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

" If we understood fully what it is to receive the Sacraments, we should bring to the reception of them very much better sentiments that those we do. It is true that the greater number of people, in hiding their sins, always keep at the back of their minds the thought of acknowledging them. Without a miracle, they will not be any the less lost for that. If you want the reason, it is very easy to give it to you. The more we remain in that terrible state which makes Heaven and earth tremble, the more the Devil takes control of us, the more the grace of God diminished in us, the more our fear increases, the more our sacrileges multiply; and the more we fall away. The result is that we put ourselves almost beyond the possibility of returning into favor with God. I will give you a hundred examples of this against one to the contrary. Tell me, my dear brethren, can you even hope that after passing perhaps five or six years in sacrilege, during which you outraged God more than did all the Jews together, you would dare to believe that God is going to give you all the graces which you will need to emerge from this terrible state? You think that notwithstanding the many crimes against Jesus Christ of which you have been guilty, you have only to say: "I am going to give up sin now and all will be over."

Alas my friends! Who has guaranteed to you that Jesus Christ will not have made to you the same threat He made to the Jews and pronounce the same sentence which He pronounced against them? You did not wish to profit by the graces which I wanted to give you; but I will leave you alone, and you will seek Me and you will not find Me, and you will die in your sin.

Alas, my dear brethren, our poor souls, once they are in the Devil's hands, will not escape from these as easily as we would like to believe.

Look, my dear brethren, at what the Devil does to mislead us. When we are committing sin, he represents it to us as a mere trifle. He makes us think that there are a great many others who do much worse than we do. Or again that as we will be confessing the sin, it will be as easy to say four times as twice. But once the sin has been committed, he acts in exactly the opposite way. He represents the sin to us as a monstrous thing. He fills us with such a horror of it that we no longer have the courage to confess it. If we are too frightened to keep the sin hidden, he tells us, to reassure us, that we will confess it at our very next confession. Subsequently, he tells us that we will not have the courage to do that now, that it would be better to wait for another time to confess it. Take care, my dear brethren; it is only the first step which costs the effort. Once in the prison of the sin, it is very difficult, indeed, to break out of it.

But, you are thinking, I do not really believe that there are many who would be capable of hiding their sins because they would be too much troubled by them. Ah, my dear brethren, if I had to affirm on oath whether there were or were not such people, I would not hesitate to say that there are at least five or six listening to me who are consumed by remorse for their sins and who know that what I say is true. But have patience; you will see them on the day of judgment, and you will recall what I have said to you today. Oh, my God, how shame and fear can hold a Christian soul prisoner in such a terrifying state!

Ah, my dear brethren, what are you preparing for yourselves? You do not dare to make clean breast of it to your pastor? But is he the only one in the world? Would you not find priests who would have the charity to receive you?  Do you think that you would be given too severe a penance? Ah, my children, do not let that stop you! You would be helped; the greater part of it all would be done for you. They would pray for you; they would weep for your sins in order to draw down with greater abundance the mercies of God on you!

My friends, have pity on that poor soul which cost Jesus Christ so dearly! Oh, my God, who will ever understand the blindness of these poor sinners! You have hidden you sin, my child, but it must be known one day, and then in the eyes of the whole universe, while by one word you would have hidden it forever and you would have changed your Hell for an eternity of happiness.

Alas, that a sacrilege can lead these poor sinners so far. They do not want to die in that state, but they have not the strength to leave it. My God, torment them so greatly that they will not be able to stay there!"

Source: Sermons of the Cure of Ars, 1960

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

"When anyone has really given up his sins, he must not be content simply with bewailing them. He must also give up, leave far behind, and fly from anything which is capable of leading him in the direction of them again. In other words, my dear brethren, we must be ready to suffer anything rather than fall back into those sins which we have just confessed. People should be able to see a complete change in us; otherwise we have not merited Absolution, and it could even be possible that we have indeed committed sacrilege. Alas, that there are few in whom this change is apparent after having received Absolution! Dear God, what sacrileges are committed! If in every thirty Absolution there were but one genuine case, how soon would the world be converted!

