The Warfare of the Soul Part 8

St. Paul, also, in his exhortation to the Ephesian Christians to "put on the whole armour of G.o.d,"[3] does not regard it as enough to give the great list of virtues with which they are to be panoplied. The loins must indeed be girt with truth; the breastplate of righteousness must be buckled on and the sandals of the preparation of the gospel of peace; while above all else there must be the shield of faith; and the great catalogue of {76} the Christian soldier's equipment ends with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.

But this armour is not sufficient for the warfare. Complete as it seems, something else is necessary to insure the victory; and so the great Christian warrior, who himself had "fought a good fight,"[4] adds something more, namely, watchfulness and prayer,--"_Praying_ always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and _watching_ thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

How strong are his words, poured forth with such impetuosity of expression as to seem to a superficial reader to be almost tautological,--"praying with all prayer and supplication." How careful, too, is he to remind us that this prayer and supplication must be "in the Spirit," in response to the Spirit's impulse, and with the right judgment that He alone can give, and which He will give only to those who ask Him "nothing wavering."[5]

Nor will prayer alone suffice. There must be a "watching thereunto with all perseverance"; not relaxing our vigilance, but maintaining it to the end. Neither is the soul to grow faint in its watch, nor imagine, in regard to any point, that careful guard is no longer necessary.

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The word "thereunto" calls for comment. Does the vigilance enjoined apply only to the work of prayer which has just been mentioned, or does it reach back to the whole category of duties included in putting on the armour of G.o.d? At first glance it might seem inadequate to make it refer only to the all-embracing duty of prayer, but if we comprehend fully all that prayer means, we shall see that it is not necessary that we should directly connect the injunction to vigilance with anything else.[6] If we are keenly vigilant to pray as we ought in the power of the Spirit concerning truth and righteousness, faith and salvation, and all else that the Apostle has been describing, nothing will be wanting to us as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. How truly did a Kempis catch the thought which the Holy Spirit had given the great Apostle when he paraphrased our Lord's command in the words, "Be watchful in prayer."

Let us consider, then, this twofold weapon with which G.o.d will arm us, for we note that they are not two separate weapons. Our Lord said, "Watch ye and pray," and the blessed a Kempis gives us, as we have just seen, the true commentary on the command in the paraphrase, "Watch in prayer."

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Vigilance without prayer would be to learn of the danger, and yet fail to guard against it. To pray without vigilance would be to expect G.o.d to work some miracle for us, to protect us when we ourselves had done nothing to employ the means He places in our hands for forestalling and defeating Satan. In short, it would be a sin of presumption. So one cannot avail without the other.

With this understanding clear in our minds, let us proceed to examine the relation of vigilance and prayer to temptation.

II. _The Spirit of Vigilance_

"_Watch._" This implies much more than a mere guarding ourselves in a general way. It means that a systematic and regular guard is to be kept over our _whole life_, over _all_ our senses and faculties, over _all_ circ.u.mstances and conditions so far as we can by any means direct them.

Here again we may find our ill.u.s.tration in the world about us.

Approach the camp of a well disciplined army. How quickly you are challenged. Seek to enter it on any side, and a sentinel, alert and suspicious, keeps you at a distance. The foe may be hovering in the darkness of the neighbouring forest, or he may be a hundred miles away, but this makes no difference in the vigilance of the guard. They take {79} no chances. The enemy is abroad, and no man sleeps on his post.

Nor is it the known weak points only, or only the side from which the attack is expected, that receives attention. Everywhere strict watchfulness is maintained, while the threatened points are doubly sentinelled.

We have in this the picture of what the watch about the beleaguered soul should be. The soul that means to give a good and generous service to G.o.d must guard itself at every point. How frequently, when attention is called to some sin, do we think, "Oh, that is not my weakness," or, "That would const.i.tute no temptation to me whatever."

Vain, boasting spirit!--trusting to escape from evil by merely natural means! How Satan gloats as he marks one point that is being left unguarded, and waits, alert and observant, for a favourable opportunity for attack. Through long time, months and years it may be, he maintains a steady, subtle work of suggestion, leading the mind little by little, unconsciously because no guard is kept, into an att.i.tude where the temptation we boastingly defied will prove a terrible foe before whose sudden onslaught we shall go down in grievous and ignominious fall.

If in truth G.o.d has spared us the fall into some sin that happens in the lives of those about us, our safety will lie not in self-congratulation, {80} but in humble thanksgiving that only through the mercy of G.o.d have we been spared this stain. "But for the mercy of G.o.d, there goes John Bradford," exclaimed a rugged old Christian as a condemned murderer pa.s.sed by on his way to death.

