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SPIRITUAL COMBAT

 

This life is a continual warfare and there is no one who can say, I am not attacked. (Letters to Persons in Religion, III 48)

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We are rarely in this mortal life with­out many temptations. (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 4, Chapter 3)

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Our victory does not lie in our not feeling imperfections, but in not consent­ing to them. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I, Chapter 5)

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It is a good sign when the devil makes so much noise and tempest round about the will; it is a sign that he is not within. (Letters to Persons in the World, VI 3)

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All the temptations of hell cannot stain a soul which does not love them. (Letters to Persons in the World, VI 6)

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To have no bad inclinations does not depend on ourselves, while to have bad affections does. (Spiritual Conferences, 8)

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Let the enemy rage at the gate, let him knock, let him push, let him cry, let him howl, let him do worse; we know for certain that he cannot enter save by the door of our consent. (Letters to Persons in Religion, I 8)

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When we are assailed by some vice, we must, as far as possible, embrace the practice of the contrary virtue. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 1)

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Virtue does not require that we should be deprived of the occasion of falling into the imperfection which is its opposite. (Spiritual Conferences, 3)

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While the temptation displeases you there is nothing to fear; for why does it displease you, save because you do not will it? (Letters to Persons in the World, VI 3)

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You must not reply nor appear to hear what the enemy says; let him clamor as much as he likes at the door; you must not say as much as, Who goes there? (Letters to Persons in the World, III 11)

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Our Lord permits us to fail in little occasions, that we may humble ourselves and know that if we have overcome certain great temptations it is not by our own strength. (Letters to Persons in Religion, IV 32)

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Disquietude is not a mere temptation, but a source from which and through which many temptations come. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part IV, Chapter 11)

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Have we to avoid evil? — we must do it peacefully. (Letters to Persons in Religion, I 8)

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We are greatly exposed to temptations when  our  body  is  too much pampered, and when it is too much weakened. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 23)

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There is nothing so like as two drops of water — yet the one may be from roses, the other from hemlock; one cures, the other kills. (Letters to Persons in Religion, I 1)

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