Those people do not merit Absolution, then, who do not give sufficient signs of contrition. Alas, how many times, because they are sent away, do they not come back any more! This, of course, is because they have no real urge to be converted, for if they truly had, very far from leaving their Confession until another Easter, they would be working with all their hearts to change their lives and to return to make their peace with God."

Source: Sermons of the Cure of Ars 1960 p.125

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

"All that is very true, you will tell me, but what will people say about me after seeing me go to confession several times and then not make my Easter duty? People are going to believe that I am leading a bad life; besides I know plenty of others who are worse sinners than I who have been given absolution; you have received so and so well, and he has broken the law of abstinence with me; and so and so, who has been out on Sundays, as well as I have.

The conscience of another person is not yours. If he does wrong, it is not for you to listen to accounts of it. Or do you want, just in order to keep up appearances, to damn your soul by committing sacrilege? Would not that be the greatest of all evils? You think that people will notice you because they have seen you going to Confession several times and yet you have not been to Holy Communion. Ah, my poor friend, fear rather the eyes of God, before which you have done the wrong, and pay no attention to all the others. You say that you know of some, more guilty than you, who have been given Absolution. What do you know of them? Did an angel come to you to tell you that God had not changed or converted them? And even if they should not have been converted should you therefore do wrong because they do wrong? Would you want to be damned because others are damning themselves? Dear God, what frightful talk!

But, these penitents still protest, these penitents who not only have not been converted, but who indeed do not want to be converted at all but only to save their faces in public. When will it be the right time then to come for Holy Communion?

When will it be time to come for Holy Communion? Listen to St. John Chrysostom. He himself is going to tell us when it will be time for Holy Communion. Is it at Easter, at Pentecost, at Christmas? No, he tells us. Is it at the point of death? No, he tells us again. When is it then? It is, he says to us, when we have renounced sin for good and all, and are fully resolved, with the help of God's grace, not to fall into it again. When you have paid back that which is not yours, when you have become reconciled with your enemy - that is when you are genuinely converted.

Other sinners will tell us: "If you are going to be so difficult, we will go to those who will allow us to go to Holy Communion. Look at how many times I have come. I have other things to do than to be walking the roads. I am not coming back for a long time, for I can see quite plainly that you are angry with me. What great harm have I done, then?"

You will go find another, my friend? You are entirely free to go to anyone who seems good to you. But do you think that another would wish, any more that I would to damn himself? No, I am sure you do not. If he receives you, it is because he does not know you well enough. Do you want to know what sort of a person talks like that, and who goes in search of Absolution elsewhere? Listen, and tremble. He leaves his guide, who can lead him surely, to look for a passport to go straight to Hell.

But, you will say to me, look at how many times I keep coming.

Very well, my friend! Change your ways and you will be allowed Absolution the very first time you return.

I am not coming back, you say, for a very long time.

So much the worse for you alone, my poor friend. In not coming back you are taking a big step in the direction of Hell.There are some who are so blind that they will go so far as to believe that the confessor is angry with them because he does not give them Absolution. Undoubtedly, my friends, he is vexed with you, but it is because he desires the salvation of your poor soul. It is for that reason that he does not want to give you an Absolution which, very far from saving you, would damn you for all eternity.

But, you say, what have I done that is so bad? I have not killed, or stolen.

You say not killed, not stolen, you say? But my friend, Hell is full of other people who have not killed or stolen. There are more than two sins which drag souls into Hell. But if we were so lax as to give you Absolution when you do not merit it, we would be playing the part of executioner of your poor soul, which caused so much suffering to Jesus."

Source: The sermons of the Cure of Ars, 1960, p.123

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG

"Sin is a thought, a word, and action, contrary to the law of God.

By sin, my children, we rebel against the good God, we despise His justice, we tread under foot His blessings. From being children of God, we become the executioner and assassin of our soul, the offspring of hell, the horror of heaven, the murderer of Jesus Christ, the capital enemy of the good God.

