Why Does God Allow Temptation?
by Saint Maximus the Confessor
One can distinguish five reasons why God allows the devils to attack us:
- first, so that from attack and counter-attack we may become practised in discerning good from evil;
- second, so that our virtue may be maintained in the heat of the struggle and so be confirmed in an impregnable position;
- third, so that as we advance in virtue we may avoid presumption and learn humility;
- fourth, to inspire in us an unreserved hatred for evil through the experience we thus have of it;
- fifth, and above all, that we may attain inner freedom and remain convinced both of our own weakness and of the strength of him who has come to our bid.
Cited from:
-Spidlik, Thomas. Drinking from the Hidden Fountain : A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World. Minneapolis: Cistercian Publications, Incorporated, 1993. Page 121.
Reach out to the Good in the Freedom of Love
by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
Evil as a thing in itself does not exist. It has no being, if we think of it as completely separated from the highest Good. Nothing exists that does not participate in the Good. Evil is only a lack of Goodness, and nothing exists that is completely lacking in Goodness.
Divine Providence affects every being; there is no being that is outside its influence. When some evil happens, Providence kindly makes use of it for the benefit of the sinner or of other people, individually or as a community.
We cannot agree with the one who says that Providence ought to compel us to be good even against our will. What sort of Providence would it be that destroyed our human nature? Its function is rather to protect the nature of every being. Therefore, when dealing with beings that have been given free will, it acts taking account of this free will of theirs.
Evil is weakness, impotence, lack of knowledge, ignorance of what it is impossible not to know, insufficient faith, not enough desire for or doing of what is good.
The objection could be raised that weakness deserves forgiveness rather than punishment. If humanity had not been given any strength, that objection would be justified. But according to Scripture the highest Good gives each person the strength that is needed. Consequently we have no excuse for neglecting the good qualities we have received from him who is Goodness itself.
This Good is the beginning and the end of all things. It is involved in all existence. It creates from nothingness. It is the cause of all good without being the cause of evil. It is Providence and perfect Goodness. It transcends being and not-being. And it has the ability to turn evil into good.
We ought to reach out to it with all our might, with all the desire of love.
Cited from:
Spidlik, Thomas. Drinking from the Hidden Fountain : A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World. Minneapolis: Cistercian Publications, Incorporated, 1993. Page 145.
The Worm of Pride
by Defensor Grammaticus
Augustine said:
‘We must avoid pride. If it was able to deceive angels, how much more will it be able to scatter human wits.’
Ambrose said:
‘Pride transformed angels into demons, humility makes human beings into saints. Pride leads you to despise God’s commandments, humility urges you to follow them. The proud want to be praised even for what they have not done, the humble try to hide the good they do.’
Gregory said:
‘The one who is in the first place can never learn humility if he does not overcome pride when he is in the last.’
In The Lives of the Fathers it is said:
‘Fruit that is ruined is no use to the farmer; virtue that is proud is no use to God. Just as the weight of the fruit breaks the branch, so pride smashes the beauty of the soul.’
Defensor Grammaticus
Book of Sparkling Sayings, 17 (SC77 pp.258ff.)
If You Think You Can Go it Alone
by Basil the Great
If anyone claims to be able to be completely self-sufficient, to be capable of reaching perfection without anyone else’s help, to succeed in plumbing the depths of Scripture entirely unaided, he is behaving just like someone trying to practice the trade of a carpenter without touching wood. The Apostle would say to such: ‘It is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law who will be justified.’ [Rom. 2:13]
Our Lord, in loving each human being right to the end, did not limit himself to teaching us in words. In order to give us an exact and telling example of humility in the perfection of love, he put on an apron and washed the disciples’ feet.
So what about you, living entirely on your own? Whose feet will you wash? Whom will you follow to take the lowest place in humility? To whom will you offer brotherly service? How, in the home of a solitary, can you taste the joy that is evident where many live together?
The spiritual field of battle, the sure way of inner advancement, continual practice in the keeping of the commandments, this is what you will find in a community. It has the glory of God as its aim, in accordance with the word of the Lord Jesus: ‘Let your light so shine before your fellows that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.’ [Matt. 5:16]
What is more, community preserves that particular characteristic of the saints which is referred to in the Scriptures thus: ‘All who believed were together and had all things in common.’ [Acts 2:44] ‘The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.’ [Acts 4:32]
Cited from:
-Spidlik, Thomas. Drinking from the Hidden Fountain : A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World. Minneapolis: Cistercian Publications, Incorporated, 1993. Page 215.
Let us Glory in Temptation
by Ambrose
The devil does not have only one weapon. He uses many different means to defeat human beings: now with bribery, now with boredom, now with greed he attacks, inflicting mental and physical wounds equally.
The kind of temptation varies with the different kinds of victim. Avarice is the test of the rich, loss of children that of parents and everyone is exposed to pain of mind and body. What a wealth of weapons is at the devil’s disposal!
It was for this reason that the Lord chose to have nothing to lose. He came to us in poverty so that the devil could find nothing to take away from him. You see the truth of this when you hear the Lord himself saying: ‘The prince of this world is come and has found nothing in me.’ [John 14:30] The devil could only test him with bodily pain, but this too was useless because Christ despised bodily suffering.
Job was tested by his own goods, whereas Christ was tempted, during the experience of the wilderness, by the goods of all. In fact, the devil robbed Job of his riches and offered Christ the kingdom of the whole world. Job was tested by vexations, Christ by prizes. Job the faithful servant replied: ‘The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away.’[Job 1:21] Christ, being conscious of his own divine nature, scorned the devil’s offering of what already belonged to him.
So let us not be afraid of temptations. Rather, let us glory in them saying: ‘When I am weak, then am I strong.’ [2 Cor. 12:10]
Cited from:
-Spidlik, Thomas. Drinking from the Hidden Fountain : A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World. Minneapolis: Cistercian Publications, Incorporated, 1993. Page 143.
We are all Begging to have God
by Basil the Great
It is natural to look for beauty and to love it, even though the idea of what is beautiful varies between one person and another.
Now, what is more marvelous than the divine beauty? What can you think of that is more likely to give pleasure than the magnificence of God? What desire could be more ardent, more irresistible than the thirst which God inspires in the soul when once it has been purified of every vice and cries out: ‘I am sick with love.’ [S. of S. 2:5]
The divine beauty is beyond description in words. We could compare its brilliance to the light of the morning star or the moon or the sun. But we should be as far from a true description as midday is from the dead of night.
This beauty is invisible to the eyes of the body;only the soul and the mind can perceive it. Every time it illumines the saints, it leaves in them a sting, a nostalgia so strong as to wring from the cry: ‘Woe is me, that I am in exile still.’ [cf. Ps. 120:5]
By our nature we human beings aspire to what is beautiful and love it. But what is beautiful is also good. God is good. Everyone looks for the good, therefore everyone looks for God.
Cited from:
-Spidlik, Thomas. Drinking from the Hidden Fountain : A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World. Minneapolis: Cistercian Publications, Incorporated, 1993. Page 173.