Temptation

Jesus tempted in the desert - James Tissot

"In the trial of Temptation, let no one say: my Temptation comes from God. God, indeed, cannot be tempted to do evil, and He Himself tempts no one. Everyone is tempted by their own lust that draws them in and seduces them. Then lust conceives and gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."  

Our sins are therefore the Fruits of consenting to Temptation.  

One might imagine that holiness avoids Trials, but it only allows one to overcome them.  

Jesus Himself was tempted, but Satan “having thus exhausted all forms of Temptations, departed from Jesus until the appointed time.” Some imagine it was only a formality meant for our education and that it would be improper to Believe that He was truly tempted: that would then detract from the merits that anticipate the victory of the Passion.

The Christ was “tested in every way, just as we are”. ()  

Indeed

"only man can be tempted, being composed of material substance and spiritual substance, whose reason, intelligence, and Conscience are free, so that he can discern Good and evil and will one or the other. Only man, who is still engaged in his battle, can be subject to Temptation, because of his sad inheritance due to the sin of the first ancestors of humanity."  

The Christ therefore triumphed over Temptation; He conquered the Tempter for us. He faced Temptation in His human nature, but He never consented to sin because Satan found no foothold in Him. ()

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him." ()  

If Jesus was tempted, we are too. The saints were attacked by cunning or by force. Maria Valtorta was no exception and triumphed.

But in history, this was not always the case: there is the case of Madeleine de la Croix, a 16th-century Poor Clare who succumbed to worldly glory and was stripped of her holiness, which everyone had recognized until then.  

Nothing is definitively gained in the Struggle Against the Tempter: it is therefore important to focus on the teachings that emerge from the work of Maria Valtorta.

What is Temptation?

To this question, Jesus answers Maria Valtorta citing the Catechism: "It is an incitement to sin that comes to us from the devil, or from wicked persons, or from our passions."  

"It is an incitement," Jesus comments. If it incites to sin, it is a sign that it is not sin as such. No, it is not sin. Quite the opposite, it is a means to grow in justice and increase our merits by remaining faithful to the Law of the Lord. It becomes sin when man voluntarily puts himself in a position to sin, by approaching things or persons who can lead him into it.

"From whom does Temptation come? From the devil, from wicked persons, from passions. Therefore, it is caused by external or internal factors. But I tell you truly, the most dangerous are the internal factors, that is, the disordered inclinations and the instincts or impulses remaining in man with the other miseries which are the consequence of the sin of Adam.  

"These internal factors, Satan excites, or attempts to excite, by all means, and to do this he is well served by the men around you and by your human self: this latter is indeed a domain of ever-rekindled Temptations, because it has strong tendencies toward the Saltfishness of matter and the sensuality of the spirit, the first pushing the flesh to rebel Against God and Against the Soul, the second leading the spirit to that stupid Pride that thinks it is permitted everything, even to criticize the works of God and His justices.  

"Truly I tell you that you are yourselves the best support of Satan when you stir up and cultivate in yourselves "the concupiscence of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the Pride of life": all things that do not come from the Father but from the world. For if you did not consent to prepare a suitable ground for the invasion of internal factors, they could not penetrate you, disturb your deepest being, and exacerbate the internal factors."

We thereby see well the development of the teaching expressed in the epistle of Saint James and the affirmation of Jesus: Satan has no hold on Him.

Satan always presents himself with a benevolent exterior

In his comments on his Temptation in the desert, Jesus deciphers Satan’s methods and how to foil them.  

1 - Satan always presents himself in a harmless appearance that lulls the vigilance of Souls inattentive to the divine: they do not use prayer which unites them to God

"Satan always presents himself with a friendly exterior, in an ordinary guise. If Souls are attentive and especially in spiritual contact with God, they realize this observation which makes them cautious and ready to fight the traps of the demon. But if Souls are inattentive to the divine, separated from Him by fleshly tendencies that overwhelm them and make them deaf, not using the help of prayer that unites them to God and channels His strength into the Heart of man, then they hardly perceive the snare hidden under an innocent appearance and fall into it. Getting out of it afterward is very difficult."

