Temptation to Sin

322. Notions. 1. Temptation is the attempt to draw the will over to sin. Temptation arises from this, that an object, some good, prohibited by law is proposed to the will: for this attempts to move the will to consent.

a. Temptation is called grave if the will is vehemently incited by an object prohibited under grave obligation to embrace it; and it is called light if the will is incited to embrace it by an object prohibited under light obligation, or by an object prohibited under grave obligation but only lightly.

b. Temptation is called internal if, once an evil object has been proposed, the appetite is inclined to embrace it; it is called external if only the evil object is proposed, without the appetite being excited to embrace it.

2. The frequency of temptations varies according to diverse internal and external circumstances of persons; nevertheless no one is altogether immune from them, because no one can escape the causes of temptations unless he goes out of this world. Christ the Lord must be excepted, in whom internal temptation was impossible, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom the grace of God preserved immune from internal temptation. The ascetics show at length that temptation in itself is not evil, but a good of great moment for the spiritual life.¹

¹ Hense, Die Versuchungen^3 (Freiburg: Herder, 1902). Scaramelli-Winkler, Geistlicher Fuhrer (Regensburg: Verlagsanstalt, 1901). Monsabre-Drammer, Die Versuchung (Mainz: Kirchheim, 1892).

323. The causes of temptations are numbered as three, of which the first, concupiscence, is internal, and the other two, the world and the devil, are external.

1. Concupiscence. a. By the name concupiscence here is understood the sensitive appetite insofar as it is borne also toward sensible goods which are contrary to the moral order.

a. Having arisen from original sin, it remains even in the justified and consists in a positive inclination toward evil. It is not sin; nevertheless it is the most abundant source of sins, because it allures the will to sin. Therefore it is called the fomes of sin by the Council of Trent.¹

b. Acts of concupiscence allure the will to sin in two ways: indirectly, through influence on the intellect, whose judgment concerning the malice of a good so pleasant to the senses is disturbed; directly, through influence on the will, which on account of the connection of the powers is drawn to willing the same thing toward which the sensitive appetite is borne.

c. The force and vehemence of temptation, and therefore the gravity of the danger of sinning, depends on the nature of the thing toward which concupiscence is borne, on the greater or lesser clarity and vivacity with which it is represented, on the greater or lesser intensity of the act of concupiscence, and finally on the weakness of the will, which can be greatly increased in the concrete by natural character and the habit of sinning.

b. Concupiscence is the primary and principal source of temptations: Each one is tempted, drawn away and enticed by his own concupiscence.² The goods prohibited by law toward which concupiscence is borne are of a threefold genus, and according as it is borne toward these goods, there is distinguished in it a threefold respect, which Sacred Scripture indicates: All that is in the world is concupiscence of the flesh and concupiscence of the eyes and pride of life.³

2. The world. a. Insofar as the world designates the complex of corporeal things, it tempts in this, that it represents sensible goods to the appetite by means of the senses and allures it to embrace them, even if they are prohibited by law.

b. Insofar as the world signifies men alien from God, who profess perverse principles and, indulging their passions, live in sins, it tempts: a. by its principles contrary to the doctrine of Christ, which are disseminated among men both by voice and by writings; b. by its perverse works, by which, as also by conversations, it is a scandal, and excites others to follow evil examples.

3. The devil. a. That the devil incites men to sin is a most certain fact from Sacred Scripture: for he tempted to sin not only the first parents,⁴ but also Job,⁵ Ananias and Sapphira,⁶ the apostles,⁷ and especially Judas,⁸ indeed even the divine Savior;⁹ whence the apostles solicitously admonish us to beware of the temptations of the demon.¹⁰

b. Since the devil cannot act directly and immediately on the human will and draw it to sin, he tempts in this: a. he excites representations in the senses, whether external or internal, alluring toward prohibited goods; b. he imbues the mind with illusions, that death is still remote, passions impose necessity, sins are easily remitted, virtue is too arduous, man cannot be without the pleasures of life, etc.; c. he disturbs the soul with scruples, thoughts of hatred, lust, despair, human respect, etc.

c. Although, as Scripture witnesses, every sin took its beginning from the devil,¹¹ all sins of men proceed from him in some way, he is named the prince of this world,¹² and sins are called his works,¹³ nevertheless the intervention of the devil is necessary neither for every sin nor for all temptations; for concupiscence and the free will of man also suffice for effecting these. In fact, however, the devil is rather often the author of temptations, especially of those which are more troublesome and arise without another cause that is known, e.g. during prayer. The power of tempting in the devil is not absolute, but subordinated to divine providence. Therefore he cannot tempt except when God, by permitting, wills, and as much as he wills.

Note. Although in the Sacred Scriptures God is said to tempt men,¹⁴ nevertheless he himself must not be numbered among the causes of temptations, because he incites no one to sin nor can he incite.¹⁵ The temptations of which God is author are temptations of proving, not of seduction:¹⁶ for he does not himself send these temptations, but only permits them, nor does he permit them beyond strength, and with the temptation he will also make the outcome.¹⁷

¹ Sess. 5, can. 5.

² Jas. 1, 14.

³ 1 John 2, 16.

⁴ Gen. 3, 1-6; 2 Cor. 11, 3.

⁵ Job 1, 12.

⁶ Acts 5, 3.

⁷ Luke 22, 31.

⁸ John 13, 2.

⁹ Matt. 4, 3 ff.

¹⁰ 1 Cor. 7, 5; Eph. 5, 11 ff.; 1 Pet. 5, 8 ff.

¹¹ 1 John 3, 8.

¹² John 12, 31.

¹³ 1 John 3, 8.

¹⁴ Gen. 22, 1.

¹⁵ Jas. 1, 13.

¹⁶ 2 Cor. 12, 7 ff.; Gen. 22, 1 ff.; Job 1, 12; Tob. 2, 12.

¹⁷ 1 Cor. 10, 13.

324. On the resistance to be opposed to temptations.¹

a. It is clear that neither the world nor the devil can tempt man unless they excite motions of concupiscence through the senses; wherefore the only source of temptations properly is concupiscence. Now it is asked how the will ought to have itself concerning motions of concupiscence after the mind has fully adverted to them.

b. If consent is prescinded from, the will can have itself toward these motions in a threefold way: a. it is said to have itself negatively or passively or indifferently if it does not consent, but neither applies any means to repress them; b. it is said to resist positively, but indirectly, if it applies means to suppress them, but does not elicit a contrary act; c. it is said to resist directly if it elicits contrary acts. Now it is asked whether there is an obligation of positively resisting depraved motions, whether therefore sin is committed not only through consent to the depraved motion but also through omission of positive resistance.

1. It is not licit to have oneself merely passively toward these motions unless there is a just cause; rather, positive resistance must be opposed to them. a. For motions of this kind cast one into danger of consenting to them, which danger is increased the more the longer they are deliberately admitted; hence the greater the danger of consenting to depraved motions, the graver is the obligation of repressing them. b. If a reasonable cause for omitting resistance is present, the help of grace, by which consent may be prevented, can deservedly be hoped for, provided the firm purpose of the will not to consent to sin is retained.

a. A just cause for having oneself merely passively is present: a. where the motions arise from an honorable and useful action; b. where it is deservedly feared that from positive resistance they may become more vehement, and on the contrary experience establishes that they are more easily removed by being despised; c. where long positive resistance would be too troublesome. Therefore in temptations which last for a long time, it certainly suffices to resist them from time to time. In these cases, therefore, motions of concupiscence are rather to be despised than positively attacked. Nevertheless, especially in the first case, it is preferable to oppose to them an act of displeasure or a purpose not to sin.

b. One must assent to the authors who contend that the obligation of repressing these motions does not arise already from the fact that they are disordered, but from the danger of consent: for the obligation of the will of ruling the powers subject to it indeed requires that it guard against consent to evil, but it does not require that it prevent or repress indeliberate motions arisen from nature.²

2. To omit resistance and to have oneself merely passively where the motions of concupiscence are great and vehement is a grave sin; to omit it where the motions of concupiscence are light does not exceed venial sin, even if they turn about an object prohibited under grave obligation. For vehement motions induce a great or proximate danger of consenting, but light motions induce only a light danger; but we are held to remove proximate danger of consent under grave obligation, and light danger only under light obligation.

a. Hence pious penitents, who in temptations are rarely accustomed to consent, are not easily to be accused of grave sin if they have had themselves merely negatively; on the contrary, those who often fall in temptations can more easily be guilty of mortal sin, although in a particular case it is most difficult to bear a certain judgment concerning this matter.

b. It must be noted that if first-first motions, and evil ones, exist in the will, these after full advertence to them begin to become deliberately evil; wherefore they must always be driven away by positive resistance or dissent. For he who has himself merely negatively toward motions of this kind gravely evil sins gravely.

3. Of itself there is no obligation of directly resisting depraved motions, but of itself it suffices to resist them positively, because this of itself suffices for obtaining the end. Accidentally, however, there can be an obligation of resisting directly if positive resistance does not sufficiently exclude the danger of consent.

a. There are temptations, e.g. against faith, against chastity, which are conquered more easily and effectively by indirect resistance, especially by the mind being seriously occupied with other things.

b. The modes of resisting positively according to St. Alphonsus are the following: a. to elicit an act of dissent or displeasure, which, even if it does not repress the motion, especially one joined with carnal pleasure, nevertheless guards against consent of the will; b. to think about the passion of the Lord or about the last things; c. by praying, to have recourse to God, the Blessed Virgin, or the saints; d. to elicit an act of love of God and of the purpose of dying rather than sinning; e. to turn the mind to other things.

Note. Concerning the occasion of sin, see De sacramentis, n. 412 ff.

¹ Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri I, n. 595 ff.

² Castropalaus, Opus morale, tr. 2, disp. 2, p. 10, § 5. Tamburini, Explic. decal., l. 10, c. 2. Lacroix, Theologia moralis, l. 5, n. 111 ff.

The external causes of sin are: (a) the devil or other evil spirits, who by acting on the imagination or other sensitive powers of the soul attempt to draw mankind to destruction; (b) the world, that is, the persons and things about us, which by their seductiveness, or by their principles and examples, tend to draw away from the practice of virtue.

Since free consent is implied in the concept of formal sin, none of the internal or external causes of sin just mentioned, the choice of the will alone excepted, can actually effect sin. Hence the distinction between temptation and sin. The rebellion of the passions, the suggestions of evil spirits, the seductions of the world, are temptations; if the will does not yield to them, there is no sin, but rather virtue and merit.

In the presence of temptation fully adverted to, it is not lawful to remain indifferent (neither consenting nor dissenting), since this without just cause exposes one to the danger (see 258 sqq.) of being overcome by sin.