O my children! if we thought of this, if we reflected on the injury which sin offers to the good God, we should hold it in abhorrence, we should be unable to commit it; but we never think of it, we like to live at our ease, we slumber in sin. If the good God sends us remorse, we quickly stifle it, by thinking that we have done no harm to anybody, that God is good, and that He did not place us on the earth to make us suffer.

Indeed, my children the good God did not place us on the earth to suffer and endure, but to work out our salvation. See; He wills that we should work today and tomorrow; and after, an eternity of joy, of happiness, awaits us in heaven.

O my children! how ungrateful we are! The good God calls us to Himself; He wishes to make us happy for ever, and we are deaf to His word, we will not share His happiness; He enjoins us to love Him, and we give our heart to the devil.

The good God commands all nature as its Master; He makes the winds and the storms obey Him; the angels tremble at His adorable will; man alone dares to resist Him.

See; God forbids us that action that criminal pleasure, that revenge, that injustice; no matter, we are bent upon satisfying ourselves; we had rather renounce the happiness of heaven, than deprive ourselves of a moment's pleasure, or give up a sinful habit, or change our life. What are we, then that we dare thus to resist God? Dust and ashes, which he could annihilate with a single look.

By sin, my children, we despise the good God. We renew His Death and Passion; we do as much evil as all the Jews together did, in fastening Him to the Cross. Therefore, my children, if we were to ask those who work without necessity on Sunday: "What are you doing there?" and they were to answer truly, they would say, "We are crucifying the good God."

Ask the idle, the gluttonous, the immodest, what they do every day. If they answer you according to what they are really doing, they will say, "We are crucifying the good God."

O my children! it is very ungrateful to offend a God who has never done us any harm; but is it not the height of ingratitude to offend a God who has done us nothing but good?

It is He who created us, who watches over us, He holds us in His hands, like a handful of hair; if He chose, He could cast us into the nothingness out of which he took us. He has given us His Son, to redeem us from the slavery of the devil; He himself gave Him up to death, that He might restore us to life; He has adopted us as His children, and ceases not to lavish His graces upon us. Notwithstanding all this, what do we make of our mind, of our memory, of our health, of those limbs which He gave us to serve Him with? We employ them in committing crimes.
The good God, my children, has given us eyes to enlighten us, to see heaven, and we use them to look at criminal and dangerous objects; He has given us a tongue to praise Him, and to express our thoughts, and we make it an instrument of iniquity, we swear, we blaspheme, we speak ill of our neighbor, we slander him, we abuse the supernatural graces, we stifle the salutary remorse, by which God would convert us; we reject the inspiration of our good guardian angel.

We despise good thoughts, we neglect prayer and the Sacraments. What account do we make even of the Word of God? Do we not listen to it with disgust? How miserable we are! How much we are to be pitied! We employ in losing our souls the time that the good God has given us to save them in. We make war upon Him with the means He has given us to serve Him; we turn His own gifts against Him! Let us cast our eyes, my children upon Jesus fastened to the Cross, and let us say to ourselves, 'This is what it has cost my Savior to repair the injury my sins have done to God."

A God coming down to the earth to be the victim of our sins! A God suffering, a God dying, a God enduring every torment, because He has put on the semblance of sin and has chosen to bear the weight of our iniquities.

Ah! my children, that sight of that Cross! Let us conceive once for all the malice of sin, and the abhorrence in which we should hold it. Let us enter into ourselves, and see what we ought to do to repair our past sins; let us implore the clemency of the good God and let us all together say to Him, from the bottom of our heart, " O Lord, who art here crucified for us, have mercy upon us! Thou comest down from heaven to cure souls of sin; cure us, we beseech Thee; cause our souls to be purified by approaching the tribunal of penance; yes, O God! make us look upon sin as the greatest of all evils, and by our zeal in avoiding it, and in repairing those we have had the misfortune to commit, let us one day attain to the happiness of the saints."

Source: The Spirit of the Cure d'Ars by l'Abbe Monnin 1865

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Source: Lent with the Cure d'Ars Compiled by the CAPG