This is part of a continuing series. An index of all posts on St. Francis de Sales' work Introduction to the Devout Life is here. A post outlining part 4 of the book is here.
Whereas Chapter 7 of part 4 deals with comparably rare tempations to serious or grave sins, Chapters 8 and 9 together deal with the onslaught of many, many temptations to lesser sins.
[T]o fight well against small temptations may be more profitable still. Though great temptations may surpass them in quality, small temptations are far more numerous and so the victory over them is comparable.
Recall that in Chapter 7, Francis told us that in the face of temptation to grave sin we should "follow the example of children... when they see a wolf or a bear at large" and "fly to the arms of God and implore his mercy and his aid." The analogy continues here:
Wolves and bears are obviously more dangerous than flies yet they are less irritating and do not try our patience to the same extent.
Some examples:
- It is easy to refrain from murder but hard to refrain from the anger which we are constantly tempted to express;
- easy to refrain from adultery yet hard to refrain from loving glances, expressions of mutual love, from soliciting favors and from flattery.
- It is easy to keep one's body for one's husband or wife but hard to keep one's heart;
- easy not to violate one's married love but hard to avoid what might injure it;
- easy to avoid stealing but hard to avoid envy;
- easy to avoid perjury but hard to avoid lying;
- easy never to get drunk but hard always to be temperate;
- easy not to wish the death of another but hard never to wish him harm;
- easy never to defame him but hard never to despise him.
...every small victory will merit another jewel in the crown of glory which God prepares for you in heaven. Fight valiantly against great temptations when they come your way but in the meantime defend yourself diligently against these smaller ones.
Now, some advice for what to do about these universal irritations. Back to the analogy of flies (rather than wolves):
Treat such small temptations like flies and gnats which flutter about us and sometimes settle on the face; as we cannot be entirely rid of them our best defence is to remain undisturbed; they can annoy us but never harm us so long as we are firmly resolved to serve God.
Some scrupulous people imagine that their many temptations prove their own depravity. Francis reminds us that "we cannot be entirely rid of them." Everyone has this problem, which means that anyone can deal with it.
Despise such temptations without listening them; treat them like flies; let them hover all around you and buzz about your ears as much as they like;
when they settle on your heart and try to sting you, do not attack them or argue with them but merely drive them away quietly by making acts of love of God or of any other virtue; or if you have had time to recognize the real nature of the temptation, by an act of the contrary virtue;
then turn your heart to Christ Crucified and in spirit kiss his feet by an act of love, for to persist in acts of the contrary virtue would be to dispute with the temptation.
I notice that St. Francis follows a pattern of advising people not to "dispute with" or "argue with" or "reply to" a temptation. I had been a little disappointed that Introduction to the Devout Life didn't appear to contain any advice about overcoming a tendency to rationalize one's behavior, or to be overly scrupulous about it, or to scrupulously worry that one's seemingly good reasons are only rationalizing. Now I wonder if this advice against "disputing" might be a bit of a commentary on that. I will have to think about it some more.
In any case, I thought that previous paragraph had an interesting point about not erring by "persisting" in "acts of the contrary virtue." You might think that you could not go wrong in, i.e., fighting pride by making acts of humility, but Francis has a different view. One act of the contrary virtue is enough, then head straight for an act of love of God --- which, of course encompasses all virtues, and so prevents us being mistaken.
An act of the love of God is the surest weapon against temptations great and small; for the love of God contains to an eminent degree the perfection of all the virtues and is the most perfect remedy for vice. Learn to seek peace in this remedy whenever temptations trouble you, and you will have no need to examine or consider them...
No need to examine or consider them, eh? Which makes me wonder if that rationalizing and scrupulosity I have been thinking about couldn't be ameliorated by stopping to make a sincere act of the love of God before diving into the rationalizing and/or scrupulous worrying.
...moreover, the devil will be so terrified when he sees that these temptations lead you to make acts of the love of God that he will cease to trouble you.
To that, I say, it's worth a sustained try, anyway.
p>So much for these countless small temptations; to give more attention to them would only be a waste of time.
Which shows you how much Francis thinks they deserve your attention too. I've never before been advised to diligently disregard something, but there you go.
For reference, here is a common text for an "Act of the Love of God."
***
O my God,
I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all-good and worthy of all love.
I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you.
I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured.
***
I've always thought it pretty cool that we had these handy, simple, small things, these "Acts" of love, faith, hope and so on. Having them at our disposal means that some tiny act is always in our reach, a tiny act of real virtue. You don't have to feel love, faith, hope, to willingly speak these words. It is a small act, but it is indeed an act of body and will, and we can know that it is real no matter how little we feel ourselves in accord with it; however weak and wretched our heart, we CAN make these acts, and that can be the first stumbling step in the right direction.
More on this very same topic when I discuss chapter 10, "How to strengthen your heart."
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