Resistance to temptation is made by the act of the will which commands the other powers not to yield and withholds its own consent to the sin suggested. This resistance may be:

(a) implicit or explicit, according as the dissent is expressed in what contains it, or is expressed in itself. Examples: Contempt of a temptation or displeasure over its presence is implicit resistance, while the resolve never to yield to it is explicit resistance;

(b) internal or external, according as it remains in the will, or is also exercised by the other powers. Examples: Displeasure over an uncharitable thought is internal resistance, while the reading of a book to divert the mind from the thought is external resistance;

(c) indirect or direct, according as the means employed to drive away a temptation are flight or attack. Examples: One who is disturbed by thoughts of hatred, resists them indirectly if he goes to the opera in order to be calmed by music, while he resists them directly, if he reads prayerfully I Cor. xiii, in order to become more charitable;

(d) virtual or actual, according as the act of dissent made, and not retracted, is adverted to or not. Examples: If a man rejects a temptation of envy as soon as he notices it, and repeats this act of rejection until the temptation has disappeared, his resistance is actual; if he rejects the temptation once for all as soon as it appears, but is not able to think of this purpose at each instant, his resistance was actual at the beginning, but virtual afterwards.

General rules regarding resistance to temptation: (a) it is a grave sin not to resist temptation, when the sin suggested is grave, the danger of consent serious, and the negligence considerable; otherwise the sin is venial; (b) negligence is considerable when the resistance used is not at all in proportion to the temptation. Example: If a man were suddenly to advert to the fact that a shrewd plan he had decided on was gravely unjust, he would be seriously negligent if he put off recalling the decision till he had dwelt more fully on its appealing features.

The kind of resistance to be opposed to temptation depends on the character and urgency of the temptation and the disposition of the person tempted. (a) Generally speaking, the more serious the temptation, the stronger should be the resistance. Example: One who knows from experience that temptations to hatred overcome him, if he uses only internal resistance, should make use of external resistance also. (b) In those cases in which the violence of the temptation increases in proportion to the strength of the resistance, it is better that the resistance be internal, indirect, etc. Examples: Temptations against faith are often overcome more readily by turning the mind away from the doubts suggested to other matters. Temptations that last a long time may be conquered more easily by despising them than by worrying about them and renewing protest after protest. The same is true as regards temptations against purity.

Danger of sin is the likelihood that it will be committed in certain circumstances. It is of two kinds, proximate and remote. (a) Danger of sin is proximate, when there is moral certainty that in given circumstances sin will be committed, either because the generality of mankind falls in such cases (absolute danger), or because in them a particular individual has always fallen (relative danger). Examples: Associating with depraved persons is a proximate danger of sin for anyone, since it is a matter of universal experience that evil associations corrupt good morals. Taking strong drink is a proximate danger for one who has never imbibed moderately in the past. (b) Danger of sin is remote, when the likelihood that sin will be committed is not morally certain, and does not exclude a serious and well-founded probability or expectation to the contrary. Example: There is remote danger in an occasional drink, if a person who had several times relapsed into intemperance, has practised abstemiousness for years.

Possibility of sin is the conceivability but unlikelihood that it will result from a certain set of circumstances. Example: Attention to business sometimes makes a man avaricious, practices of piety may degenerate into hypocrisy, etc., but there is no natural connection between industry and devotion, on the one hand, and greed and insincerity, on the other hand. Sin follows naturally from its danger, but only accidentally from its possibility.

It is not lawful imprudently to expose oneself to the danger of sin, since it is manifestly against reason to risk spiritual loss without cause. The character of the sin of him who does this differs according to circumstances. (a) He who rashly exposes himself to the proximate danger of grave sin, or to what he foresees will become proximate danger, is guilty of grave sin and of the species of sin to which he exposes himself—and this even though the sin does not actually follow. For to love what is so closely related to the sin is to love the sin itself. (b) He who rashly exposes himself to the remote danger of grave sin or to the proximate danger of venial sin is venially guilty. For, while such action is unreasonable, it does not imply affection for grave sin.

It is lawful to expose oneself to the danger of sin, if this can be done according to the laws of prudence, for otherwise absurdities would follow (e.g., that urgent duties should not be performed, if one feared they contained the danger of sin). The requirements of prudence referred to are: (a) that the one who exposes himself to the danger of sin be sure that his motive is good (viz., that he firmly intends to avoid the sin to which he may be tempted and to accomplish only the good he desires); (b) that the action he performs and which involves the danger is necessary, and bears a correspondence in importance to the gravity of the sin and the proximity of the risk; (c) that means be employed (e.g., prayer, pious thoughts, spiritual reading, and the use of the Sacraments), which will so reduce the danger that one has confident assurance that the danger will be encountered safely.

It is lawful to expose oneself to the possibility of sin, for, since almost every action may be perverted, one who wished to avoid the possibility of sin would have to leave this world and become confirmed in grace.

The Occasions of Sin are external circumstances—persons, places or things—which tempt one to sin. Examples: Persons who invite others to defraud and show how it can be accomplished, theatres where irreligious plays are staged, books that aim to depreciate virtue, etc.

The occasions of sin are of various kinds. (a) They are proximate or remote, according as it is morally certain, or only likely that they will lead to sin. (b) Occasions are necessary or free, according as one is able or not able to abandon them without difficulty. For example, one who chooses dishonest persons as his associates is in a free occasion of sin; one who is imprisoned with criminals is in a necessary occasion of sin. An occasion of sin is also necessary when the impossibility of leaving it is not physical, but moral. Examples: A wife who is bound to a provoking husband; a person who cannot give up an employment that offers many temptations, without suffering great temporal or spiritual injury, or without incurring a worse condition. (c) Occasions are present or absent, according as one has the occasion with him or must go to seek it. Examples; Intoxicants kept in his home are a present occasion of sin for a drunkard; atheistic lectures are an absent occasion of sin for one who has to go out to hear them.

It is not lawful to remain in a free occasion of sin,, whether it be present or absent; for to do so is to expose oneself rashly to the danger of sin (see 258 sqq.).

It is not lawful for one who is in a necessary occasion of sin to neglect means that are adapted to preserve him from the moral contagion by which he is surrounded; for to neglect spiritual safeguards and protections in such a case is to refuse to resist temptation (see 252 sqq.). The means that should be used depend on circumstances, but prayer and firm resolves to avoid sin should be employed in every case.

The gravity of the sin committed by one who freely remains in an occasion of sin, or who does not use the requisite spiritual helps in a necessary occasion, depends on various factors: (a) if the sin to which he is tempted is light, he does not sin gravely; (b) if the sin to which he is tempted is serious, and the occasion is proximate, he sins gravely; (c) if the occasion is remote, he sins venially.

Temptations to Impurity.—Before treating the various kinds of impurity, we shall speak briefly of temptations that occasion this sin and of the duties of the person tempted.

(a) External temptation comes from the devil or the world, and the duty of struggling against it has been treated elsewhere (see 252, 1455 sqq., 1495 sqq.). Thus, he who finds that certain persons, places or things are for him a temptation to impurity must be guided by the principles given for occasions of sin (263 sqq.); he who finds that another wishes to seduce him into impurity must refuse all internal consent (see 254 sqq.), and must also resist violence when there is hope of success, or when this is necessary to avoid giving scandal or yielding consent (see on self-defense, 1841).

(b) Internal temptation comes from the flesh. It consists in inchoative disturbances or excitements of the organs or fluids that serve generation (e.g., erections, clitoral movements). Sometimes it is produced involuntarily, without any intention or consent of the will, by physiological states (e.g., conditions of the blood, nerves, etc., due solely to the weather, to disease, to aphrodisiac properties of ailment, to clothing, or position) or by psychical states (e.g., spontaneous images or appetites of the soul mentioned in 129), and in these cases the temptation is manifestly free from all sin. St. Pius V condemned the teaching of Baius that those who suffer motions of concupiscence against their will are transgressors of the command: “Thou shalt not covet” (see Denziger, Enchiridion, nn. 1050, 1051, 1075). Sometimes the temptation is directly voluntary, as when the passion is deliberately awakened for the purpose of sin, and then there is grave guilt (see 2496 b). Sometimes the temptation is indirectly voluntary, as when with the foresight of the passion but without desire of it an action is performed that arouses it. In this last case, if there is a just reason for the excitatory action (e.g., a physician sees and hears things that are calculated to be a temptation, but his reason is the exercise of his profession), no sin is committed; but if there is no just reason for the action (e.g., a person reads an erotic book, and curiosity is his only motive), sin is committed, and its gravity depends on the amount of danger to which one exposes oneself (see 2496 c).

Resistance to Internal Temptations.—The fight against internal temptations is of various kinds.

(a) By reason of its subject, the conflict is chiefly in the will, to which it belongs to give or withhold consent; secondarily, in the other powers of the soul and the body, which under command from the will perform acts designed to overcome temptation.

(b) By reason of its manner, the conflict is either removal of the temptation (i.e., cessation from an act which produces the temptation) or resistance, passive or active. Passive resistance is the suspension of activity relative to the temptation till it ends of itself, as when internally the will neither consents nor dissents, or externally nothing is done for or against the temptation. Active resistance is positive opposition offered to temptation. It is made in two ways: first, by way of flight, as when internally the mind turns away to other thoughts (e.g., absorbing studies, meditation on the passion of Christ), or the will devotes itself to other subjects of resolve (e.g., acts of love of God or of purity), or externally the body is removed or freed from conditions that excite temptation; secondly, by way of attack, as when internally the mind turns against the temptation (e.g., thinking of its dangers, calling on God to drive it away), or the will rejects the temptation (e.g., by despising it, by expressing dislike, disapproval and unwillingness, by firmly resolving not to yield, by deciding on measures against the passion), or when externally the body is subjected to pain or mortification.

(c) By reason of its circumstances, resistance to temptation is either prolonged, as when the act by which the will resists is of considerable duration or is renewed at frequent intervals, or is brief, as when the act of rejection is momentary and is not repeated.

What Opposition to Temptation Is Sufficient?—Opposition to temptations of the flesh must be sufficient to remove the temptation, when the temptation is due to the continuance of one’s own sinful or unjustified act; for one is obliged to cease from sin or the unreasonable. This happens (a) when the temptation is directly voluntary—for example, one who wished to experience temptation and therefore reads a very seductive book must give over this reading; or (b) when the temptation is not directly voluntary and is without sufficient reason—for example, one who experiences carnal temptation due to a book which he reads from idle curiosity must desist from the book. But one is not bound to omit or interrupt necessary or useful acts, such as rest and sleep, prayer and charity; consent should be denied the evil, but the good should be continued.

Insufficient, Harmful and Unnecessary Opposition.—In other cases opposition to temptations of the flesh must be such as is sufficient to keep one from consent, that is, to protect one against the proximate danger of sin.

(a) Hence, that resistance is insufficient which does not strengthen the will. It seems that passive will-resistance is of this kind, since it is most difficult for the will to remain inactive in the presence of carnal stimulation or motions of the sensible appetites without being moved by the evil suggestion. In external resistance, however, passive opposition suffices when it alone is feasible, as when temptation grows out of necessary work, or rest that cannot be discontinued or interrupted by active resistance, provided the will registers internally its displeasure or disapproval; but external passivity is not permissible when the will needs the help of external resistance, as in the case of vehement and prolonged temptations.

(b) That resistance is harmful which strengthens the temptation. Hence, resistance by direct attack or by formal rejection is oftentimes to be omitted in favor of resistance by flight or by contempt; for it is a common teaching of the Fathers and Doctors confirmed by experience that dwelling on reasons and means of repelling passion often adds to its strength, and that resolving mightily and expressly to crush a weak and passing temptation often serves only to give it a longer life. It is better to brush a mosquito away than to risk one’s neck by chasing it up and down stairs.

