More Sunday Thoughts About Conquering Death By Conquering Ourselves

We continue to study the words of our spiritual guide, Fr. Jacque Michel. He teaches us about the need to fight to conquer ourselves. And he shows how a big part of that fight entails suffering.

While the Easter Season brings much joy and celebration, we do not forget or forego our daily struggle for sanctity and all that entails. Indeed, the special graces that flow during this holy season can do much to strengthen us, to hone our spiritual life to endure all that this Vale of Tears inevitably will serve up.

And so we continue to dig deeper into what can at times seem a daunting reality. As we do, we should find that there's nothing to fear. If we accept our suffering and continue our fight we will conquer ourselves, and, following the example of Our Risen Lord, death itself.

This installment gets into great detail. Don't skim it. It's a brilliant recounting of how we sinners may think when confronted with temptations. In this case, we don't resist as we should. And once that occurs, it sets of a cycle of woe - one that proceeds step by step to an unhappy state.

 

We Cannot Conquer Without Fighting,
And There is No Fighting Without Suffering (Part 2 of 4)
Fr. Jacques Michel, S.J. (1712-?)

“Let us now see how we are apt to behave under this species of temptation. Entirely absorbed by the thought of our weakness, and the difficulties of what we have undertaken, we fall into discouragement, instead of exclaiming with holy King David: ‘Though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils: for Thou art with me.’ In this state of discouragement we have but a feeble hope that God will help us; we hardly expect it, we scarcely dare to ask for it; perhaps, even, we fear to attain it, lest it should oblige us to relinquish certain favorite inclinations. In this condition, despairing of being able to persevere in such a life of self-violence, we struggle but feebly, if at all. Our first relapse serves to confirm this impression – that it is useless for us to resist, and that we must only wait for the time when our passions shall be weaker. Henceforward, everything becomes more difficult. Disgust and the spirit of indifference with regard to our duties take possession of our mind and heart, and these duties are thus rendered only more arduous. Our exercises of piety we omit altogether, or acquit ourselves of them so carelessly that they can scarcely be pleasing to God. A dissipated and distracted state of mind and heart succeeds the interior life which we formerly led. We abandon our pious practices, resist grace, silence the voice of our conscience, and even avoid entertaining good thoughts. We follow only the bent of our inclinations and caprices, where we meet with no resistance. In His mercy God may at times speak to us, but we have begun to dread the voice that would urge us to shake off the bonds of sloth and lukewarmness. This is the point to which the enemy of our salvation has sought to lead us; he wished to prevent us from reflection and from working for our salvation; and he has succeeded. These details are perhaps lengthy, but they may help you to understand the enemy’s plan of attack, and enable you to prepare a defense which shall defeat his designs.”
 

Those of us who have ever faced temptations that pushed us too far (to put it delicately) may readily recognize this progression. If so, Father's words may be either a wake up call or a reminder to stop that progression before it begins if a temptation gets the best of us. The best way, it would seem, is simply to acknowledge our fault or sin, and express our sincere sorrow along with a firm purpose of amendment. We do this in Confession. But if the offense is serious enough, or we can't get to a confessional in a reasonable amount of time, an Act of Perfect Contrition should be our priority. (We can make an Act of Perfect Contrition right away, even if we can get to Confession.)

Then we trust in God's mercy. And perhaps recall that Jesus suffered and died for us. We can't allow His Passion, Death, and Resurrection to have been of no avail in our own lives.

Notice too the role of weakness in this progression. Hence, the title of this series focuses on fighting. It's hard to fight when we're weak. So, a we might imagine, Father would like us to build up our strength in order to be in shape to fight effectively.

Happy Easter!