Again, our vigilance must be especially directed against the temptations to which we have already yielded. When a sin has once found entrance, it is easy for it to enter again, not only because experience of the sin itself makes it attractive, but because psychologically it is easy to do the thing we have done before. In my self-examination to-night I find that a certain sin has been committed.

Let me mark it over against the morrow that the temptation, if it recur, may be stamped out quickly, lest the fault entering often become habitual, and a binding chain of besetting sin be forged about my soul.

Similarly must we guard the particular faculty that we find has led us into sin. Is it pride of intellect, the desire to show what little we know, the instinctive tendency to monopolize conversation, or to instruct and correct others? Or is it a weakness that has its seat in our affections, a tendency to condone sin in those we love, or a critical spirit against those for whom we have no natural affinity? Or perhaps it is a sin of speech; {81} the unkind word we so easily speak, the idle boast of our own achievements; or the sin of idle conversation, the "objectless" talk that occupies so much of our conversation with others, and which our Lord so terribly condemned.[7]

Although no sin may have been committed, yet an oft-recurring temptation is always to be diligently watched. It indicates that Satan, who generally knows us better than we know ourselves, has reason to believe that here is a weak point in our armour; or that he thinks that G.o.d might, for some reason, be particularly dishonoured by our commission of the sin suggested at some special time or place.

Vigilance, too, must be kept regarding occasions of sin. For this reason we should practise not only daily examination of conscience that we may learn wherein we have failed, but we should begin each day with an antic.i.p.ation of possible happenings. Where do I expect to go? Whom shall I see? What duties are to be performed which may occasion temptation? Perhaps I know that, if the expected routine of the day be not disturbed, I shall go to a certain place and shall meet certain people. The last time I was in that place something occurred which caused me to sin. Is the occasion of that sin still there? {82} If so, I must note it, and be most guarded concerning it. Perhaps I shall meet a certain person who irritates and annoys me. This, too, I must note, and forestall by some prompt word or act of charity, before the temptation has time to present itself.

III. _Prayer and Temptation_

All this vigilance will, however, avail nothing unless it be combined with prayer. The good soldier in the field does not depend upon himself, but is constantly referring to headquarters for instructions, and this reference on the part of the soldier in the armies of the Kingdom is what we call prayer.

We must, however, get beyond the narrow and inadequate notion that prayer is confined to formal acts of praise, thanksgiving, confession, and pet.i.tion. These are real and essential parts of prayer, and we have need of them as we shall see; but they are not all.

Every act of directing the human will towards the will of G.o.d is prayer in its truest and most comprehensive sense. Every longing of the heart for G.o.d, every effort to identify ourselves with Him, our wills with His will, though there be neither word, nor even thought, definitely framed, is prayer. Our spoken prayers may have prayed {83} themselves away; the mind and body may be so wearied that formal acts of prayer are a burden to the flesh, and well-nigh impossible. But these are not necessary if we are keeping our hearts turned towards Him, and are striving, even though at times we may not appear to succeed, to maintain, around and within, that atmosphere of loving devotion which is the Christian's way of keeping open the lines of communication with his base of supplies.

Our first duty in prayer, as a preparation over against temptation, is to address ourselves directly to the case in hand, and, pleading our own nothingness, to ask G.o.d to go with us through the day to defend and succour us. Pray about the particular occasion of sin that may seem imminent; pray with especial earnestness as we approach it more nearly.

But the prayer must not be for ourselves alone. If there are others involved we must pray for them, that they too may be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

If the occasion we are approaching is one that is dangerous because we have before yielded to Satan, no prayer can be of greater effect than an act of contrition for the past sins, the commission of which is now involving us in renewed peril. Every act of contrition purifies the soul more and more, and adds to the strength with which {84} we are to meet the confident enemy on the scene of his former victory, but this time to put him to flight. "_Amplius lava me_,"--Wash me more and more,--was the cry of the Psalmist in his great prayer of penitence.[8]

Here we cannot fail to consider the particular strength which comes from the greatest prayer of contrition,--sacramental confession and the absolution which follows. If the antic.i.p.ated occasion be one of possible mortal sin, and if the sin of the past has been grievous, the best preparation will be the seeking of absolution in the tribunal of penance. Every sacrament brings its own particular grace, and the special grace of absolution is a power infused into us which will apply to the especial need of our souls. Satan has at some time been able to effect an entrance at some point; again he draws near to a.s.sault the absolved soul, confident that he will find the same avenue open. To his chagrin, however, he finds it not only closed, but fortified with a special gift of strength from G.o.d; and, fearing the shame of a defeat, he will often withdraw without attacking.

