St. Catherine of Siena
Messages from God
On temptation and how to overcome
And I have set him (the devil) in
this life to tempt and molest My creatures, not for My creatures to
be conquered, but that they may conquer, proving their virtue, and
receive from Me the glory of victory. And no one should fear any
battle or temptation of the Devil that may come to him, because I
have made My creatures strong, and I have given them strength of
will, fortified in the Blood of My Son, which will, neither Devil nor
creature can move, because it is yours, given by Me… For
one does not arrive at virtue except through knowledge of self, and
knowledge of Me, which knowledge is more perfectly acquired in the
time of temptation, because then man knows himself to
be nothing, being unable to lift off himself the pains and vexations
which he would flee; and he knows Me in his will, which is fortified
by My goodness, so that it does not yield to these thoughts. And he
has seen that My love permits these temptations, for the devil is
weak, and by himself can do nothing unless I allow him. And
I let him tempt, through love, and not through hatred,
that you may conquer, and not that you may be conquered, and that
you may come to a perfect knowledge of yourself, and of Me,
and that virtue may be
proved, for it is not proved except by its contrary.
At the foot of the Tree, if you remember well, there was a certain thorn, from which thorn all those who love their own sensuality kept away, and ran to a mountain of Lolla, in which you figured to yourself all the delights of the world. That Lolla seemed to be of corn and was not, and, therefore, as you saw, many souls thereon died of hunger, and many recognizing the deceits of the world, returned to the Tree and passed the thorn, which is the deliberation of the will. Which deliberation, before it is made, is a thorn which appears to man to stand in the way of following the Truth. And conscience always fights on one side, and sensuality on the other; but as soon as he, with hatred and displeasure of himself, manfully makes up his mind, saying, ‘I wish to follow Christ crucified,’ he breaks at once the thorn, and finds inestimable sweetness…
