August 9
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeThird Friday after Trinity
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. I S. PETER v. 8, 9.
THE Christian's arms against Satan are watchfulness and prayer. It is impossible that the soul of man should escape temptation. So God said not "watch and pray, that ye be not tempted," but that ye enter not into temptation, i.e. that ye fall not under temptation. Watchfulness is necessary for all men, how holy soever they be. Any one who is not on his guard, is, for that very reason, in danger from the devil. Watchfulness consists, in the first place, in shunning occasions of temptation; in the second, it consists in a humble distrust of ourselves. He cannot utterly fall who is lowly in his own eyes and leans only on the Lord. Confound not mistrust of self with faint-heartedness. The faint-hearted looks no further than himself, and, comparing his danger with his weakness, turns to fly when he ought to fight. The humble Christian looks at once on his own weakness and the might of God. When bidden to the strife he fears nothing, on the contrary, the more he feels his own inability to resist, the more he trusts that Almighty strength will sustain him. Watchfulness consists in unshaken faithfulness. Hold fast to the practice of contemplative prayer and interior mortification: follow out all the guidance God may have given you. Observe every particular of the rule which you have laid down for yourself or which has been prescribed for you. Allow yourself in no wilful breach of duty, and the devil will be powerless; then
Fear not, O little flock and blest, The lion that your life oppressed!
The Lamb's fair footsteps follow still.