(c) That resistance is unnecessary which demands a physical or moral impossibility. Thus, a prolonged act of resistance or one repeated at intervals of a few minutes, or a resistance that includes extreme corporal austerities, is not required in ordinary cases at least. When a temptation is unusually vehement or is due to one’s own fault, there should be proportionately greater resistance to offset the greater danger; but when a temptation is only moderately dangerous, it suffices to reject it firmly but briefly and to repeat this when there arises a new crisis or danger and the renewal of resistance is useful.

Weapons against Carnal Temptations.—The most powerful weapons against carnal temptations are spiritual ones, and of these the most necessary is grace, which should be asked in prayer (Wis., viii. 21), especially through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (see Pius XII, Sacra Virginitas, March 25, 1954). But corporal means, chiefly of a preventive kind, should not be neglected.

(a) Physical measures are the observance of what are now often spoken of as sex hygiene for normal and sex therapeutics for abnormal cases. Special health rules whose observance conduces to good morals are especially the cultivation of habits of bodily cleanliness, of hard mental and physical work, of vigorous exercise and the avoidance of unhealthful habits (such as constipation, drug or spirit stimulation), unsuitable clothing or sleeping conditions. Surgical or medical treatment for structural abnormalities or for mental or bodily diseases that react unfavorably on sex life requires the service of a conscientious and competent physician.

(b) Religious measures are various forms of corporal mortification, such as custody of the eyes and other senses, deprivation in food (fasting and abstinence) and sleep (vigils, night watches), afflictive penances through the use of hairshirts, painful girdles, scourges or disciplines. But austerities must be suited to the health, age, condition, duties and other circumstances of the person who practises them, and should not be used without the consent of one’s confessor or spiritual director.

"It follows that, when a grave temptation has arisen, and after the sensitive appetite, concupiscible, venereal, or irascible, is vehemently excited by phantasy or from elsewhere, then, I say, acts of a threefold kind can be given in the will. 1. Those which precede the use of reason, and are elicited by the one tempted in that instant or time in which the intellect does not yet propose to the will motives deterring it, but only motives enticing it toward that object into which the appetite is borne. And these acts of the will are called first-first motions. 2. Those which follow upon some use of reason, and are elicited by the one tempted in that instant in which the intellect proposes the deterring motives only obscurely, but the enticing motives toward illicit love or toward hatred so vividly that the will is moved only weakly and imperfectly by the deterring motives.

And these acts of the will are called second-first motions. 3. Finally, those which follow upon the perfect use of reason, and are elicited by the will in that instant in which the intellect has proposed to the will, sufficiently clearly and intensely, deterring motives or the unsuitability and moral malice, by which the will could freely be deterred if it seriously wished. And these acts of the will are called deliberate acts. "Acts of the first kind are not free, and consequently they are not formally sinful. But acts of the second kind are imperfectly free, and only venially sinful. But acts of the third kind are perfectly free, and consequently, if there is gravity of matter, they are mortally sinful." Struggl, Theol. Mor., tr. 1, q. 1, a. 1, v. 10; S. Th. 1. 2. q. 10. a. 3.

"Does he sin gravely who behaves negatively, and does not positively resist a movement of the sensitive appetite concerning an object prohibited under mortal sin? - There are three opinions. The first affirms that one sins gravely, even when the danger of consent ceases... The second opinion says that such a one does not sin even venially, with danger of consent removed...

The third and true opinion holds that, when the danger of consent ceases, it is venial not to resist illicit movements positively, but not mortal. And this seems expressly confirmed by St. Thomas, 1. 2. q. 74, a. 4, where he says: mortal sin cannot be in sensuality, but only in reason. Therefore the reason is, both because consent to sinning gravely does not arise from the sensible appetite, but from the will, and when it does not positively consent, mortal sin is not committed; and therefore venial sin is committed insofar as man ought to beware lest the appetite draw the will after itself; but this obligation, when the danger of consent is not proximate, is only light. And also because, if under grave obligation we were held positively to repel all disordered movements, we would be held to the impossible; for it is impossible positively to coerce all these movements taken collectively." L. 6, 29; Diana, vol. 8, tr. 6, de aliq. cas. circa mat. lux., r. 8; S. Th. 1. 2. q. 74, a. 8, ad 3; q. 79, a. 1; La-Croix, l. 5, n. 111.

"Note: There is no obligation to resist carnal movements positively, if there is a just cause of not resisting, namely if someone has experienced that by resisting the movements are more excited and increased; or if the movements have their origin from a necessary or useful action;... if it is not an easy business to repel them. It is enough, therefore, then to behave negatively, with the firm purpose of never consenting; for the actual care of not consenting itself then suffices to free a man from fault, at least mortal fault, although not from venial fault, if the resistance is tepid." L. 9. Therefore when temptation lasts long, and it would be too troublesome continually to repel its movements positively, it is no sin to permit them by behaving negatively. And to do thus is counseled to those who are of timorous conscience. L. 9.

How is resistance made positively? - Positive resistance can be furnished in two ways: 1. Directly, by repelling those movements; and indeed there is no obligation to employ this direct resistance, which, as regards carnal movements, often excites them more; much less is there an obligation to material resistance, which itself also often, as regards those carnal movements, is harmful. 2. Indirectly, by diverting the mind to other things. As regards movements against chastity and against faith and charity, this indirect resistance is more to be counseled than any direct resistance or attack; and if the movements are slight, it is better to despise them. L. 8; S. Th. 1. 2. q. 74, a. 3, ad 2.

Is someone bound by positive effort to impede depraved motions of concupiscence involuntarily arisen? R. Negatively; nor indeed is this expedient, since then the imagination itself grows hot by the very strain, and by the natural sympathy of faculty with faculty excites the genital spirits more and more. The more suitable remedy will be to invoke God and turn the mind and imagination away from obscene images, and by serious application to apply them to other things, especially to exterior affairs.

443. When the aforesaid causes, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, actually incite us to sinning, temptation arises: concerning which it will be helpful to establish these things: -

² Cf. Bourdaloue, Careme, Sunday of the first week.

(A) Concerning the rules to be followed with regard to temptation. (a) To feel temptation is not sin, but to consent to it is. This Trent openly teaches indeed concerning concupiscence:³ "But this holy Synod confesses and perceives that concupiscence, or tinder, remains in the baptized: since it has been left for combat, it cannot harm those who do not consent; indeed he who shall have contended lawfully will be crowned." - This surely is established from the things which were said in the Treatise on Human Acts, where it was proved that for merit or demerit a free act, and therefore the consent of the will, is required.

³ Trent, sess. V, can. 5.

Therefore the whole difficulty is in this: that the distinction between feeling and consenting be clearly established. To understand this better, three things can be distinguished in temptation: evil suggestion, delectation, and consent. The suggestion itself, or evil thought or imagination, however depraved and long-lasting, is not sin, since in it the will has no part. But often from this suggestion, especially if it perseveres for a long time, some natural and as it were necessary delectation arises in the sensitive appetite, and sometimes a commotion of the senses: up to this point, however, there is no sin, because, as is supposed, this motion of the sensitive appetite is indeliberate and involuntary. When the intellect now perceives the depraved suggestion and its malice, and also the delectation arising from it in the sensitive appetite, the will cannot conduct itself passively; if it immediately rejects the pleasure, there is no sin; but, if it freely consents to it, there will be sin more or less grave according to the gravity of the matter, and the consent more or less full.⁴

⁴ St. Francis de Sales declares this lucidly, Introduction a la vie devote, Part II, ch. 18 and Part IV, ch. 3-6, where he illustrates the matter by various comparisons and examples.

444. (b) It is not licit rashly to expose oneself to temptation, without sufficient reason. For temptation imports a certain danger of sinning more or less grave or proximate; but it is not licit to go to meet the danger of sinning without sufficient reason: for he who foresees and intends to incur the danger of sinning, by that very fact wills the sin very probably joined with the temptation.¹

¹ Concerning the danger which arises from the occasion of sin, it is said in the moral Treatise on Penance, n. 451-469.

It was said "without sufficient reason"; for if a grave reason is present, it is licit to expose oneself to temptation, provided that there is well-founded hope of overcoming it; for here the principle concerning an indirectly willed effect, n. 175-182, can be applied. For the action placed is supposed to be honorable in itself, although it is foreseen that temptation will arise from it; from another side the good effect compensates for the evil, by hypothesis; therefore it is licit to place this action. Thus a physician, confessor, and other men of similar condition, who in the exercise of their office experience certain temptations, even grave ones, can nevertheless persevere in their state, provided they apply means for overcoming temptations; for the exercise of an office of this kind is honorable in itself; and from another side the evil effect which sometimes follows from it, that is, grave temptation, is compensated by the good effect which results from the same exercise both to the agent himself and to society.

The sin committed by him who rashly exposes himself to temptation is of the same nature and species as the sin whose danger he undergoes. - But to judge concerning its gravity, one must weigh whether the agent clearly and certainly foresees the danger of sinning, or only confusedly and probably (above n. 80, 179).

445. (B) Concerning the manner of overcoming temptations. In order that temptations may be more efficaciously conquered, these means especially are to be employed: (a) vigilance, to guard against many temptations, according to that saying of St. Peter:² "Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about, seeking whom he may devour." For even if all temptations cannot be guarded against, nevertheless by vigilance their number is diminished and their force weakened. The reason why we ought to watch is because our will, although good and ready, remains weak and infirm, and therefore ought always to be prepared for repelling spiritual enemies.

² 1 Pet. 5:8.

To furnish this, occasions of sinning which are not necessary must be diligently avoided, as we explain in the Treatise on Penance, n. 458-469. Besides, our faculties must be turned toward the good, by which they may more easily decline from evil; thus, if we wish to avoid depraved thoughts, it is not enough to repel them when they have preoccupied the mind: but vain and useless wanderings of the soul, from which dangerous phantasms often arise, must be expelled insofar as can be done, not only negatively, but also positively, by turning the soul toward good and useful things. Passions likewise, which often induce us into temptation, must be directed toward the honorable and religious good, as we noted above, n. 107.

446. (b) To vigilance must be joined prayer, by which we are able to obtain the actual grace of God at the opportune time. For, as was proved in the Treatise on Grace, n. 39-45 and 57-60, fallen man cannot, without the grace of God, overcome all grave temptations; and therefore by urgent, frequent, and humble prayer, he ought to ask divine aid, by which, sustained, he may be able to overcome the attacks of the world and the devil and also the movements of his own concupiscence: "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation."¹

¹ Matt. 26:41.

Nor is it sufficient to pray at the very time of temptation, but it is expedient before and after temptations often to have recourse to God, according to the warning of Christ, who inserted these words into the prayer which He taught the Apostles: "And lead us not into temptation." This prayer indeed becomes much more efficacious when joined to meditation; for then, reconsidering the mysteries of faith and the principles of morals, we are moved to pray more fervently and to flee sin and the occasions of sin more vigilantly. The reconsideration of God living everywhere and in the intimate heart will likewise help greatly: for who would rashly wish to offend God present? "Walk before me and be perfect."²

² Gen. 17:1.