2 - He first attacks the fleshly senses before attacking the spirit

"The two most common paths Satan takes to reach Souls are carnal attraction and lust; he always begins with the material side of nature. After dismantling and enslaving it, he directs the attack to the upper part. "First the moral side: the thought with its pride and lusts; then the spirit, by taking not only away the love, but also the fear of God. Divine love no longer exists when man has replaced it with other human loves. It is then that man abandons body and Soul to Satan to reach the joys he pursues, to cling ever more to them."

3 - He must be opposed with silence and prayer firmly, but without excessive fear

"How I behaved, you saw," He said to Maria Valtorta. Silence and prayer. Silence. For if Satan engages in his enterprise of seduction and seeks to deceive us, we must endure it without foolish impatience and without depressing fears, but react firmly to his presence and through prayer to his seductions.  

4 – If necessary, reply only with the Word of God.

"There is no use arguing with Satan. He would be victorious because he is strong in his dialectic. Only God can defeat him, and then resort to God who speaks through us, to show Satan that name and Sign, not written on paper or carved on wood, but inscribed and engraved in the Hearts. My Name, my Sign. Reply to Satan only when he insinuates he is like God using the word of God. He cannot stand it. "You must have the will to defeat Satan, the faith in God and His help, faith in the power of prayer and the goodness of the Lord. Then Satan cannot harm us.

Satan attacks exceptional Souls even more

Like Christ, all mystics had to face, in various ways, attacks from Satan: moral or physical, by seduction or by Violence, directly or through the actions of their surroundings. "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith".  

Mother Yvonne-Aimée de Malestroit (1901-1951) suffered violent physical attacks from the Demon. During one such attack, 80 claw marks were counted, sometimes deep to the bone. Satan tried to drive her away from the town of Malestroit by a fire that spontaneously ignited when discovered. The same happened with the journal of Gemma Galgani (1878-1903). Marthe Robin (1902-1981), bedridden for 53 years, was harassed by Satan and thrown out of her bed: this is how she was found at her death. Great confessors such as the Curé of Ars or Padre Pio had the same entanglements with the "Grappling Hook."  

"Truly, I tell you," Jesus explains to Maria Valtorta: "it is not the fact of being tempted that should frighten. And the strength of Temptation, the repetition of its violent attacks should not lead the Soul to debase itself by thinking that, if this happens, it is no longer in the Lord's Grace and is destined for eternal death. "Rejoice instead, you who are so severely tormented by Satan: it is a sign that you are his Enemies and that he senses that you are prey that has escaped him forever. Satanic rage always lashes out Against prey that escape his hunger and Against the conquests of God."

If the great mystics were prey to such attacks, it was because of their vocation as co-redeemers, victim souls, or reparative souls. Following and imitating Christ, these mystics accept to follow Him to the Cross where they share His suffering love for humanity. The paradox of the Cross – folly and scandal to men, says Saint Paul. ()

This choice is sometimes difficult to understand because it touches on the very mystery of Redemption where Jesus took upon Himself our sins to deliver us from them.

Some examples illustrate this condition of co-redeemers according to Saint Paul's phrase: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake; and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the Church."  

After offering herself "as a Victim of Holocaust to the Merciful Love of the Good God," Thérèse of Lisieux experienced the spiritual night, and ended her life in suffering, assailed by the Doubts and Temptations of sinners, sharing in their hell. Asleep in death, her Face nevertheless smiled: united with Christ, she had helped Him bear the sin of men.

Sister Josefa Menéndez (1890-1923) underwent more than a hundred times the pains of Hell to contribute to the redemption of those who deserved them.

Maria Teresa Carloni (1919-1983) endured three Hours of atrocious sufferings to offer Stalin’s dying soul a last chance for repentance.

However, we must not Believe that these physical and moral sufferings are mere "appearances": the pains endured in reparation for our sins are real, commensurate with our faults.

Jesus in the agony of Gathhsemane suffered to the point of bleeding.

Maria Valtorta confronted with Temptations

In a letter to her confessor, Maria Valtorta recounts all sorts of assaults she endured. Reading it, one understands the Virgin Mary’s promise to Saint Bernadette Soubirous: "I promise to make you happy, not in this world but in the next."

