Life of St John Vianney.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!

""Thef ERST SUNDAY IN LENT. 287Saint, pa&aing one day before a convent, saw a multitudeof devils, who were tormenting the religious, but without succeeding in seducingthem. He came afterwardsto a city, at the gate of which one devil was seated, withhisarms across, makingall the inhabitants go whereverhe chose. Then the Saint asked him how it was thathe alone was sufficient for a whole city, while so great anumber was employed to torment a handful of religious.The devil replied that he was quite enough for the citybecause, when men were inclined to hatred, impurity, andintemperance, he took hold of them thereby, and thething was done while with the; religious it was moredifficult. The army of demons employed to tempt themlost their time and their labour ; they could makenothing of them. So they were waitingtill othersshould come who would weary of the austerity of theirrule.In a monastery, one of the brothers saw a devil,on theduring the time of the Holy Sacrifice, hammeringhead of one, and another, who alternately advanced andretreated. After Mass, the brother asked the two religious what they had been thinking of. The one saidthat he had been thinking of some carpenter s workwhich he wanted to do in the convent ;and the other,that the devil had often come toattack him, but that hehad each time driven him away. This is what allgoodChristians do, and so temptation becomes a source oimerit to them.most ordinary temptations are to pride andimpurity. One of the best means of resisting them isan active life to the glory of God. Many people givethemselves up to sloth and ease. No wonder, then, tha>the devil gets the upper hand of them.