447. (c) But when temptation presses, one must immediately and strenuously resist: "Resist him, strong in faith."³ For in the beginning, when the enemy is still weak, victory is easier, while it becomes much more difficult if he has already fixed his foot in our camp.⁴ Wherefore, if he has appeared from afar, let us defend the citadel of our soul by diverting the soul toward some honorable thing: for nothing is more useful for avoiding the conflicts of rushing temptations than to occupy the mind in good thoughts or assiduous labors; for then the attack of the enemy, having been frustrated, vanishes. - But this must be furnished strenuously: for if we fluctuate hesitatingly, or resist only weakly, the enemy becomes more daring, and attacks us more bitterly. - Whence those who conduct themselves passively toward temptation, by applying no means to overcome it, expose themselves to the danger of sinning, and therefore sin more or less gravely according to the gravity and proximity of the danger. Yet it is licit to contemn temptation, by diverting the soul to other things, from what has just been said, since this is the best means of conquering it.

³ 1 Pet. 5:9.

⁴ What Ovid said about love (Remedia amoris, 91-92) is valid concerning all passions:

"Resist beginnings: medicine is prepared too late,
when evils have grown strong by long delays."

448. (C) Concerning the usefulness of temptations. In truth temptation is not without usefulness. (a) For virtue is perfected in temptations; just as soldiers become stronger by fighting strenuously, so Christians, by fighting manfully against the enemies of salvation, are strengthened in virtue; namely thus, mindful of their own frailty, they begin to think humbly of themselves, and to place their whole confidence in God; they also understand better how necessary it is to mortify the senses and passions, lest perhaps, allured by enticements, they fall into sin; by resisting temptations strongly on account of God, by that very fact they begin to love God more fervently. (b) They have the opportunity of satisfying for past sins: if once they indulged base delectation, now by contemning pleasure they undergo a penalty which contributes not a little to destroying the sins of past life. (c) From this our merits are increased: other things being equal, the more difficult the work to be performed is, the greater is the merit; therefore when storms of temptations arise and it is more arduous to row back to the harbor of salvation, by that very fact merits are increased. Surely a stone would be ungrateful if, sculpted by art, it complained of the sculptor who carved a beautiful figure in it; so also we would be ungrateful if we lamented because God, by various temptations, engraves upon our soul a more perfect image of Christ.¹ Merits being increased, the reward is likewise increased, and for each victory won we shall obtain new degrees of glory, to remain forever.

¹ The Church indeed sings this on the day of Dedication:

"By the blows of the saving chisel,
and by very much pounding,
polished by the hammer of the craftsman,
stones build this mass,
and joined by fitting bonds
are placed in the summit."

The cause of personal sin (causa deficiens),¹ as we have seen, is free-will. "If any one saith," defines the Tridentine Council, "that it is not in man's power to make his ways evil, but that the works that are evil God worketh as well as those that are good, not permissibly only, but properly and of Himself, in such wise that the treason of Judas is no less His own proper work than the vocation of Paul; let him be anathema."² —"Man's will alone/' says St. Thomas, "is directly the cause of his sin."³ And St. Augustine:

¹ Cfr. St. Augustine, De Civit. Dei, XII, c. 7: "Let no one seek an efficient cause of an evil will; for it is not efficient but deficient, because that is not an effecting but a defecting. For to fall away from that which supremely is toward that which is less is to begin to have an evil will." (Migne, P. L., XLI, 355).

² Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, can. 6: "If anyone says that it is not in man’s power to make his ways evil, but that God works evil works as well as good, not merely permissively but also properly and of Himself, so that the treason of Judas is no less His own work than the vocation of Paul, let him be anathema."

³ Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 80, art. 1: "A man’s will alone is directly the cause of his sin." —Cfr. De Malo, qu. 3, art. 3: "An act of the will is nothing other than a certain inclination of the will toward what is willed, just as natural appetite is nothing other than an inclination of nature toward something. The inclination of nature is both from the natural form and from Him who gave the form; hence the upward motion of fire is said to be from its lightness and from the generator that produced such a form. Thus the motion of the will proceeds directly from the will and from God, who is the cause of the will, who alone works in the will and can incline it to whatever He wills. But God is not the cause of sin. It remains, therefore, that nothing other than the will is the direct cause of human sin."

"It is written into every heart by the hand of God that sin is impossible without the cooperation of the will." ⁴ The will can excite concupiscence and proceed from desire to act, thus producing sin, as it were, out of itself. The will may also be seduced by outside influences (causae occasionales). Of these there are chiefly two, viz.: temptation and occasion.

⁴ De Duab. Anim. c. Manich., c. n, n. 15: "Every mind reads within itself, divinely inscribed, that sin cannot exist without the will." (Migne, P. L., XLII, 105.)

I. TEMPTATIONS. —Temptation, broadly speaking, is a testing or trial of the will. Defined more narrowly, it is a direct incitement to evil which stirs up concupiscence and thereby causes a struggle between the good and the evil forces of nature.

A temptation may be either internal or external, and it may proceed from God (tentatio probationis), or from the devil, or from the world, or from concupiscence.⁵ i. Christ exhorts all men to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." ⁶ St. Paul says that God suffers all to be tempted.⁷ Hence there are temptations that come from God. Not, of course, as if God seduced His creatures to sin. "Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God, for God is not a tempter of evils, and he tempteth no man." ⁸ "When He 'tempts' a man/' says Dr. Pohle, "He simply 'tries his faith/ as in the case of Adam and Abraham; which is quite compatible with His infinite holiness." ⁹ God tries man's faith, not merely in a passive manner, by allowing him to be tempted, but sometimes actively, by sending him trials and worries which may become a source of temptation and thereby a means of probing his character. But St. Paul tells us that God never allows man to be tempted beyond his strength.¹⁰ And St. James assures us: "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which God hath promised to them that love him.”¹¹ Hence Au- gustine's exhortation: "It is not good for us to be without temptations, nor should we ask God that we be not tempted, but rather that we be not led into temptation." ¹² 2. THE DEVIL. —Sin originated with the Devil. He “sinneth from the beginning.”¹³ He is "the prince," ¹⁴ " the god of this world,"¹⁵ a murderer and a liar,¹⁶ "the tempter" par excellence,¹⁷ who seduced our first parents,¹⁸ and tempted Job,¹⁹ Ananias and Saphira,²⁰ Judas,²¹ nay our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.²² The Apostles repeatedly warn the faithful against this sinister foe, who is the more dangerous because, according to St. Paul, he transforms himself into an angel of light.²³ In view of the plain scriptural teaching on the subject no Christian needs to be assured that belief in the evil one is not a "remnant of medieval superstition," or that the Devil is not merely a "symbol of evil." ²⁴ On the other hand, we must not lose sight of the fact that Satan is a creature dependent upon God and limited in power. He is a dangerous tempter, but he can compel no man to do wrong. His power amounts to nothing unless he can get man to consent to his evil suggestions. "It is our will, not his power that delivers us into his hands/' says St. Bernard.²⁵ "However great the power and pertinacity of Satan," says the Roman Catechism, "he cannot, in his deadly hatred of our race, tempt or torment us as much or as long as he pleases; but all his power is governed by the control and permission of God." ²⁶ There is an apt comparison of the devil to a chained dog in a sermon attributed to St. Augustine. ²⁷

⁵ Cfr. Conc. Trident., Sess. VI, c. 13: "The struggle that remains is with the flesh, with the world, and with the devil." — Cfr. St. Augustine, Serm., 344 (a/. 31), n. 1: "This contest is set before us: this struggle with the flesh, this struggle with the devil, this struggle with the world." (P. L., XXXIX, 1512).

⁶ Matth. VI, 13.

⁷ 1 Cor. X, 13. —Cfr. Gen. XXII, 1; Deut. XIII, 3; Tob. XII, 13.

⁸ Jas. I, 13: "God is not a tempter of evils, and He Himself tempts no one."

⁹ Pohle-Preuss, God the Author of Nature and the Supernatural, 2nd ed., St. Louis 1916, p. 345.

¹⁰ 1 Cor. X, 13.

¹¹ Jas. I, 12. —St. Ambrose, De Abraham, 1. i, c. 8, n. 66: "God tempts in one way, the devil in another. The devil tempts in order to overthrow; God tempts in order to crown. Indeed, He tempts those whom He has approved for Himself. Hence David also says: Prove me, O God, and try me. And He first approved holy Abraham and then tempted him, lest, if He tempted him before approving him, He should burden him. For God did not will the son to be sacrificed by his father, nor did He will this duty to be fulfilled, for He offered a ram to be sacrificed in place of the son; but He tested the father’s affection, whether he would prefer God’s precepts to his son and would not bend the force of devotion through consideration of paternal affection." (Migne;, P. L., XIV, 445). —IDEM, ibid., n. 76: "I inquired into your affection; I did not exact the deed. I tested your mind, whether for My sake you would not spare even your dearest son. I do not take away what I Myself gave, nor do I begrudge the heir whom I bestowed upon one who had none." (P. L., XIV, 448).—Epist., 51, n. 11: “You are a man, and temptation comes to you; overcome it.” (P. L., XVI, 1162). Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., 1. 4. n. 41: "He who wishes to give a crown proposes trials. And if ever you are tempted, know that a crown is being prepared. Take away the martyrs’ struggles, and you have taken away their crowns; take away their torments, and you have taken away their beatitudes." (P. L., XV, 1625).

¹² Enarr. in Ps., 63, n. 1: "It is not expedient for us to be without temptations, nor should we ask God that we not be tempted, but that we not be led into temptation." (P. L., XXXVI, 761).

¹³ 1 John III, 8.

¹⁴ John XIV, 30.

¹⁵ 2 Cor. XI, 3; John XII, 31.

¹⁶ Gen. III, 1-6.

¹⁷ Matth. IV, 3.

¹⁸ John VIII, 44.

¹⁹ Job I, 12.

²⁰ Acts III, 5.

²¹ Luke XXII, 31; John XIII, 2.

²² 2 Cor. XI, 3.

²³ 1 Cor. VII, 5. Cfr. 2 Cor. XI, 14; Eph. VI, 11-17; 1 Pet. V, 8-9.

²⁴ Cfr. M. Hagen, S.J., Der Teufel $m Lichte der Glaubensquellen, Freiburg 1899.—Th. H. Simar, Die Theologie des hl. Paulut, and ed., pp. 67 sqq.; J. G. Raupert, Hell and its Problems, pp. 82 iqq.

²⁵ De Gratia et Lib. Arbitrio, 6, n. 18: "Our will, not the devil’s power, delivers us into bondage to him." (Migne, P. L., CLXXXII, ion).— Cfr. St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps., 63, n. 1: "The devil is indeed bound so that he may not do as much as he can or as much as he wishes; nevertheless he is permitted to tempt only so much as is expedient for those making progress." (P. L., XXXVI, 761). —IDEM, ibid., 103, s. 3, n. 22: "No one can be tempted by the devil unless God permits it, either for condemning the wicked or for proving the devout." (P. L., XXXVII, 1375).— St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 80, art. 3: "The devil by his own power, unless restrained by God, can compel a man to perform an act which in its kind is a sin; but he cannot impose the necessity of sinning. This is evident because man resists an inducement to sin only through reason, the use of which the devil can totally impede by moving the imagination and sensitive appetite, as is evident in those who are possessed. But when reason is thus bound, whatever a man does is not imputed to him as sin. If reason is not totally bound, however, insofar as it is free it can resist sin. Hence it is manifest that the devil can in no way impose the necessity of sinning."

