The Enemy’s Stratagems to Turn One Away From a World-renouncing Life. How to Repel Them

May the mercy of God be with you!

You write: “I am sad, there is no peace anywhere. Something is pressing down on me, my heart is heavy and dark. It came over me all at once.”

May the power of the Cross be with us! Take courage and stand firm. The enemy has guessed that you want to leave entirely the circle in which it is convenient for him to feed on Christians, and so he meets you with such anguish and oppression. You are not alone in this—everyone undergoes such attacks, though not all the same kind. You are tormented by anguish; another is overwhelmed by fear; in another’s mind he piles up obstacles like mountains; to yet another he portrays the undertaking as something absurd and ill-considered. He approaches each person in whatever way is most convenient for him: he sends floods of thoughts, stirs up the heart, troubles it inwardly. And all this suddenly, like a gust of wind in a storm. Such are the tricks of our enemies. They are a disorderly rabble. They wander everywhere. Seeing that the doors are open and there is no guard, they burst into our house—and turn everything upside down. They make a mess and run away. And there you are, left to sort it out as best you can. But there is still no real disaster in all this. We are not guilty of the fact that enemies attack; we are not guilty of the disorder they cause in our inner order; we are not guilty of the thoughts and feelings they stir up in us at such times. And God does not hold us guilty for this. We only need to agree with none of it, but to endure—and all will pass.

You did not define your anguish with any precise description—no doubt because it is genuinely indefinite; and this very indefiniteness reveals most clearly that what you are experiencing is an enemy assault. Stand firm, then! The Lord has permitted this trial for you so that you might show that you are not playing with the word of your vow. Treat what you are going through as something sent by the Lord, and say, as Job said: ”Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). There was peace, and now there is anguish! Thanks be to God for the peace, and thanks be to Him for this anguish too. Say to the Lord: “I will endure; may Your will be done! Only help me, O Lord, to bear it.” And keep drawing near to the Lord. Invoke the Mother of God as well.

You are enduring an assault. This is an opportunity to show your skill in standing firm in what is good—just as for a soldier, an enemy attack is an opportunity to distinguish himself. Let the enemy strike. You stand unwavering in what is good. Even say aloud: “I will not change a single thing in my intention and resolve. I want nothing of what the enemy suggests”—and name one by one what he suggests, rejecting and cursing each thing. And call upon the Lord for help. All will pass. Once a devout layman was attacked by a spirit of blasphemy and unbelief. He recounted: “I could hear the enemies buzzing in my ears: there is no God, there is no Christ. And I just kept repeating: ‘I believe, O Lord! I believe, I believe, I believe!’ And I drove the enemy away.” So it is with you too. Cry out: “I do not want this, I do not want that, I do not want the other—I want nothing that the enemy suggests. I want only what I have spoken before the Lord in my heart.”

You say: “Surely I am a great sinner, and the Lord is punishing me.” That you feel yourself to be a sinner is a good feeling. And if you come to feel yourself an even greater sinner, you will not overstep the proper boundary.

We are all great sinners, and our debt is beyond repayment. If you attribute this situation as well to your own sinfulness, there is no harm in that. Only do not revoke your inner resolutions and do not fall into despair. Whatever the Lord permits—whether inwardly or outwardly—He directs it all toward our purification and salvation. He Himself is near and helps. And He is near to you as well. Revive that hope—and, while enduring, pray.

This and the like the Lord permits for the sake of crowns. Whoever stands firm is a victor, and to that person a crown is given. Through everything that surrounds us and everything that meets us, we can win crowns. We only need attentiveness, courage, and the disposition to receive everything from God and to refer everything back to God.

Be of good cheer, then, and do not permit any wavering. The Lord bless you!