“...the enemy characteristically weakens, loses courage, and flees with his temptations when the person engaged in spiritual endeavors stands bold and unyielding against the enemy’s temptations and goes exactly opposite them. But if, in contrast, that person begins to fear and lose courage in the face of the temptations, there is no beast on the face of the earth as fierce as the enemy of human nature when he is pursuing his damnable intention with his surging malice.”
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises #325
Rule #12 - St. Ignatius gives us an example of what the enemy is like and applies it to the spiritual life. The key moment to resist temptation is right at the beginning of it. Otherwise, it snowballs and grows in force and strength and can overpower us.
[This is a reposting of the talks I gave on St. Ignatius of Loyola’s rules for the discernment of spirits, drawing on Fr. Timothy Gallagher's material and the actual rules from the Spiritual Exercises. We edited out the Spanish translation from these teachings, so it might sound clipped, or you may sometimes hear the translator’s voice overlapping.]
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