²⁶ Catech. Rom., P. 4, c. 15, qu. 8: "Even with such power and persistence, and with mortal hatred of our race, Satan can tempt or vex us neither as much nor as long as he wishes; rather, all his power is governed by God’s will and permission." —Cfr. J. Wirtz, Die Lehre von der Apolytro* sis, Treves 1906, pp. 31 sqq.

²⁷ Cfr. Pseudo-Augustine, Append. Serm., 37 (al. 197 de tempore), n. 6: "He is bound like a dog fastened with chains and can bite no one except him who joins himself to him in deadly security. Now see, brethren, how foolish is the man whom a dog placed on a chain bites. Do not join yourself to him through the wills and desires of the world, and he will not presume to approach you. He can bark and harass; he cannot bite anyone except one who wills it. For he harms not by compelling but by persuading, and he does not extort our consent but asks for it."—The last sentence is taken from the Epistula Pelagii ad Demetriadem, c. 25 (ibid., XXXIII, 1117).—Cfr. Brev. Rom., Dom. IV post Pent., Lect. II Noct.

As regards the manner in which the devil proceeds, note that he is himself a creature, and therefore cannot read the souls of men, but judges their state by the natural manifestations of their thoughts and purposes.²⁸ Nor can he exercise a direct influence upon the human will. His methods are necessarily indirect and circuitous, though for that reason no less effective. He works upon the imagination, blindfolds reason, stirs up the passions, etc. "The devil," says St. Thomas, is a cause of sin, not directly or sufficiently, but only by persuasion, or by proposing the object of appetite."²⁹ He is "the enemy" who came and "sowed cockle among the wheat while men were asleep."³⁰ While it must be admitted that the devil, "the prince of this world," has a share in every sin, it would be wrong to assume that all temptations come from him. Sacred Scripture points to concupiscence as the principal source of sin. "Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence."³¹ The fact that sin is often inspired by the devil, does not, of course, render it less culpable. Not to speak of concupiscence, which exercises a powerful influence over every human heart, man himself is but too often the tempter and seducer of his fellowmen.³²

²⁸ Cfr. St. Jerome, In Ps., 6, 20: "The devil does not know inwardly in the soul what a man thinks unless he understands it through outward movements."

²⁹ St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 80, art. 1: “The devil is not the cause of sin directly or sufficiently, but only by way of persuading or proposing something desirable. Since the human will is moved necessarily by no object, but by itself, the devil is not in himself the cause of sin, but only by way of persuading or proposing a desirable object. Although the devil, according to the condition of his nature, could persuade something by illuminating a person’s intellect, as a good angel does, he nevertheless does not do this, because the more the intellect is illuminated, the more it can guard itself against the deception which the devil intends. Hence it follows that the devil’s inward persuasion and any revelation by him do not occur through illumination of the intellect, but only through a certain impression upon the interior or exterior sensitive powers. By way of disposing, however, he can be a cause of sin insofar as by moving the spirits and humors he makes some persons more disposed to anger, concupiscence, or something of this kind. For it is manifest that when the body is disposed in a certain way, man is more prone to concupiscence, anger, and passions of this kind; and when these arise, man is disposed toward consent. Thus it is evident that the devil inwardly incites to sin by persuading and disposing, but not by completing the sin.”

³⁰ Matth. XIII, 25. —On the temptation of Job St. Ambrose remarks: "The woman, the enticement of the first deceit, is employed; friends are employed to overcome the one who resists by wicked counsels." (Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., IV, n. 39; Migne, P. L., XV, 1624).

³¹ Jas, I, 14 sa; cfr, Rom. VII, 20; Gal. V, 17.

³² Cfr. the Catechism of the Council of Trent, P. IV, c. 15, qu. 10.

3. THE WORLD. —"This present wicked world,"³³ which is full of sin and impiety,³⁴ and hates God and His servants,³⁵ is another prolific source of sin. The term world, as used in the Scriptures, denotes either the physical universe or the human race. In the former sense, i. e., as the aggregate of material things, "the world" deceives and lures man away from His Creator. Taken in the latter sense, i. e., as humanity, especially in the state of original sin and estranged from the true Church, "the world" is full of direct and indirect temptations —seduction, denial of truth, scandal, heresies and perverted ideals, a corrupt civilization, a mendacious press, debased arts, etc. This sad state of affairs accounts for St. John's warning: "Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world; if any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him." ³⁶ 4. CONCUPISCENCE. —Concupiscence is the inordinate leaning of human nature towards evil. It results from the fall of our first parents ³⁷ and is the most prolific source of temptations. St. James says: "Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. Then when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death." ³⁸ Concupiscence manifests itself through the eyes and the flesh, and also in the form of pride. Though not a sin in itself, it is "of sin and inclines to sin." ³⁹ It is "an incentive" to sin, and becomes sinful only when freely consented to.⁴⁰

³³ Gal. I, 4.

³⁴ John VII, 7; XIV, 17.

³⁵ John XV, 18 sq.; XVI, 20, 33; XVII, 9, 14, 25. —Cfr. Simar, Die Theologie des hl. Paulus, 2nd ed., pp. 72 sqq.; Tillmann, Die Wiederkunft Christi, Freiburg 1909, pp. 25 sqq.

³⁶ 1 John II, 15; cfr. Matth. XVIII, 7; Rom. XII, 2; Col. III, 2. —St. Augustine, Serm., 80 (a/. 23 de Divers.), n. 8: "The world is evil; behold, it is evil and yet is loved as though it were good. But what is the evil world? Heaven and earth and the waters and the things in them—fish, birds, and trees—are not evil. All these things are good, but evil men make the world evil." (Migne, P. L., XXXVIII, 498).

³⁷ Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, God the Author of Nature and the Supernatural, pp. 203, 217.

³⁸ Jas. I, 14-15; cfr. Jas. IV, 1; Gen. II, 6; IV, 7. —Supra, Vol. I, pp. 116 sqq.

³⁹ Conc. Trident., Sess. V, can. 5. —Cfr. 1 John II, 16; Rom. XIII, 23. —Prop. Damnat. Baii, n. 50 sq., 74-76 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1050 sq., 1073 sqq.). —Denifle, Luther und Luthertum, Vol. I, 2nd ed., pp. 438 sqq.

⁴⁰ Conc. Trident., Sess. V, can. 5.

Concupiscence is in all human beings (with the exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary,⁴¹41), but manifests itself differently,⁴² according to temperament, age, sex, disposition, heredity, education, training, association, manner of life, and other factors. Every man has his own temptations according to his peculiar constitution of body and soul. But each also has his own means of fighting temptation. Hence, while no man is free from concupiscence and temptation, no one is tempted beyond his strength. Every man is able, with the aid of grace, to overcome temptations. Nay, more, he can and should convert them into means of spiritual progress. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him." ⁴³ Temptation, therefore, is designed to test and steel the character.⁴⁴

⁴¹ Pius IX, Bull "Ineffab. Deus" (Dec. 13, 1854).—St. Augustine, De Nat. et Grat., c. 36, n. 42: "Excepting the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, for the honor of the Lord, I wish no question whatever to be raised when sins are being discussed." (Migne, P. L., XLIV, 267). Cfr. Pohle- Preuss, Mariology, pp. 72 sqq.

⁴² Cfr. St. Ambrose, Expos, in Evang. sec. Luc., IV, n. 39: "The very diversity of temptations corresponds to the diversity of those who contend." (Migne, P. L., XV, 1624).—Cfr. Pius IX, Bull "Ineffabilis Deus."

⁴³ Jas. I, 12; cfr. Gen. IV, 7; Cor. X, 13; Heb. II, 18; 1 Pet. V, 9.

⁴⁴ Cfr. H'ense, Die Versuchungen, 3rd ed., pp. 114 sqq.

Christ allowed the devil to tempt Him in order to show by His example how temptation should be withstood. Moreover, He expressly designated the most effective means of combatting it, viz.: watchfulness and prayer,⁴⁵ the practice of the theological virtues, conscientious fidelity to duty, faithful perseverance in one's vocation, mortification, in short, imitating Him in all things. "If any man will come after me," He says, "let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." ⁴⁶ In many temptations, especially those against chastity, salvation lies in flight.⁴⁷

⁴⁵ Matth. XXVI, 41.—Cfr. St. Ambrose, De Cain et Abel, 1. i, c. 5, n. 16: "The Lord Jesus has certainly taught you how to resist temptations of this kind." (Migne, P. L., XIV, 325)-—IDEM, Expos. Evang. sec. Lucam, IV, n. 17: "We are taught that there are especially three weapons of the devil with which he is accustomed to arm himself to wound the mind of man: one of gluttony, another of vainglory, a third of ambition. He began from the point where he had already conquered. And therefore in Christ I begin to conquer from the point where I was conquered in Adam, provided that Christ is for me the image of the Father and an example of virtue. Let us therefore learn to beware of gluttony and to beware of lust, because it is a weapon of the devil. You have learned the devil’s weapon; take up the shield of faith and the breastplate of abstinence." (P. L., XV, 1617).

⁴⁶ Matth. XVI, 24; cfr. Luke XIV, 27; 1 Cor. IX, 27.

⁴⁷ Cfr. Gen. XXXIX, 12; 1 Cor. VI, 18; Pseudo-Augustine, Append. Serm. 293 (a/. 250 de Temp.), n. 1: "Against the assault of lust take hold of flight, if you wish to obtain victory." (P. L., XXXIX, 2301).— Cfr. Homer's Odyssey, XII, 120.

"Brethren," admonishes St. Paul, "be strong in the Lord and in the might of his power. Put ye on the full armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in regions above. Therefore take ye up the full armor of God, that ye may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, with your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation [to carry] the gospel of peace: taking up withal the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God). With all prayer and supplication pray at all times in the spirit ; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication..." ⁴⁸ " When you are tempted," says the Venerable Don Bosco, "shake off the thought of evil and do not wait until temptation has gained possession of your heart, but ward it off by work or prayer."

⁴⁸ Eph. VI, 10-18.—Cfr. St. Au- in gustine, Enarr. in Ps., 136, n. 22: XXXVII, "If you wish to be armed against temptations in the world, let desire for the eternal Jerusalem grow and be strengthened in your hearts." (P. L., 1774).

II. OCCASIONS OF SIN. —An occasion is an external circumstance which leads one to commit sin. An occasion, therefore, is not a temptation; but it may become a temptation by causing evil thoughts to arise in the mind and thus inciting concupiscence. However, not every occasion necessarily entails temptation, and many temptations arise without any external incitement whatever. It is important for the confessor to keep this fact in mind, because habitual and occasional sinners must be treated differently.⁴⁹

⁴⁹ Cfr. Pighi, De ludicio Sacrapp. 39 sqq., 59 sqq.; E. Be- De Recidivis et Occasionariis, 3rd ed., Faventiae 1882; Aertnys, C.SS.R., Theol. Mor., Vol. II, 7th ed., pp. 192 sqq.; Reuter-Lehmkuhl, S.J., Neo-Confessarius, pp. 274 sqq.

