“Since love completes all, makes all hard things soft, and the difficult easy,
let us strive to make all our acts proceed from love.”
St. Arnold Janssen
(a dewy turkey feather /Julie Cook / 2020)
“The Devil didn’t deal out temptations to Our Lord only.
He brings these evil schemes of his to bear on each of Jesus’ servants—-
and not just on the mountain or in the wilderness or when we’re by ourselves.
No, he comes after us in the city as well, in the marketplaces,
in courts of justice.
He tempts us by means of others, even our own relatives.
So what must we do?
We must disbelieve him altogether, and close our ears against him, and hate his flattery.
And when he tries to tempt us further by offering us even more,
then we should shun him all the more…
We aren’t as intent on gaining our own salvation as he is intent on achieving our ruin.
So we must shun him, not with words only, but also with works;
not in mind only, but also in deed.
We must do none of the things that he approves,
for in that way will we do all those things that God approves.
Yes, for the Devil also makes many promises, not so that he may give
them to us, but so that he may take away from us.
He promises plunder, so that he may deprive us of the kingdom of God and
of righteousness.
He sets out treasures in the earth as snares and traps,
so that he may deprive us both of these and of the treasures in heaven.
He would have us be rich in this life, so that we may not be rich in the next.”
St. John Chrysostom, p. 152-3
An Excerpt From
Manual for Spiritual Warfare
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