After the flesh, Satan tempts the spirit

"Now that Satan no longer tempts the flesh, he tempts The Spirit," she writes. "For about a year now, from time to time he gives me trouble.

1. The first time was when he tempted me during terrible days for me, in April 1944, when he promised to help me if I adored him.
2. The second was when he assailed me with that penetrating, violent, and long Temptation on July 4, 1944, tempting me to mimic the Master’s language to destroy those who had offended me.
3. The third was when he suggested I make a personal work with the dictated words and publish it, claiming the merit and deriving benefits.
4. The fourth was when, in February of this year (it seems we were already in February) he appeared to me (it was the first time I saw him, as other times I only felt his presence), terrifying me with his appearance and hatred.
5. The fifth was last night.

But there are also daily assaults

"These are the great manifestations of Satan. But since then, I have attributed to him all the smaller things that come from others who want to lead me to Pride, to complacency in myself, or to simulation, or even to the persuasion that I am only sick and that everything is the fruit of psychological disorders. Even obstacles coming from parents, authorities and truckers, I attribute all to Satan. He does what he can, doing his best, to cause me trouble and lead me to worry, to Revolt, to the persuasion that prayer is useless and that everything is a lie."  

Satan tries to convince her that her efforts are useless

"But, I confess that last night he badly troubled me. This is not the first time he has aroused in me the fear of being deceived and of someday having to answer to God and even to men. You know that is my terror... Jesus and you (the confessor) always comfort me, and it is reborn, always. Yet these were thoughts that were "mine", excited by Satan but coming from me. Last night it was an explicit, direct threat. He said to me:

"Go ahead, go ahead! I wait for you at the right moment. At the last moment. Then I will persuade you so much that you have always lied to God, to men, and to yourself, and that you are a liar that you will fall into true terror, into the despair of being damned. And you will say it with such words that the people around you will believe in a final retraction to go to God burdened with a lesser sin. You, and those with you, will remain in this persuasion. And that is how you will die... and others will be deeply troubled... I wait for you, Yes... And you also, wait for me. I do not make promises without keeping them. Right now you give me immeasurable annoyance. But then it will be me who will give you trouble. I will take revenge for everything you do to me... I will take revenge, as only I know how."

And with that, he left, leaving me Really sick...

Then the gentle Mother came, benevolent and full of love, dressed in white, to smile at me and caress me. Jesus gave me His happiest smile. But barely had He left me alone than I fell back into my chaos... And it lasts."  

Maria Valtorta must repel idolatrous Temptation and mockery

"When this thought comes to me with such force, I am tempted to say: "I will not write one more word, despite all pressure." Then I think and tell myself: "That is precisely what Satan wants" and I drop this suggestion.

It is the time of Passion, isn’t it? On the one hand, there are those who, under the influence of idolatry inscribed in man even if he is good, adore the spokesperson, the idolater, forgetting that he is only an instrument and that the Adorable is God;

and on the other hand, those who mock me; but their expectation is the same, even if the intentions are different: that of marvelous deeds in me, especially at this time of Passion. Maybe you yourself expect it as a natural thing in my case. As for you, this expectation is correct, but the others act out of derision or idolatry.  

Submission to divine will and humility

"I assure you that I still prefer scorn for Maria Valtorta, to idolatry for my person. The latter gives me an indescribable annoyance. It seems to me that I am stripped bare in a public square, that my precious secret is extorted from me... what do I know? I suffer, that's it. Scorn hurts me less if it is directed at Maria Valtorta, provided it does not harm the "dictations" and does not make them be taken for a joke or madness... But, above the more or less holy and honest desires of many people, there is the will of God, His goodness, rather, who listens to His poor Maria. Her prayer of always, her prayer now is this: "Here is your 'victim.' All that You want, but no external signs." I would not have wanted this manifestation of God in me either, concerning myself... But He wanted me to be His phonograph... patience! But something else no, no, and no.  

The Invisible Stigmata and Gathhsemane

"(I accept) all diseases that can be diagnosed or those that are not because they do not show known symptoms; (I accept) all sufferings to suffer in me what He suffered. A complete agony that bends me under the weight of His agony. But let that be known only to Him, to you who guide me, and to me. That is enough. However, if during this time of passion I disappoint idolaters and mockers since I am not materially "the victim of the Passion," I assure you that I live my passion. And the more the physical suffering of the body increases, which feels exhausted and broken by blows and fatigue of Golgotha, the suffering of the head under the cruel crown, the suffering still of stretching and cramps, of anguish and congestion of this torture, thirst and fever, weakness and excitement of the torment, what is a "passion" is always for me what I Call "my Gathhsemane": the rising darkness, full of chimeras and fears... the fear, even terror, of the Future and of God... and the proximity of Hatred during the absence of Love. This, Yes, produces thirst, fever, tears of blood, moans, exhaustion. I assure you that, by its power, it is Gooder than the hour I experienced last year when God left me alone. Better, I can say it is stronger, because it makes it Gooder to suffer that God is with me."  

What she experiences cannot be shared

"I hope I have made myself Good understood. But it is very difficult to explain certain tortures. They are moreover even more misunderstood, both by the spiritual father and by the idolater, the curious, or also one who studies or mocks the... phenomenon. Those last three should at least endure an hour of what we live... Idolaters, too, who perhaps envy [us], should try. But no! It is better that it does not happen. Idolaters would escape God knows where for fear of another such hour, and the curious, observers, and mockers would end up cursing God... Therefore... let us bow our shoulders under the yoke, remove the poison... and go ahead! Lord, not my will but Thy will. Here is your servant and your victim. Yes, do with me whatever You want. But only, because of your goodness, give me the strength to be able to suffer. And do not leave me alone. "Stay with us, for it is getting late and the day is already waning..."

In "The Gospel as it was revealed to me"

Jesus was tempted

• Jesus’ Temptation in the desert: Judean Desert.
• Temptation and sin: "Temptation bites you like desire, Judas. Satan makes it sharper, more precise, more seductive than any gratification. Moreover, the act brings satisfaction and sometimes disgust, while Temptation does not lessen but develops like a pruned tree that produces more abundant blossoms." - "And you never yielded?" - "I never yielded." - "How could you?" - "I said: "My Father, lead me not into Temptation."
• Once someone asked me if, during Temptation, I had ever yielded. And was astonished that I, the Messiah, asked for the Father’s help to resist by saying: "Father, lead me not into Temptation.”
• This hour is much more painful than the one I experienced with your spirit and mine in the desert... And the present Temptation not to love and not to tolerate the viscous and tortuous being named Judas at my side is much stronger.
• I must know all about man, except the committed fault. And that not by the effect of a barrier placed by my Father against the flesh, the world, and the demon, but by my human will. I am like you. But I know how to will more than you. So I endure Temptations but do not yield to Temptations and therein lies, as for you, my merit.
• And you do not think I have a life, affections, and duties also, toward my Mother, and that these things prompt me to avoid danger? He, the Serpent, calls it "danger," but his real name is "Sacrifice."

Seduction and attraction to evil

• Satan, you have seen, always presents himself with a likeable exterior, under an ordinary guise – Repel him.
• Comments on the fall in Samson's Temptation.
• Is Temptation evil? It is not. It is the work of the Evil One, but becomes glory for he who overcomes it.
• Do not remain alone in Temptation: "But, there are Temptations so biting... One hides for fear that the world might read them on the Face." "That is the mistake! That would precisely be the time not to hide. But to seek company: that of the good to receive help. The simple contact with the Peace of the good soothes the fever. And also seek the company of those who criticize, because, due to this Pride that pushes to hide so that no one can decipher the secret of our tempted Souls, it would react Against moral weakness and prevent falling."
  - "You went to the desert..." "Because I could do it. But woe to those alone if they are not, in their solitude, a multitude Against the multitude."
  - "How? I do not understand."
  - "Multitude of Virtues Against the multitude of Temptations. When there is little virtue, one must do like this insubstantial ivy, cling to the branches of sturdy trees to climb."
• Knowing the forbidden fruit: Parallel of Judas’ Temptation with Eve regarding her desire to know the cave of the pythoness at Endor.
• To be tempted is not sin. On the contrary, it is the battle that brings victory.
• None of them understand... It is not their fault. It is Satan who creates the smoke so that they do not see and are like drunk and deaf, thus unprepared... and easier to bend... But you and I know them despite Satan’s ambushes.
• Every fall has its preparation in time. The more serious the fall, the more it is prepared.
• Man! Oh! more than a fragile rose and delicate bindweed, he is easily bent by Temptation and tends to cling where he hopes to find comfort.
• Many do not distinguish between Temptation and committed fault. The first is a trial that gives merit and does not remove Grace; the second is a fall that removes merit and Grace.
• Sometimes man confuses sin and Temptation, or even judges the same way artificially created excitations by an unhealthy appetite, and thoughts that arise from the reaction of a morbid suffering, or because sometimes the flesh and blood have unexpected Calls resonating in the Soul before it has time to guard itself to suppress them.

