Behold me, O my God, at Thy feet! I do not deserve mercy, but O my Redeemer, the blood which Thou hast shed for me encourages me and obliges me to hope for it. How often have I offended Thee, repented, and yet have I again fallen into the same sin!
O my God, I wish to amend; and in order to be faithful to Thee, I will place all my confidence in Thee. I will, whenever I am tempted, instantly have recourse to Thee.
Before, I have trusted in my own promises and resolutions, and have neglected to recommend myself to Thee in my temptations. This has been the cause of my repeated failures. From this day forward, be Thou, O Lord, my strength; and thus shall I be able to do all things, for “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Amen.
St. Alphonsus Liguori.
The Glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (in the U.S. Second Edition) defines temptation as “[a]n attraction, either from outside oneself or from within, to act contrary to right reason and the commandments of God…”
We must be vigilant against temptation, as Jesus told His apostles during His agony in the garden: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41, RSV).
Frequently we struggle with habitual sins, sins we can’t seem to leave behind, as well as addictions to sins such as pornography and immoderate drinking. Take heart: The Lord will help you grow in virtue and become a saint! We need to both pray and work to avoid temptation, such as by avoiding the near occasions of sin (what easily leads us into sin). (And in the case of addictions, we also need additional help psychologically and spiritually.)
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, RSV).
“As we read in the book The Imitation of Christ, ‘There is no man wholly free from temptations so long as he lives… but by endurance and true humility we are made stronger than all our enemies,’ endurance and the humility of following the Lord every day, learning not to build our lives outside him or as though he did not exist, but in him and with him, for he is the source of true life.
“The temptation to remove God, to arrange things within us and in the world by ourselves, relying on our own abilities, has always been present in human history” (Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, 26 February 2012).
In theOur Father, we pray “And lead us not into temptation.” What does this mean? “This petition goes to the root of the preceding one [‘And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’], for our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to ‘lead’ us into temptation.
“It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both ‘do not allow us to enter into temptation’ and ‘do not let us yield to temptation’ (Origen)”
“‘God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one’ (James 1:13); on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2846).
“‘Lead us not into temptation’ implies a decision of the heart: ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also…. No one can serve two masters’ (Matthew 6:21, 24). ‘If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:25). In this assent to the Holy Spirit, the Father gives us strength…” (Catechism, 2848).
The prayer above was written by St. Alphonsus Liguori. We can return to this prayer with confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ for the help we need to avoid temptation and grow in virtue.
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