LouisdePonte: Chapter 5.1a - Conquering Temptations - Memory of ...

LouisdePonte: Chapter 5.1a - Conquering Temptations - Memory of ...:   Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis de Ponte SJ Chapter 5.1a - Conquering Temptations - Memory of the Presence of God...

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Chapter 5.1a - Conquering Temptations - Memory of the Presence of God

 Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis de Ponte SJ

Chapter 5.1a - Conquering Temptations - Memory of the Presence of God 

2. This memory of the presence of God is, then, the most efficacious means of conquering the temptations of the devil, the world and the flesh; not only from the holy fear we shall experience in the presence of the Judge who will chastise us if we consent; but also it will greatly stimulate our courage to see Almighty God at our side, who will help us to overcome and will be our patron and protector in this warfare.

Moreover David said: 

I will set the Lord always in my sight; for He is at my right hand that I be not moved [Psalm xv, 8] nor conquered.

On these words Cassian [Coll 12, c. 5.] makes the following remarks: 

            "He alone will be able to understand and efficaciously carry out the meaning of this verse who realises that he owes the spotlessness of his soul and body to the preservation of God; for he himself cannot preserve it unless God stand at his right hand to protect him from the evils which the hands of his enemies shall work for his overthrow."

But fortified by such assistance he may say with holy Job:

        Set me beside thee, and let any man's hand fight against me [xvii, 3].

And since more powerful and greater, says Saint John, is He that is in me, that is, God, than he that is in the world [1 John iv,4], the devil, that is, our victory will be assured by His presence and help. 

Chapter 5.1 - Help to avoid sin and to conquer temptations - Purgative way

  Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis de Ponte SJ

Chapter 5.1 - Help to avoid sin and to conquer temptations - Purgative way 

Beginning with the footsteps of the purgative way, in which the impediments to prayer are removed, it is certain that if we walk in the presence of God He will so guide them that we will never lose the direct path. 

1. The memory of His presence is a powerful means of restraining the propensities of our lower nature, and of making us flee from sin as we would from a basilisk. For who would dare to sin were he mindful that God is present and is watching him? 

How shall I dare to sin in the sight of my God, who is my Judge and can condemn me to punishment, temporal or eternal? 

Hence Saint Thomas says: If we continually regarded God as present, seeing and judging all things, we should seldom or never sin [Opusc. 58] 

For if we sin, it is because we forget this presence; our deed itself protests this oblivion and error and seems to say with those hardened sinners in the Scriptures: 

        "The Lord seeth us not; the Lord has foresaken the earth" [Ezech. viii, 12]

For this reason Tobias said to his son:

        "All the days of thy life, he said, have God in thy mind; and take heed thou never consent to sin, nor transgress the commandments of the Lord our God." [iv, 6] 

Chapter 5 - St Catherine of Siena - the Presence of God

  Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis de Ponte SJ

Chapter 5 - St Catherine of Siena - the Presence of God 

..... as He said to St Catherine of Siena: 

            "Think of me and I will think of thee, endeavour to perform all thy actions as if                     conscious that I am watching thee, and I will take it upon myself to bring them all              to a happy conclusion"; 

this was the blessed lot of the Spouse who said;

         I to my beloved, and his turning is towards me [Canticles vii,10]. 

I gaze upon my beloved and He on me; I strive to walk in His presence; He is attentive to direct my steps so that I please Him in all things. 

Chapter 5 Practical considerations and a compact - The Presence of God

 Extracts from the Dux Spiritualis by the Venerable Louis de Ponte SJ

Chapter 5 Practical considerations and a compact - The Presence of God 

"In all thy ways think of Him, and he will direct thy steps" [Proverbs iii, 6].

He we have a kind of compact or covenant between God and man: if a man binds himself to remember the presence of God at all times and in all his ways, God will take him for His own, and will guide all his footsteps, so that he will neither lose his way not fatigue himself unnecessarily by making a long circuit, but shall go direct to the goal of his journey, which is God Himself.