Weapons to overcome



The Lord is always at our side, in every temptation, and says to us: Trust: I have overcome the world8. And we lean on him, because if we did not, we would achieve little on our own: I can do all things through him who strengthens me. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

We can prevent temptation by constant mortification in work, in living charity, in guarding the internal and external senses. And together with mortification, prayer: Watch and pray so as not to fall into temptation. We must also prevent it by fleeing from the occasions of sin, however small they may be, for he who loves danger will perish in it, and by keeping our time well occupied, especially by fulfilling our professional, family and social duties well.

To fight temptation "we must repeat many times and with confidence the petition of the Our Father: lead us not into temptation, but grant us the strength to remain strong in it. Since the Lord himself puts such a prayer on our lips, it will be well for us to repeat it continually.

"We fight temptation by manifesting it openly to the spiritual director, for to manifest it is already almost to overcome it. He who reveals his own temptations to the spiritual director can be sure that God gives him the necessary grace to direct him well".

We always count on the grace of God to overcome every temptation. "But do not forget, my friend, that you need weapons to win this spiritual battle. And that your weapons must be these: continual prayer; sincerity and frankness with your spiritual director; the Most Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance; a generous spirit of Christian mortification that will lead you to flee from occasions and avoid idleness; humility of heart; and a tender and filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin: Consolatrix afflictorum et Refugium peccatorum, consolation of the afflicted and refuge of sinners. Always turn to her with confidence and say to her: Mater mea, fiducia mea; my Mother, my trust!".