Death to the Temptor

I have very little expertise to share on temptation, but I can speak from experience and the few good homilies I have heard on the topic.

First of all, just read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Then you can read the rest of what I have to say.

Let's lay it out in the most straightforward manner - satan, the devil, the evil one.. he stinks. He's mean. He doesn't like you or me. He doesn't even like God. He thinks he's in charge. He has some wily schemes to convince us that we're "god" too. He can be very subtle and very convincing. He's a jerk. There are many inappropriate words that can also be applied to him, but it is not necessary to mention them now. That, too, is part of his "evil charm." Why should it matter to him that we apply those words to him, as long as he's managed to get us to a point of using them, right?

Anyway, you don't want this guy as a friend. He'll double-cross you, cheat you, lie to you nearly every time... he twists things and skews your views as much as possible. He wants you to lose.

Now, the thing that the devil forgets to mention to his friends and non-friends alike, is that he is a created creature. Yep. He was an angel, and then he allowed his vanity and pride to take him from the love of God for eternity. So, we aren't dealing with some "equal power" here who can give God a run for his money. Nope. Just as much as God can snuff me out at any moment if he so wished, he could do the same to the devil. So we should take that to heart.

However, it is both a reason to guard against him less and to do so even more. Being a created creature, he isn't as powerful as God by any means, and therefore our belonging-to-God should be our courage, hope, stength and assurance that the devil "has got nothin' on us." On the other hand, being a created creature, his tactics are so often those which we don't notice enough to throw up our guard. He blends in with our surroundings, works with the emotions other people bring out in us, allows our imaginations to be carried in the wrong direction, tries his best to make any truth seem just as truthful while actually making it quite a lie. It's almost unsettling. Almost.

But here's my favorite part. The devil messed up because of why? (Here is where you yell, "Pride!") And what did God do about it? Well, first, he cast him out of heaven forever. Secondly, he established a beautiful and wonderful situation. It entails the devil eventually being crushed/his evil being ended. Best part? Does it get better? Oh yeah. Mary, Our Lady.. she gets to do the squashing. Yep! The most humble, obedient, perfect woman ever created will triumph over the most prideful, disobedient creature. It's cool.

So what does that mean for us? Oh, it means we cling to Mary! We pray, we pray, and then we pray some more. We ask for grace, to assist us in our darkest hours. We ask for grace to assist us in the daily grid of life, where our eyes can become blinded to our failures and sins. We ask for grace to aid us in times of specific temptation, so that we have the courage to choose the Lord over ourselves. We ask for Our Lady's intercession for us, that we will be assisted by her love and spirit of humility and purity. And of course, it means we get back up after we fall, after we've screwed up for the hundreth time, and we go to Reconciliation, and we seek the grace to do better next time.

The truth is, when we lean on ourselves to resist evil, we will inevitably fall. When we accept that we are children in this life (children of the King), and ask for the help of a Father and Brother and mother in heaven, we are so much more sustained. And as a wise priest said recently at mass, (paraphrased here) "We never listen to the devil. Even when he works with truth. He is always lying. Never listen to him, at all."

We can especially appreciate this priest's words because we all know how we can justify our actions or thoughts sometimes, even when we know that they were/are wrong. "Little white lies" that build into a habit of untruth. This one I know for sure, because I love to tell stories "dramatically." This means I like to exaggerate a little, as if saying there were "18 billion" spiders instead of three. Now, clearly most listeners will recognize that there were not actually 18 billion spiders. However, since I am already used to speaking with some exaggeration, what happens is that I will then embellish the words or tones of others when I am relating a conversation or a story. Again, sometimes this is either not important to the overall meaning or obvious that I am making the story more dramatic. However, there are certainly times that after I finish explaining something, I realize that my memory serves me better than I wish I to, and I realize that I did not communicated the other person's words completely acurately. Please don't worry about my scrupulosity or yours right now, this is meant to be an illustration. Sometimes I will go back and correct myself. Sometimes I let it go. My intention was not to lie to anyone. Nor to mislead someone in how they understood the situation. But I think the point is evident... the comfortability I have with being over-dramatic leads to a comfortability with not-always-being-truthful.