Provocation

• You shall not tempt the Lord Your God: One does not joke with the gifts of God and does not mock Him."
• Remember, it is not God who leads to Evil, but Evil that tempts.

In other works of Maria Valtorta

The Notebooks of 1943

• Catechesis of July 1 : One should not be surprised that a Soul endures Temptations. Indeed, Temptation is all the more violent that the Soul is more advanced in my way [...] What do you think? That my chalice was only that of pain? No, creatures who love me. The Christ—He tells you to give you courage—underwent Temptation before you.

The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950

• Catechesis of February 18, 1947: Only man can be tempted, being composed of material and spiritual substance... Man is perpetually near the tree of Good and evil around which Lucifer coils, and he undergoes Temptation (...) "Can you still maintain that this episode (the reality of Jesus’ Temptation) is improper? That it is heretical? Is Paul therefore heretical when, in his epistle, he tells me that he was tempted in all things, 'tested in all things,' 'made like men' in every respect—flesh, blood, intelligence, will—as you? Is he heretical when he writes to the Philippians: "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men"?"

In fundamental Christian texts

In the Bible

BibleOnLine note

The biblical notion of Temptation is primarily not one of seduction but of testing. Temptation can have a positive role, that of demonstrating or improving someone's qualities, or a negative role, of showing weaknesses or trying to make him commit a wrongdoing. Thus, the Pharisees tested Jesus (the word is the same as rendered by "tempt"), to see if He would prove He was the Messiah according to their conceptions. 

Christians must regularly test (examine) themselves to ensure that their faith is genuinely real. People can tempt God by challenging Him to prove the truth of His word and justice of His ways. God tests His people by placing them in situations that reveal the quality of their faith and piety (-). He purifies them like refined metal, thus leading them to a greater experience of His love for them. 

Satan tests God's people by manipulating circumstances within limits permitted by God (--), attempting to divert them from God's will. He is called the tempter who always tries to make Christians fall. God permits us to be tempted, but He incites no one to do evil. Christians must pray not to be exposed to Temptation and should keep watch not to succumb.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church

• CEC 538 and following: Jesus was tested in every way, similarly, except for sin.
• CEC 1520: The sacrament of the sick strengthens Against the Temptations of the evil one, Temptation of discouragement and fear of death.
• CEC 1707: Seduced by the Evil One, from the beginning of history, man abused his freedom. He succumbed to Temptation and committed evil.
• CEC 1806: Thanks to prudence, we apply moral principles without error to particular cases and overcome Doubts about good to do and evil to avoid.
• CEV 2846 and following: Our sins are the Fruits of consenting to Temptation.

In other sources

Rosalyne Dupont-Roc, biblical scholar in Let us Pray in Church, Thursday, June 18, 2020, page 127:

The new translation of the liturgy (2013) best renders the verb "to carry" or "to lead into." It is rather the word "Temptation" that should be clarified, insofar as it has acquired a kind of attraction of forbidden and condemnable pleasures. It is something else entirely.  

The Greek term "peirasmos," which first means "trial," is in the book of Exodus the name given to the place where the people put God to the test by doubting Him.

Entering the place of trial means refusing to trust God who promised life, doubting His faithfulness, abandoning Him to retreat on oneself, to one’s Revolt or despair, because one believes oneself abandoned. Do not let us enter into trial, never let us doubt of you and your love!

In the Bible, this often means soothsayers, magicians, ventriloquists, etc.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992).