lead us not into temptation
"But since you are not hardened by strange doctrines or by even stranger passions, I beg you to pray thus. Pray with humbleness that God may avert temptations from you. Oh! humbleness! To know oneself for what one is! Without losing heart, but to know oneself! Say: “I may give in, even if I do not think I could do it, because I am but an imperfect judge of myself. Therefore, Father, if possible, deliver me from temptations by keeping me so close to You as not to allow the Evil One to harm me”. Because, remember, it is not God Who tempts you to evil things, but it is the Evil One who tempts you. Pray the Father that He may support your weakness so that it may not be led into temptation by the Evil One."[1]Wording:
- Latin: Ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem.
- English: lead us not into temptation.
"[...] Our sins are the Fruits of consenting to Temptation. We ask Our Father not to 'submit' us to it. Translating the Greek term into a single word is difficult: it means 'do not allow us to enter into' (cf. Matthew 26:41), 'do not let us succumb to Temptation.' God does not experience evil, nor does He experience anyone" (James 1:13), He rather wants to free us from it. We ask Him not to allow us to take the path that leads to sin. We are engaged in the struggle 'between the flesh and the Spirit.' This petition pleads for the Spirit of Discernment and strength."[2]Confronting the texts of Maria Valtorta with such a subtle concept to define will be a good measure of their theological value and canonical conformity.
Being tempted does not mean consenting to Temptation. Jesus Himself was tempted at the beginning of His public life[3] and at the threshold of His Passion.[4] The Internal Struggle brought Him to the point of sweating blood. "Now such a struggle and victory," the Catechism adds, "are only possible in prayer. It is through His prayer that Jesus is victorious over the Tempter, from the beginning (in the desert) and in the ultimate struggle of His agony (at Gethsemane)."[5]
In the work of Maria Valtorta[edit | edit source]
Jesus was tempted and prayed to His Father[edit | edit source]
It is this distinction between Temptation and consent as well as the link between victory over the trial and prayer that Jesus explains to Judas, who will so need to take this teaching into account and does not understand Jesus whom he desires to follow nonetheless.«Everyone can be tempted. Sinners are only those who want to be such.»«Have You ever sinned, Jesus?»
«No, I never wanted to sin. Not because I am the Son of the Father. But because I wanted and I want to prove to man that the Son of man did not sin because He did not want to sin, and that man can, if he wants, not sin.»
«Have You ever been tempted?»
«I am thirty years old, Judas. And I did not live in a cave upon a mountain. I lived amongst men. And if I had been in the loneliest place in the world, do you think temptations would not have come to Me? We have everything in us: good and evil.[6] We carry everything with us. And the breath of God blows on the good and vivifies it like a thurible of sweet-smelling holy incense. And Satan blows on evil, thus kindling a furious blazing fire. But diligent goodwill and constant prayer are like damp sand on the hellish fire: they suffocate it and put it out.»
[...] «Right: temptation is as biting as that desire, Judas. Satan makes it more intense, more real, more alluring than any accomplished act. Further, the act satisfies, and at times nauseates; whereas temptations do not subside, but like pruned trees, they grow stronger and stronger.»
«And have You never yielded?»
«No, never.»
«How did You manage?»
«I said: “Father. lead Me not into temptation”.»[7]
«What? You, the Messiah, You work miracles and You ask Your Father for help?»