This, once more, is a rather miniscule scenario on the scale of dangerously-close-to-letting-the-devil-lead-you-astray, but these truths that we discover through our personal experience directly relate and apply to a greater and wider picture. In this case, we could just as easily say "not entering your full income on tax forms" or "not registering your pet in your apartment" or "making up an excuse for why you missed class or work that didn't actually happen but sounds more legitimate than you wanting to sleep." See the point? It's a slippery slope. If you are trained in a habit in any area, it grows and builds inside of you. What is most dangerous is that you lose the ability to see when you are acting in this way. You do not take note of your fibs or lies anymore. You become accustomed to the benefits entailed with cheating, and you do not even register it as cheating anymore. Of course, if someone asked you if you would steal a car if given the opportunity, you might say "no! of course not.. that's wrong." But the truth is that you already treat others as if you have the right to take from them without any cost to yourself.

Anyway, that was somewhat tangental. Point being, that devil guy gets us stuck in the muck, and then he's the expert at keeping us trapped in our feelings of shame or lonliness or disappointment or anger, and we find ourselves lost in a vicious cycle.

So keys to kicking the evil dude's butt?
1. Pray.

2. Mary. Trust her, she's your mother. She'll take care of you.

3. Don't LISTEN to him. He's a poop-face. Tell him that! When you feel like you're going down that path, just turn around and run in the other direction. Don't try to be nice to him. Don't act politely. He won't be polite to you! Tell him he's a jerk and get out of there.

4. Try to become more aware of the areas or habits that you have created or are creating that may keep you away from the truth, away from God's love, and away from loving your neighbors around you.

5. Work hard at getting OUT of those areas or habits above.

6. Avoid areas of temptation... this seems obvious, but perhaps not obvious enough. This can include music with cursing, movies with explicit sex, friends who want you to make them feel good but don't actually care about your immortal soul, social idols whose lives are less-than-exemplary but who you still seem attached to, boyfriends or girlfriends who are unable to aid you in the battle for purity of heart, mind and body, family members who are unable to encourage you or who purposefully discourage you from seeking God with your whole heart, etc... The more we surround ourselves with things that lead our thoughts to the Lord, guess what?? The more we think about him! And the less room there is for satan to twist the truth. If your thoughts are constantly drawn to the one who is The Truth, you aren't going to be as susceptible to the "fake truth."

7. When you mess up (it is inevitable), do not let the devil trap you there. Be sorry. Be very sorry. Mourn a little. Go to confession and heap yourself up with graces. Truly desire to amend your failings! But do not begin the pity party. Don't invite him, or anyone else. Don't let him bring along his friends, because they're names are depression and despair, and they are not nice. So just don't give him the chance. Shake it off. Stand back up.

8. I know I said confession already, but the other sacraments are absolutely helpful too! If you aren't Baptized/Confirmed/ a member of the Church, consider that. It is a beautiful thing. For all who are, frequent reception of the Eucharist is the greatest prayer and gift you can participate in. Celebrate the Lord's victory over death and sin for all eternity every day if possible! If you're being united with The Truth each day, you probably won't be very willing to listen to the "fake truth", right? Yes.

9. Remember that evil personified in the devil is a creature, and that evil in general is a result of sin. These things do affect us, but they do not have any power over us when we refuse them entry into our hearts. They can cause sorrow and brokenness in our lives and the lives of those around us, but they cannot necessitate our falling from grace unless we give them the room. I think of the movie The Labyrinth (and it is kinda creepy, just saying), where Jennifer Connelly finally reaches the end of her rope and decides she's had enough of the cruel games she's had to endure. She just yells out, "You have no power over me" and that's it. When you say, "hit the road" and you mean it, that's basically it. Of course, the barrage of temptation could send the next wave upon you nearly instantly, but if you keep on denying evil access to your heart and soul, it isn't going to be able to hurt you.

10. Trust. In the end, as I said, we are children of the King. He has us. We must trust in him, and leave ourselves to his care. He loves us more than we love ourselves. If there is some good to be gained for us or others through our enduring hard times, then we must believe in his mercy and know he will keep us from harm. He is only Good.

Anyway, stay in the light, and keep the faith.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen.