[St. Faustina was tempted repeatedly by Satan against her vocation of proclaiming God’s mercy and praying for mercy for souls, especially sinners (see Diary, 1496-1499):] At that moment, I saw Jesus, who said, I am pleased with what you are doing. And you can continue to be at peace if you always do the best you can in respect to this work of mercy. Be absolutely as frank as possible with your confessor.
Satan gained nothing by tempting you, because you did not enter into conversation with him. Continue to act in this way. You gave Me great glory today by fighting so faithfully Divine Mercy in my soul # 1499
Temptations come to every human. Until the soul is fully united with the Holy Trinity, it will face attack and temptation. St. John of the Cross in his Dark Night said not to fight against temptation but to look past them.
St. John of the Cross says we feel the only recourse is to repress the temptation. In the process, the situation becomes worse because avoidance is a form of attention. The more we try not to think about the temptation, the more we think of it. For instance, if you close your eyes and try not to think of punk elephants for the next 15 seconds, what would you think of?
Pushing thoughts out of our mind is like pushing down a spring. It will recoil because it has been coiled. We then give power to the temptation we repress. St Francis de Sales counsels, “do not force yourself to conquer your temptations, for those efforts will strengthen them.” So, if we should not dwell upon nor repress temptations that arise in our minds, how do we battle them?
Regarding distractions and temptations, an unknown mystic of the 14th century wrote, “When distracting thoughts annoy you, try to pretend that you don’t even notice their presence or that they have come between you and your God. Look beyond them – over their shoulder, as it were.”
Looking “over the shoulder” of temptation or looking beyond them avoids two extremes. It is accepting the fact that the temptation is staring you in the face but choosing not to look into its eyes. We cannot blot the temptation from our mind anymore than we can ignore a person standing right in front of us. But, we can avert our gaze.
This is like seeing an alluring object out of the corner of our eye, but choosing not to look at it. We choose to look over the shoulder of the temptation to gaze upon our God. This practice “amounts to a yearning for God..and a desire like this is actually love.”
There is no guilt attached to temptation that spontaneously present themselves to our mind. As St. John writes, “these impure thoughts are outside one’s control.” Not only can these temptations not cause us harm if we “look over their shoulder” but in doing so, we grow in virtue. “In so far as one resists them, one wins strength, purity, comfort and many blessings.”
”but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
“February3, [1938]. Today after Holy Communion, Jesus again gave me a few directives: First, do not fight against a temptation by yourself, but disclose it to the confessor at once, and then the temptation will lose all its force. Second, during these ordeals do not lose your peace; live in My presence; ask My Mother and the Saints for help”. Divine Mercy in my soul # 1560
need to pray on this one again, and again
the struggle with temptation is something that really resonates with me