«Not only for help: I ask Him not to lead Me into temptation. Do you think that I, simply because I am I, can do without the Father? Oh! no! I solemnly tell you that the Father grants everything to His Son, and that the Son receives everything from the Father. And I tell you that everything the Father will be asked for in My name will be granted.»[8]
On the gift of the Our Father[edit | edit source]
The dialogue with Judas from which we just read an excerpt serves, one year later, to comment on the sixth and seventh petitions when Jesus first teaches the Our Father to His apostles. There are eleven of them, because Judas takes advantage of being in Jerusalem to revisit his toxic relationships. The link between the assault of Temptation and the deliverance from the Evil One is made through prayer, because "it is not God Who tempts you to evil things, but it is the Evil One who tempts you."[1]"The man who did not feel the need to share the Passover supper with us, asked Me, less than a year ago: “What? You asked not to be tempted and to be helped against temptation?”. There were only the two of us… and I replied.[9] Later we were four, in a lonely area, and I replied once again.[10] But still to no avail, because when dealing with an unyielding spirit it is necessary to open a breach by demolishing the evil fortress of his stubbornness. And I will, therefore, repeat it once, ten times, one hundred times until everything is accomplished. But since you are not hardened by strange doctrines or by even stranger passions, I beg you to pray thus. Pray with humbleness that God may avert temptations from you. Oh! humbleness! To know oneself for what one is! Without losing heart, but to know oneself! Say: “I may give in, even if I do not think I could do it, because I am but an imperfect judge of myself. Therefore, Father, if possible, deliver me from temptations by keeping me so close to You as not to allow the Evil One to harm me”. Because, remember, it is not God Who tempts you to evil things, but it is the Evil One who tempts you. Pray the Father that He may support your weakness so that it may not be led into temptation by the Evil One."[1]
The strength to overcome Temptation comes from God[edit | edit source]
In a dictation of July 7, 1943, two and a half months after the inaugural vision, Jesus comments, for our time, the Our Father. God does not tempt and leaves to our freedom the choice to triumph over Evil by "imploring from the Father the strength to overcome it.""God does not lead you into temptation. God tempts you with gifts of Goodness alone, and to attract you to Himself. You, interpreting my words incorrectly, think they mean that God leads you into temptation to test you. No. The good Father who is in Heaven permits evil, but does not create it. He is the Good from which every good flows. But Evil exists. It existed from the moment Lucifer set himself up against God. It is up to you to make Evil a Good by overcoming it and by beseeching the Father for the strength to overcome it. "This is what you request in the last petition. That God may grant you enough strength to be able to withstand temptation. Without his aid temptation would bend you, for it is cunning and strong, and you are dull and weak. But the Father's Light illuminates you, and the Father's Power strengthens you, and the Father's Love protects you, so that Evil dies and you are left freed from it."[11]"Not to enter into Temptation," the Catechism states, implies a decision of the Heart:
"Since the Spirit is our life, let the Spirit also make us act" (Galatians 5:25). In this "consent" to the Holy Spirit, the Father gives us strength. "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13)."[12]
Further reading[edit | edit source]
- Our Father
- Our Father who art in Heaven
- Hallowed be Thy Name
- Thy Kingdom come
- Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
- Give us this day our daily bread
- Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
- But deliver us from evil
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 GRM 203.12
- ↑ CCC § 2846.
- ↑ Jesus tempted in the desert: Matthew 4:1-11 | Luke 4:1-13 | GRM 46.
- ↑ Agony in the Garden of Olives: Matthew 26:39-42 | Luke 22:41-44 | GRM 602.17.
- ↑ CCC § 2849.
- ↑ These affirmations, true inasmuch as they refer to the human condition in general, find their justification near the end of the long dictation of February 18, 1947, which is found in Notebooks 1945-1950. However, Maria Valtorta corrected them on a typed copy in the following form, which seems more consistent with the divine-human nature of the One speaking: "We have everything around us: good and evil. We can put everything to good within ourselves." (Automatic translation)
- ↑ Original text; "non indurmi in tentazione".
- ↑ GRM 69.5.
- ↑ In GRM 69.5, as seen above.
- ↑ In GRM 80.8/10. Jesus is with Judas, Simon the Zealot (Apostle), and John of Zebedee the Apostle, at the place in the desert where He was tempted. This explains how it was possible to learn about these events which had no witnesses.
- ↑ Notebooks 1943, July 7.
- ↑ CCC § 2848.