Occasions, like temptations, are an indispensable test of virtue. "Who hath been tried... and made perfect," says Holy Scripture, "he shall have glory everlasting: he that could have transgressed and could do evil things, and hath not done them." ⁵⁰ i. All men are in duty bound to avoid, or, if they cannot avoid, to overcome or resist the occasions of sin.⁵¹ To determine this duty more definitely, the Scholastics have evolved the following distinctions:

⁵⁰ Ecclus. XXXI, 10; cfr. 1 Cor. V, 10.

⁵¹ Ecclus. III, 27; XXXI, 10; Matth. V, 29-30; Mark IX, 41-46.

a) PROXIMATE AND REMOTE OCCASIONS. —An occasion is proximate (occasio proximo) if it leads a person to commit sin oftener than not. It is remote (occasio remota) if it leads to the commission of sin only once in a while.

A proximate occasion of sin may be either absolute or relative. It is absolute or proximate in itself (occasio absolute sive per se proximo) if it constitutes a danger for every man and in all circumstances. It is relative (occasio per accidens sive relative proximo) if the danger it involves differs according to individual character or disposition. Relatively proximate occasions are, e. g., strong drink, the theatre, a certain class of books, plays, etc.

b) VOLUNTARY AND NECESSARY OCCASIONS. — An occasion is voluntary (occasio voluntaria) if sought or wilfully persisted in after one has gotten into it involuntarily. A necessary occasion (occasio necessaria) is one that can be avoided only by the use of extraordinary diligence or not at all. In the latter case it is called physically necessary (occasio physice necessaria). Such temptations may grow out of the mutual intercourse of parents and children, married persons, soldiers, prisoners, etc. If it is more difficult to avoid an occasion than to keep from sinning by the use of proper precautions, an occasion is called morally necessary (occasio moraliter necessaria). Occasions of this kind cannot, as a rule, be avoided without great inconvenience or injury. They invariably involve a grave conflict of duties.⁵² On the one side there is the duty of avoiding the proximate occasion of sin; on the other are such unavoidable professional obligations as, e. g., hearing confession, practicing medicine, etc.

⁵² See Vol. I, pp. 211 sqq.

Hence the further distinction between occasio quae est in esse and occasio quae non est in esse. Occasions of the former class entail immediate danger of sin, whereas those of the latter leave an opportunity of escaping the danger. As an example of the former kind we may mention a woman being an inmate of a brothel.⁵³

⁵³ Cfr. St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps., 50, n. 3: “Mulier longe, libido prope. Alibi erat quod [David] videret, in illo unde caderet." (P. L., XXXVI, 587)-

2. PRACTICAL HINTS. —As a general rule it is forbidden to seek an occasion of sin, even though it be only remote, for "He that loveth danger shall perish in it." ⁵⁴ On the other hand no man is bound to avoid all remote occasions, for this is impossible.⁵⁵ But every man is strictly bound: a) To avoid all proximate and voluntary occasions of (grievous) sin, and also those morally necessary occasions that entail immediate danger (occasiones in esse).⁵⁶°° It is a mortal sin to expose oneself voluntarily and without necessity to the danger of committing a mortal sin or to remain inactive towards such danger in a case of necessity, even though the sin be not committed, for to remain voluntarily in the proximate occasion of sin is deliberately to choose evil. Innocent XI condemned the proposition that it is licit to absolve a man who remains in the proximate occasion of mortal sin, though able to get away from it.⁵⁷ b) If a man finds himself in a morally neces- sary proximate occasion of sin, which does not involve immediate danger (quae non est in esse), he is in duty bound to convert the same into a remote occasion by fervent prayer, devout reception of the Sacraments, frequent renewal of the firm purpose of not consenting to sin, and especially by avoiding the company of those with whom he has sinned before or of whom he has reason to apprehend that they will tempt him. Should these means prove ineffective, all other considerations must be set aside and the occasion strictly shunned, even at the risk of life. c) A physically necessary occasion which cannot be gotten away from, must be neutralized by the use of extreme caution and other available means. If a man is a proximate occasion of sin to himself, he should mortify his body and try to the best of his power to control his passions. "I chastise my body/' says St. Paul, "and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway."⁵⁸ A warning example to all is Peter' s denial of Christ.⁵⁹

⁵⁴ Ecclus. III, 27.

⁵⁵ Cfr. 1 Cor. V, 9-10; John XVII, 15.

⁵⁶ Cfr. Prov. VI, 27-28; XVIII, 6-10; Matth, V, 29-30; Mark IX, 41-46.

⁵⁷ Prop. Dainnat. sub Innocentio XI, n. 61: "One who remains in a proximate occasion of sin which he can but does not wish to abandon may sometimes be absolved, even though he directly and deliberately seeks it or thrusts himself into it." No. 62: "A proximate occasion of sin need not be fled when some useful or honorable reason for not fleeing it occurs." No. 63: "It is lawful directly to seek a proximate occasion of sin for our own or our neighbor’s spiritual or temporal good." (Denzinger-Bannwart, Enchiridion, n. 1078-1080).

⁵⁸ 1 Cor. IX, 27.

⁵⁹ Matth. XXVI, 69 sqq.

READINGS. —F. Hense, Die Versuchungen und ihre Gegenmittel, 3rd ed., Freiburg 1902. —Th. Slater, S.J., A Manual of Moral Theology, Vol. II, pp. 220 sq. —St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, 1a, qu. 114, art. 1-5. —Th. H. Simar, Die Theologie des hl. Paulus, 2nd ed., pp. 67 sqq. —M. Hagen, S J., Der Teufel im Lichte der Glaubensquellen, Freiburg 1899.—W. H. Kent, art. "Devil" in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, pp. 766 sq.—J. J. Ming, S.J., art. "Concupiscence," ibid., Vol. IV, p. 208. —J. F. Delany, art. "Temptation," ibid., Vol. XIV, p. 504. —IDEM, art. "Occasions of Sin," ibid., Vol. XI, pp. 196 sq. —A. Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. Mor. et Past., Vol. II, pp. 248 sqq. —H. Noldin, S.J., Summa Theol. Mor., Vol. I, 11th ed., pp. 322 sqq., 360 sqq. —A. Lehmkuhl, S.J., Theol. Mor., Vol. II, 11th ed., pp. 358 sqq., 364 sqq. —Sabetti-Barrett, S. J., Comp. Theol. Mor., 22nd ed., pp. 751 sq. —A. Konings, CSS.R., Theol. Mor., 2nd ed., New York, 1876, Vol. II, pp. 161 sqq. —St. Francis de Sales, Introduction a la Vie Devote, Part II, Ch. 18, Part IV, Ch. 3-6.—A. Vermeersch, S.J., Theol. Mor., Vol. I, pp. 403 sqq.—F. Ter Haar, CSS.R., De Occasionariis et Recidivis, Turin 1927.

On Temptations to Sin.¹⁵

¹⁵ Cf. Hense, Die Versuchungen^2 (Freiburg i. Br. 1902, Herder); Monsabre, La tentation. Retraites pascales 1877.

385. Notion. A twofold temptation is customarily distinguished: one of testing, the other of seduction. a) Temptation of testing is nothing other than examination or trial. Hence St. Bonaventure¹⁶ says: "To tempt is to test," and St. Thomas¹⁷ teaches: "To tempt is properly to take an experiment concerning someone." This examination or trial is instituted for this end, that something may be known concerning the one tempted; and therefore the proximate end of anyone tempting is knowledge. Temptation of testing can be done by God, by man, and by the devil. In this way God tempted the obedience of Abraham,¹⁸ the patience of Tobias and Job.¹⁹ Indeed God never tempts so that he himself may know, since he is omniscient, but so that he may make others know. Hence it is said: "The Lord your God tempts you, that it may become manifest whether you love him."²⁰ Man tempts another man in order to know his faculties; hence an examination is customarily also called a trial. Sometimes man also tempts God, namely if, as if uncertain, he presumes to test the power of God. Then there is that sin which is called tempting God. Finally the devil in this sense can tempt in order to know certain things which are useful to him. Ordinarily, however, the devil tempts not in order to know, but in order to seduce. b) Temptation of seduction is an incitement to sin, which indeed comes from a threefold cause: from our corrupt nature, from the world, from the devil; but not from God.²¹ Here only this temptation is treated.

¹⁶ 3, dist. 23, a. 4, q. 1.

¹⁷ S. theol. 1, q. 114, a. 2.

¹⁸ Gen. 22, 1.

¹⁹ Tob. 2, 12.

²⁰ Deut. 13, 3.

²¹ Iac. 1, 13.

386. The authors of temptations, or their causes, are therefore three, of which the chief is our nature corrupted by original and personal sin, or concupiscence.

1. Concupiscence is the first author of temptations. Wherefore St. James says: "Everyone is tempted, drawn away and enticed by his own concupiscence."²² This disordered concupiscence is aptly called by the Council of Trent²³ the tinder of sin; and it is nothing other than a disturbance of the lower powers of the soul. For after original sin the lower powers of the soul easily and often rebel against the higher, namely the will and intellect, and draw them to sin. - St. John²⁴ distinguishes a threefold disordered concupiscence: concupiscence of the flesh, which is a true domestic enemy²⁵ drawing man to sins against the virtue of temperance, for example, to lust, drunkenness; concupiscence of the eyes,²⁶ which incites to avarice, which as a kind of root supplies sap to all sins;²⁷ pride of life, which is the beginning of every sin²⁸ and which deservedly is called a subtle vice, both because it is detected with sufficient difficulty and because it strives to lie in wait even for good works.

2. The world is the second author of many temptations. Hence St. John admonishes: "Love not the world."²⁹ ... Under the name of the world here two things are understood: the irrational world or material goods, and the rational world or worldly men. The irrational world or earthly goods cause temptations instrumentally, insofar as they excite our disordered concupiscences, concerning which it was already said above. But worldly men tempt to sin by their depraved example and by deadly persuasions against faith and good morals, or by their scandal and cooperation in evil, concerning which there will be a fuller discussion below II, 605 sqq. But whoever wish to live piously, not consenting to worldly allurements, are held in hatred by the world and suffer persecution. Wherefore Christ consoles the apostles, saying: "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you."³⁰

3. The devil is the third author of temptations, who is simply called the tempter,³¹ since he tempted the first parents, Job, Christ himself, Judas Iscariot,³² and almost all men, and that especially at the hour of death.³³ Hence St. Thomas³⁴ teaches: "Although man sometimes ... tempts, he does this insofar as he is a minister of the devil"; and the proper office of the devil is to tempt to sin. The devil indeed cannot directly cause sin in man, as was said above in n. 384, but he allures to sin in diverse ways, for example by exciting representations in the external or internal senses, from which disordered passions are vehemently stirred, by disturbing the soul with illusions, scruples, desperation, etc.

²² Iac. 1, 14.

²³ Sess. 5 de pecc. orig. (Denz. n. 792).

²⁴ 1 Io. 2, 16.

²⁵ Cf. Matth. 10, 36.

²⁶ St. Thomas (S. theol. 1, 2, q. 77, a. 5), under concupiscence of the eyes, understands both disordered curiosity for knowing and a disordered propensity toward riches and other material things.