This is a common experience with those who habitually frequent the tribunal of penance. How many times have we had many and grievous {85} falls into some particular sin; we make a good confession and go away not only cleansed, but strengthened by the grace of absolution; and after some days or weeks we begin to realize with a sense of joyful surprise that the temptation which a little while ago was constantly appearing seems to be entirely withdrawn. The occasion may arise, but the soul feels no drawing to that in which it had before sinned. It is the operation of the special grace of absolution, a grace which cannot be had other than through the Sacrament of Penance, whatever other great graces G.o.d may give us in reward for true contrition of spirit.

It is important that the work of prayer in preparation for temptation should cover every point. As we have already thought in connection with watchfulness, nothing must be done in the natural spirit; no temptation can be overcome by means of dependence on anything else but the gifts of divine grace. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."[9]

It is a part of the Faith that we can do nothing pleasing to G.o.d in the natural spirit. Nothing can be acceptable with Him, nothing can draw from Him the graces we need, save what is done {86} through the power and influence of the Third Person of the Ever-Blessed Trinity.

The Apostle says that no man can do so simple a thing as to "say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost."[10] So it is the Holy Ghost Who is to be our guide and protector. Do we pray to the Holy Ghost?

We pray often to the Father; frequently, perhaps, to G.o.d the Son, but how much is prayer to G.o.d the Holy Ghost neglected amongst Christians!

And yet He alone is the agent of the G.o.dhead in the Church. His is the work of sanctification, as the Father's is the work of creation, and the Son's that of redemption. No grace comes to us save through the Spirit. Everything that comes into our lives from G.o.d, whether by means of prayer or sacrament, faith or good works, comes through the personal action of the Holy Ghost.

Therefore in preparing for temptation let us look to Him and pray to Him in all things; and thus "strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man,"[11] we can go forth to the day's conflict, knowing that the a.s.saults of Satan and the occasions of sin can only bring us new opportunities of victory that will merit us the crown of life which is promised to them that overcome.

In the midst of this prayer in preparation for {87} temptation we must expect to find ourselves the objects of Satan's peculiar malice. All prayer is a challenge to him, but none so much as the prayer by which we are gaining new force and resource to employ against him.[12]

In this, as in all else, we see how carefully Satan conducts his warfare. If it were possible to do so, what leader would fail to attack his enemy when he was in the very act of laying in new supplies of food and ammunition upon which to subsist, and with which to fight?

Lastly, in the very moment of temptation our prayers must be strong and unceasing. The more the temptation increases, the more fervently--yea, desperately--must we pray, crying out as a drowning man might call to the only one from whom he could expect help.

But, says one, there's the rub. How can I pray when a thousand distractions are thrust in so powerfully from every side? We are to find the answer to such questions in our Lord's {88} hour of deepest temptation in Gethsemane where we are told that "being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly"[13]--literally, more intensely.

Let the intensity of our prayer keep pace with the intensity of a.s.sault. We can more than defeat Satan if at such times we compel ourselves to pray with greater care and exactness, framing with extraordinary care the very words we are speaking to G.o.d, and if our perturbation be such that we can find no words to utter, let us not grow faint, but remember that this was precisely the case with our Lord in His Agony, when He prayed over and over again, "saying the same words."[14]

By his constant effort to interfere with our prayers, especially in seasons of trial and temptation, Satan gives his testimony to the efficiency which we shall acquire if we are earnest in our work of preparation for the battle. He fears it with a fear born of long experience. "Grievous indeed to us," says St. Bernard, "is the temptation of the enemy, but far more grievous to him is our prayer."[15] He has through all the ages contended against the grace and strength of G.o.d as he found it in its manifold forms in the Saints.

He sees the history of the spiritual {89} warfare repeating itself in us, and surely it should be a source of rejoicing to us that he should count us as foes to be feared, as he feared in other days, or in our own time, the great Saints and warriors of the Kingdom of G.o.d.

[1] _Imitation_, I, xiii.

[2] St. Mark xiv, 38.

[3] Eph. vi, 11-18.

[4] 2 Tim. iv, 7.

[5] St. James i, 6.

[6] See _The Speaker's Commentary_, in loc.

[7] St. Matt. xii, 36.