PATIENCE UNDER TEMPTATION & THE MEANS OF CONQUERING
With what arms are we to fight temptations in order to conquer?
by S. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop & Doctor of the Church
The first and principal, and I may say the only, and absolutely necessary means for conquering temptations, is to have recourse to God by prayer. This means is particularly necessary for conquering temptations against purity; In temptations it is also very useful to make the Sign of the Cross.
The second means of conquering temptations is to humble yourself, and to distrust your own strength. Thus let us humble ourselves, and at the same time let us have recourse with confidence to God Who protects all that hope in Him. He is the protection of all that trust in Him. (Ps. Xvii. 31).
The third means of overcoming temptations is to make them known to your spiritual Father.
The fourth means, which is a very important one, of relieving one’s self from temptations is to avoid what occasions them. He that loveth danger, shall perish in it (Ecclus. iii. 27). i.e. He that loves danger, and goes in search of it, shall perish in it: nor is it of any use to hope for aid from God; to trust in God, and to expose one’s self voluntarily to the occasion of sin, is not a holy but a rash confidence, which merits chastisement.