²⁷ Cf. 1 Tim. 6, 9.

²⁸ Cf. Eccli. 10, 15.

²⁹ 1 Io. 2, 15.

³⁰ Io. 15, 18.

³¹ Matth. 4, 3.

³² Io. 13, 2, 27.

³³ Conc. Trid. sess. 14, de sacr. extr. unct., prooem.

³⁴ S. theol. 1, q. 114, a. 2.

387. Principle 1. To consent to temptation, but not to feel temptation, is sin.

This proposition is of faith; for the Council of Trent teaches:³⁵ "But this holy Synod confesses and understands that concupiscence or the tinder remains in the baptized; since it has been left for the struggle, it cannot harm those who do not consent but who resist manfully by the grace of Christ Jesus; indeed, he who has lawfully contended shall be crowned. This concupiscence, which the apostle sometimes calls sin, the holy Synod declares that the Catholic Church has never understood to be called sin because it truly and properly is sin in those reborn, but because it is from sin and inclines to sin. But if anyone should think the contrary, A. S." The same is clear from proposition 50 of Baius condemned: "Depraved desires to which reason does not consent and which a man suffers unwillingly are prohibited by the precept: Thou shalt not covet."³⁶ But the intrinsic reason is that no act is imputed to a man unless it is produced by a deliberate and consenting will. - Apart from the most holy Virgin Mary, in whom the tinder of sin was not, all men, even the most holy, are pressed by temptations, as is often narrated in the lives of the saints. - Moreover temptations can be very useful for the spiritual life, as inducing to the exercise of many virtues, for example, humility, prudence, penance, confidence in God, etc.³⁷

Corollary. To consent to temptation is sin, as is clear of itself. Therefore it is necessary to dissent from temptation or at least not to consent.

Concerning a temptation that has arisen, man can conduct himself in three ways: a) merely passively or indifferently, that is, employ no means for driving it away; b) not consent, that is, positively restrain consent, but place no act directly contrary to the temptation; c) dissent, that is, suppress the temptation by contrary acts.

a) It is not licit to conduct oneself merely passively, in the sense explained, toward temptation, because this would be to make little of the danger of sinning, which is almost always joined with temptation.³⁸

b) Not to consent, without an act directly contrary to the temptation being posited, is licit from a just cause; indeed sometimes it is commendable. For in this way the danger of sinning is not only sufficiently forestalled, but also not rarely more efficaciously removed. Thus, for example, carnal motions are customarily better and more quickly calmed by diverting the thoughts to other objects, while on the contrary sometimes they become more vehement from positive resistance attempted. Indeed if those motions are caused from a less honest action, such action must be omitted.

c) To dissent, that is, positively to suppress the temptation through contrary acts, is required when otherwise the proximate danger of sinning is not avoided. This indeed is customarily the case in temptations against faith, hope, charity, humility, etc.

³⁵ Sess. 5, can. 5 de pecc. orig. (Denz. n. 792).

³⁶ Denz. n. 1050; cf. also props. 51, 75, 76 (Denz. n. 1051, 1075, 1076).

³⁷ Cf. Monsabre, La tentation. Retraites pascales 1877-1878.

³⁸ Cf. Billuart, De temp. diss. 6, a. 15, § 2.

388. Principle 2. It is not licit rashly to provoke temptation, for example, by committing oneself to proximate danger of sinning without grave cause. But he who does this sins gravely, although he does not fall into that sin to whose danger he exposes himself.

The reason is that anyone is bound to flee from sin as from the face of a serpent; but if he rashly exposes himself to the danger of sinning, he gravely wounds charity toward himself, and even if perhaps he does not fall into the sin whose danger he loves, nevertheless he is guilty as if he had truly fallen. For just as it is not licit by rash daring to expose oneself to the proximate danger of losing bodily life, so a fortiori it is not licit to expose oneself to the danger of losing spiritual life, which is lost by mortal sin. - But I say: it is not licit rashly to expose oneself to the danger of sinning; for if there is grave cause, then it is licit, provided the cautions necessary for resisting sin are employed; for example, a physician can undertake the functions of his art, even if grave dangers and vehement temptations of sins arise from it. Moreover this whole question concerning avoiding the dangers of sins will return in the treatise on penance, when there will be discussion of those in occasions of sin and of habitual sinners.

Note. In doubt whether some penitent consented to internal temptations, the principle of presumption must be employed. For if the penitent is of a timorous conscience, the presumption stands for him, and it is licit to presume that consent was not present. But if the penitent is of a lax conscience and a freer life, the presumption stands against him, and consent to the temptation can be presumed.

389. Remedies against grave temptations are chiefly the following: a) vigilance, according to that saying: Brothers, "be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour."³⁹ Hence Christ himself admonished the disciples: "Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation."⁴⁰ Then b) humility, because "God ... gives grace to the humble."⁴¹ c) Confidence in God, because "I can do all things in him who strengthens me";⁴² and d) fervent prayer. Hence Christ taught us to pray: "And lead us not into temptation,"⁴³ that is, do not permit us to sin in temptation. e) Frequent use of the sacraments and sacramentals, by which actual graces are conferred for conquering temptations. f) Consultation made with a good spiritual director. Let no one be judge in his own cause, says the common adage. A man can judge with difficulty concerning the state of his own soul, and therefore it is preferable that he reveal his difficulties and temptations to a learned and pious spiritual director, who, aided by the light of divine grace, is able to indicate efficacious means for conquering temptations.

³⁹ 1 Petr. 5, 8.

⁴⁰ Matth. 26, 41.

⁴¹ Iac. 4, 6; 1 Petr. 5, 5.

⁴² Phil. 4, 13.

⁴³ Matth. 6, 13; Luc. 11, 4.

C. As regards temptations. Those who tend to progress of virtue are attacked by special temptations, for more efficaciously overcoming which they need the prudent counsel of the confessor.

1. At the beginning: rather often, excited from a certain natural fervor or by spiritual consolations, they easily presume upon their strength and wish to undertake excessive or greater things; but afterward, delights having been withdrawn, they no less easily lose their former ardor and fall into dejection of soul, judging that they cannot attain virtue. Therefore a) let him fortify them from the beginning that the business of perfection is not completed in one day but by slow degree;

b) let him not trust much in fervent beginnings;

c) especially let him instruct them that true and solid progress consists not in delights but in spiritual struggle, and in a firm will of doing whatever pleases God and avoiding whatever displeases Him, and that God, who looks upon the heart, rewards efforts more than apparent progress. Accordingly let them commit themselves with a great soul to the good pleasure of God.

2. After some progress: those who have served God for some time, wearied after some time by the spiritual struggle, often look back, wishing to stand still where they are, and by love of comfort are solicited to tepidity. From this it happens that they decline a little, curtail the exercises of prayers and mortifications, or omit them, or accomplish them negligently, receive the sacraments without fitting preparation, flee difficult things, esteem perfection less, grow in love of the world and pleasures, etc. This is with difficulty adverted to at the beginning of the time, but easily with progress. From this it happens that they begin to hold light defects as small, and admit them deliberately, and sometimes, when temptation presses, slide into mortal sin.

This evil must be carefully treated. Hence:

a) let them be seriously admonished concerning the danger which they incur: he who does not progress in the way of God, by that very fact, because concupiscences and temptations arise, regresses; hence also slow tepidity is often more dangerous than mortal sin itself, Apoc. III, 15-16;

b) let them be excited to greater fervor, both because those who have been heaped with more abundant graces are held to greater perfection, and because the loss of time and grace is treated severely by God, and because God, the best and greatest, deserves to be worshiped with all the strength we can;

c) let them be ordered to resume and perform well all neglected exercises of devotion, especially mental prayer and examination of conscience, or even to increase them for some time, or also to make a sacred retreat.

d) But if kind exhortation does not profit, let them be treated with severity and terrified by the terror of divine judgment.

3. Finally in the more advanced state of virtue: from time to time they are caught in the snare of pride, vain glory, and a certain rash presumption. From this it happens that, forgetful of the necessity of divine help, they are pleased with themselves in their own strength, rashly throw themselves into certain occasions of sin, and hold negligence in small matters as harmless, and are deceived by vain illusions; thus anger is judged zeal, pertinacity is held for constancy, prodigality for liberality, self-love for divine love, sensual love for charity. Hence they can also fall into grave sin, although more rarely.

For these things it will profit a) generally to use instant prayer, discussion of self, consideration of one's need and fragility, and frequent remembrance of sins;

b) specifically, as regards the practice of virtues, counsel and simple and humble obedience to the confessor, and particular examination; and for avoiding illusions, let them do nothing extraordinary without the confessor having been consulted.

I. What temptation is. - The incitement of temptation is the common lot of men in the present life, from which not even the most perfect are altogether freed. Temptation is an incitement to sin, or toward a created good proposed to the will, by which it is allured or inclined to violate virtue or a precept. It can be light, grave, most grave, according as the force of moving is small, vehement, or most vehement for inciting the will. That force depends on the nature of the thing, on the vividness of the representation, and on the intensity of the appetite.

Temptation arises either from an intrinsic principle, namely from the corruption of nature, especially of the flesh, Jas. I, 14-15; or from an extrinsic principle: either by way of an object alluring externally, and thus it is from the world, by whose temporal goods, that is, riches, honors and glory, or power, and pleasures and false principles man is allured to sinning; or by way of an agent which internally moves the imagination to representing evil and excites the appetite to a perverse motion of passion, so that reason and will may thus be drawn to evil, and in this way it is from the devil, although he can also appear externally, which nevertheless very rarely happens. Concerning these, cf. the treatise on Sins.

Temptations can be from ourselves, that is, from our evil concupiscence, and from the devil at the same time, and these temptations are more common. But if they exceed the customary passions of our powers, they are attributed to the devil alone and are preternatural; these occur more rarely.

Now it rather often happens that penitents are cast down in soul because of temptations which they frequently and vehemently suffer; these now must be taught the necessity of perpetual combat, the end and utility of temptations, and the manner of resisting them.¹

¹ Cf. St. Thomas, I, q. 114, a. 2; II Sent. d. 21, q. 1, a. 1; in ep. ad Hebr. VI, 15, l. 3; Reuter, Neo-conf., n. 244; Aertnijs, Th. P., nn. 168-175; Marc, Th. M., I, n. 378; Tanquerey, de Pecc., nn. 443-448; Lehmkuhl, Th. M., II, nn. 629-632; Noldin, Th. M., I, nn. 327-329; Prummer, Th. M., I, nn. 385-389; Hense, Die Versuchungen. Likewise the theological inquiry La Tentation, by Fr. Masson in the periodical La Vie spirituelle, Nov. and Dec. 1923; Jan., Feb., July, Sept. 1924; Feb., March, April 1926.

II. Necessity of temptation. - The Scriptures teach the necessity of temptation, Job VII, 1; Eccli. II, 1; Tob. XII, 13. But the reason of this necessity is that God proposes immortal life both a) as a crown toward which we strive; but no crown is given without an opposing difficulty to be overcome; hence the Apostle, II Tim. II, 5: "No one will be crowned unless he has fought lawfully"; and b) as the reward of service for proving our fidelity: Deut. XIII, 3: "The Lord your God tempts you, that it may be made manifest whether you love Him or not with all your heart and with all your soul."

