To tempt," teaches St. Thomas, "is nothing other than to test, to put to the test. To tempt man is to put his virtue to the test. Temptation is everything - good or bad in itself - that at a given moment tends to separate us from the loving fulfillment of God's will. We can suffer temptations that come from our own nature, wounded by original sin and inclined to sin: we are born with the disorder of concupiscence and of the senses. The devil incites to evil, taking advantage of this weakness and promising a happiness that he neither has nor can give. St. Peter warns us to be alert and watchful, for your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls about, seeking someone to devour. Only "he who trusts in God does not fear the devil.
Allied with the devil are the world and our own passions, which will always accompany us. The world, in this sense, is constituted by everything that leads away from God: creatures who seem to live exclusively for their self-love, their vanity and their sensuality; those who have their eyes set only on the things of the earth: money and an inordinate desire for material well-being, which is considered in practice as the only thing that is really worthwhile. For them, the necessary detachment from the things of the earth, gentle Christian austerity, chastity... are folly and something from centuries ago.... Voluntary mortification, without which one cannot go forward in the following of Christ, is regarded as foolishness. They are incapable of understanding the things of God, and would like to inculcate in others their principles, a sense of life in which God has no place or occupies a very distant and secondary place. With words, and above all with their example, they insist on leading others along the broad road they are running on. Sometimes they try to discourage those who want to be consistent with Christian principles, and they make fun of their lives and their ideas.
God allows us to be tempted because he pursues a higher good. In his Providence he has disposed that we should also profit from trials. Sometimes they are an irreplaceable means of drawing us filially closer to him.
Temptation is often like a flare that illuminates the depths of the soul. In temptation and difficulty we can see our real capacity for generosity, for a spirit of sacrifice, for uprightness of intention..., and also the hidden envy, the greed masked under the façade of false needs, sensuality, pride..., the capacity for evil that is in each one of us. In those moments we can grow in self-knowledge and, as a consequence, in humility. It makes us see how weak we are and how close we would be to sin if the Lord did not help us. How many times we must pray, conscious of what we are saying, to our Father God: lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil! Trials teach us to excuse more easily the faults of others and to realize that, after all, it is a speck of dust in their eye, compared to the beam we have seen in our own. For this reason, they help us to live charity better, to understand more and to be ready to pray and to offer the cooperation and help that are within our reach.
Temptation is an incentive to grow in the virtues. To reject a doubt against the faith awakens an act of faith; to cut off an incipient murmuring is to grow in respect for others; to promptly put away an evil thought against chastity is to gain refinement in our dealings with the Lord. A time especially difficult in temptations, which can occur at any age and moment of the interior life, will be an excellent occasion to increase devotion to Our Lady, to grow in humility, to be more docile and sincere in spiritual direction.... We should not be frightened or discouraged. Nothing separates us from God if the will does not allow it. No one sins if he does not want to. This difficult time, if the Lord permits it, is a time to advance much in the interior life and to purify the heart.
Temptation can be an inexhaustible source of graces and merits for eternal life. Because you were acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should test you. With these words the Angel consoled Tobias in the midst of his trial. They have also served many Christians in the hour of their tribulations.