Therefore God tempts us or permits us to be tempted for proving fidelity, but not like the devil, for deceiving us and leading us into sin, according to Jas. I, 13.

III. Ends of temptation. - Therefore the ends or utilities on account of which God permits temptations are the good of His faithful and just ones, namely our good, and indeed manifold. For temptations:

1. give man knowledge of himself, show his fragility and need of divine help, and thus admonish him concerning humility, beat down his pride, and teach him both how much he ought to distrust himself and how much he ought to trust God;

2. teach him the envy of the devil, and to exercise continual vigilance and mortify the passions;

3. render him more fervent in the service of God, and free him from torpor and softness;

4. induce him into love of the heavenly fatherland, where there are no snares, nor struggles, but peace and full possession of life always going to endure;

5. join the soul to the faithful God, who does not permit one to be tempted above that which we can bear, but accommodates helps to temptations and with temptation makes the outcome of help, I Cor. X, 13, and thus raises one to confidence and hope of victory, and confers tranquility of soul; for grave temptations are rather a sign that we are in the friendship of God;

6. furnish testimony, increase, and consolidation of virtue, because by repeated strong and heroic acts the habit is increased and brought to perfection;

7. have an opportunity for satisfying for sins and for being purified from their remnants: for where a man indulged evil affections and delights, there they subject him to pains and afflictions;

8. enrich us with many and splendid crowns if we conquer, according to Jas. I, 12; Wis. III, 5; Apoc. III, 21; thus by increasing merit, they also increase future glory: for as often as we conquer, so often we shall be crowned;

9. instruct man, not only for himself, but also for others, Eccli. XXXIV, 9; and St. Gregory, Mor., l. 23, c. 27;

10. finally they manifest more splendidly the divine attributes: power, mercy, wisdom which draws good from evil, justice which repays according to works.

IV. General means against temptations of whatever kind are humility, prayer, and fortitude. Humility removes the impediments of assisting grace: for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, Jas. IV, 6. Prayer obtains the helps of grace, Mt. VI, 13; Luke XI, 4. Fortitude uses them, removes pusillanimities, Phil. IV, 13; I Pet. V, 9, and presumptions, and takes care that someone not rashly expose himself to dangers.

From these the following general rules can be deduced for practice, to be suggested by the confessor to the penitent:

1. If temptation attacks you, repel it immediately from the beginning, lest, if it is negligently permitted to grow strong, it increase with such power that victory becomes very difficult. Therefore follow the prescription of the Lord: Pray that you enter not into temptation, and immediately flee to the mercy of God, confidently entrusting your infirmity to Him; or turn the soul to an honorable external occupation, or elicit an act of virtue, e.g., of charity or contrition, or of the opposed virtue.

2. Relying on divine help, be of great soul in temptations, mindful that you can do all things in God: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you," Jas. IV, 7; Phil. IV, 13. For if the devil adverts you to be fainthearted, he will assail more, promising himself already the victory which great confidence in God would supply to the one tempted.

3. Beware altercation with the enemy: for altercation will increase the temptation, disturb the soul, and the enemy will wrap it in darkness.

4. Constantly exercise the virtue opposed to the temptation, by meditating on its beauty and the contrary baseness of the vice, and by increasing horror of the vice and esteem of the virtue.

5. Open especially troublesome temptations to the confessor or spiritual director: Satan hates nothing more than that his machinations not remain hidden; then God is accustomed to reward this act of humility by breaking temptations.

V. Diverse manner of fighting against temptations. - Since the genera of temptations are diverse, of which some cast in bitterness, others sweetly allure, the manner of fighting is also diverse. Against temptations of the former genus it profits to struggle not only defensively but also offensively, by seeking occasions of subduing them, e.g., anger, impatience, lust for vengeance, sloth, vain glory. But sweet temptations are conquered more safely by flight, that is, by calling the mind away, than by direct attack, e.g., against faith or chastity, so that they must be excluded from memory and their occasions removed. St. Thomas teaches this, II-II, q. 35, a. 1, ad 4: "Sin is always to be fled; but the attack of sin is sometimes to be overcome by fleeing, sometimes by resisting. By fleeing indeed, when continued thought increases the incentive of sin, as in lust, whence it is said, I Cor. VI, 18: flee fornication; but by resisting, when persevering thought removes the incentive of sin which comes from some light apprehension. And this happens in sloth: because the more we think concerning spiritual goods, the more pleasing they are rendered to us, from which sloth ceases."

Hence certain special rules can be established:

1. In temptations against chastity there is need of special caution lest you be disturbed or fear inordinately, and lest you apply the soul to baseness even for considering it, because thus you will increase the temptation; but immediately flee to God, to the wounds of Christ, to the last things, e.g., death and the punishments of hell, and apply the mind seriously and with all your powers to other honorable things, or even to external works and labors. But care must be taken that with a released soul you look upon Jesus, or upon one good idea, not the temptation; otherwise you increase it. It also helps to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin, the Guardian Angel, St. Joseph, St. Thomas, St. Aloysius, etc. After the temptation, it is by no means expedient anxiously to ruminate whether you consented to it, since the temptation could easily return.

St. Thomas, I-II, q. 80; De Malo q. 3, a. 3, 4, 5.

481. The devil is not the cause of sin except indirectly: a) by way of one persuading, not indeed by directly moving the intellect, which he does not intend to illuminate, because the more it were illuminated the more it would be drawn back from the deception which the devil desires; but by instigating interiorly, or by operating in the senses and imagination, by which he wishes to darken the intellect, and by moving the sensitive appetite; b) sometimes by outwardly proposing to the senses an object as sweet, pleasant, etc., or even by appearing visibly (I Thess. III, 5; I Pet. V, 8).

482. Are all sins from the temptation of the devil? - All sins, although they come indirectly from the devil (I John III, 8), insofar as he is the cause of original sin (from which we are prone to sin), nevertheless not all come directly from his instigation, but either from the solicitations of the world, that is, of sinners, or from the corrupted nature of man itself, or from the will alone.

483. Temptation is commonly called a solicitation or incitement to sin. This word originally and in a broad sense means the same as examination or trial: "for to tempt is to take an experiment concerning something" (I, q. 114, a. 2), for the end that something may be known, and this is the temptation of trial, which can also be attributed to God, who by afflictions and extraordinary commands proves the faithful and explores their virtue and constancy (Deut. XIII, 3), not that he himself may know what they are, but that man may show it (I Tim. VI, 9). But in the present matter the word is taken in the stricter sense and the question is only of the temptation of seduction, which is an incitement to sin whether internal or external: this is not from God (James I, 13), although he permits temptation (I Cor. X, 13), but it comes from our corrupted nature, also from the world, and especially from the demon. And it can be grave or light according as it vehemently incites the will or not; but its force depends on the nature of the thing, on the vividness of the representation, and on the intensity of the appetite.

But since from its nature it is only a solicitation to evil, according to itself it is not sin itself, but it can be a cause of sin when the consent of the will is added; hence the following principles can be established concerning it.

484. Principle I. To feel temptation is not sin, but to consent is: not sensation or pleasure, but consent and complacency. To feel, that is, to have an intellectual consciousness of the solicitation, indeed to be moved by delight in evil and thus to experience and feel (even in the lower faculties) that it is agreeable and pleasant: this is not yet sin; but voluntarily to adhere to the evil to which it solicits is sin: for only a free act from the consent of the will is morally evil. This is altogether certain from the common doctrine, which otherwise is found proved from the Council of Trent itself, sess. 5, can. 5, and from the condemnation of prop. 50 of Baius.

In order that this may be applied more easily in practice, it is useful in the process of temptation to distinguish three stages. Namely, there is:

a) suggestion, or the mere representation, or mere idea of evil: the simple proposal of evil through the imagination and intellect, and this, however depraved and long-lasting, is not sin, because in it the will has no part;

b) indeliberate delight, arising from suggestion in the sensitive or even rational appetite, by which the temptation pleases: for frequently and connaturally from suggestion, especially if it is vivid, intense, or long continued, delight arises, indeed a pleasant organic impression and sensible commotion, by which one is affected toward a pleasing object: this also, until deliberation of reason intervenes, is no sin, because such a motion is not deliberate nor free;

c) free consent of the will: after reason perceives the depraved suggestion as well as the delight in the appetite arising from it, and its malice, if the will immediately rejects both, there is no sin: for this is not in the intellect alone, or in the sensitive appetite, or in the spontaneous inclination of the rational appetite, but in the free will which adheres to evil; but if this will freely consents to the delight, or has complacency for itself in it, or admits it, approves it, or retains it because it pleases or adheres to it, then sin will be present.

485. Principle II. Rashly and without just cause to provoke temptation or to expose oneself to it is illicit, more or less according to the gravity of the danger.

For temptation imports some danger of sinning, more or less grave. But to expose oneself to the danger of sinning without sufficient reason is not licit (n. 177). Therefore it is also illicit to expose oneself to temptation without just cause; and this ought to be proportioned to the gravity of the temptation, that is, to the incitement and danger of sinning, considered not only absolutely and in itself, but also relatively to different individuals. And indeed:

a) It is gravely illicit without sufficient reason freely to expose oneself to a grave temptation of graver sin, namely, one which imports proximate danger of sinning gravely.

b) It is licit from a just grave cause to expose oneself to grave temptation with proximate danger of sinning gravely, provided due cautions are employed to remove the danger and at the same time there is a founded hope of overcoming the temptation.

c) It is lightly illicit without a just light cause to expose oneself to a light temptation of sinning gravely or to a grave temptation of sinning lightly.

486. Remark. - For avoiding and conquering temptations, opportune remedies are to be employed:

A. Before temptation: 1. vigilance for forestalling many and graver temptations (I Pet. V, 8; Mark XIII, 37), for which it is necessary a) to flee occasions, b) to avoid idleness and useless wanderings of the mind, from which dangerous phantasms often arise, c) also positively to turn the faculties of the soul and the passions toward good, useful, and religious things;

2. prayer (Matt. XXVI, 41; VI, 13; Luke XI, 4), for which are required a) humility (James IV, 6), b) confidence (Phil. IV, 13), and c) fervor;

3. to these can usefully be added the practice of meditation, for example, on the passion of Christ, the last things, and the presence of God, by which we are moved to praying more fervently and to fleeing sin and its occasions.

B. In temptation one must resist: 1. immediately and from the beginning, when the enemy is still weak and victory easier;

2. strenuously and strongly: for if we waver hesitatingly, or resist only softly, the enemy becomes bolder and attacks more bitterly;

3. perseveringly, until it has been fully conquered.

Thus a) by praying, b) by laboring strenuously, c) by not disputing with the enemy, d) by turning the mind to the opposite virtue, e) and by turning it away from vice.

C. After temptation has ended or been overcome, it is expedient: 1. humbly to give thanks to God, to whom alone victory is to be attributed; nor ever to fall in spirit, but confidently to flee to the mercy of God;

2. not to examine oneself further concerning consent given or denied, lest a new temptation be provoked;

3. to open graver temptations to a prudent and pious spiritual director, and to seek counsel.