Of Temptations Which Come under the Appearance of Good, and that the Great Remedy for All Such ; Temptations Is to Recognize and Hold Them for What They Are

ST. BONAVENTURE calls our attention to a matter of common knowledge, but quite necessary to insist upon.

We are to observe that with good people, who aim at virtue and perfection, the devil makes his attacks on them under the appearance of good, transforming himself into an angel of light. Venom and poison, says St. Jerome, is not given except under the guise of sugar or some other tasty thing, that it may not be noticed; and the hunter hides the snare with the bait. So does the devil. In the way in which I walked they set up a hidden snare (Psalm cxli. 4). If the devil’s attack were conducted openly and without disguise, they who love virtue and desire to serve God would fly from him, and he could do nothing with them. So, says St. Bernard, “the good man is never deceived except under the appearance of good”—bonus nunquam nisi simulatione boni decipitur. The devil is clever enough to know right well the way of entry into each soul: so, to compass his intention, he enters well disguised. At first, says St. Bonaventure, he proposes things good in themselves; then he mixes them up with what is evil; then he offers false goods, which are really evil; and when by this time he has the man in his snare, so that he can hardly get out of it, he then shows clearly his poison and makes him fall into open sins. Like the scorpion, he has a winning head, and keeps his deadly poison in his tail.

How many, says St. Bonaventure, have struck up a conversation and friendship with sundry others under pretext of spirituality, thinking that what they said was of God and spiritual, and to the profit of their souls? And perhaps in the beginning it was so; but this is the artifice of the devil which we are now laying bare. We know well his artful tricks, his comings in and his goings out; we are not ignorant of his plans (II Cor. ii. 11). This is how he begins, first by good things, then follow long talks and conversations—and sometimes they are of God, at others of the great love that they mutually bear one another; then follows the interchange of knick-knacks and small presents for keepsakes and signs of love, which things, says St. Jerome, are a clear sign of a love that is not holy. The devil now goes on to mix evil with good, and thence follow false goods and real evils. In this way the devil deceives many in this and in many other vices, covering them with a veil of virtue, that their real nature may not be known— like him who pretends to be a friend to another to gain access to him, and thereby afterwards treacherously to murder him, as Joab did to Amasa (II Kings xx. 9), and Judas to Christ our Redeemer, delivering Him up and selling Him with a kiss of peace (Luke xxii. 48).

Thus we must greatly beware of these temptations that come under the appearance of good, and be very much on our guard, for they are all the more dangerous inasmuch as they are less easily recognized. Therefore the prophet begged the Lord to deliver him from the noonday devil (Psalm xc. 6). The devil is not content with transforming himself into an angel of light, as St. Paul says (II Cor. xi. 14), but transforms himself into an angel of noonday light, making gloom and darkness look resplendently bright, and getting us to think that there is no room for doubt nor any danger, but that that is clearly good which is certainly evil and of its own nature highly dangerous. There are sundry thieves who go about dressed in silks, so that none could know them nor have an idea that such criminal purpose could have place in those who appear such honorable men, until they are caught with the stolen goods in their hands. Then people are shocked to find out that these were thieves, and say, “Who would have thought it?” Such is the temptation that comes under the appearance of good.

It is the common doctrine of the saints and masters of the spiritual life that the great remedy against all these temptations is to recognize that it is a temptation that is assailing me, as it is enough to recognize one for an enemy to be on one’s guard against him. And that is why we said above that self-knowledge is a most efficacious means for overcoming all temptations. The force of this means may be seen by this. If, when the temptation and the evil motion and desire came on, you saw before you a horrible and frightful devil persuading you thereto, what would you do? At once you would make the sign of the cross and call upon the name of Jesus; you would not need to see any more than that it is the devil who is persuading you to do this, to understand that it is a delusion and temptation, and to fly from it. Now this is literally what takes place in our temptations. We have all of us our Angel Guardian, according to those words of Christ: See that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels ever see the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matt. xviii. 10). On which words St. Jerome says: “Great is the dignity of souls, and great the value that God sets on them, since at the birth of a man He at once deputes and appoints an angel to guard and take care of him.” As a princely father gives to a well-beloved son a tutor to watch over him in body and teach him manners, so God cherishes and values us So much that He gives to each of us an angel for tutor. But to come back to the point, we also each of us carry about against us a devil, who keeps an eye upon us and busies himself in soliciting us to evil and causing in us bad thoughts and worse motions, and is always looking for an occasion and opportunity for doing that, since he never sleeps, and watches our inclination and what is most to our taste, to assail and gain access to us thereby, using our flesh and sensuality as a means to do us harm. So God said to the devil: Hast thou not considered my servant Job? (Job ii. 3), speaking as to one who had been a long time a spy upon Job, and always by his side. Thus the devil is ever at our side. And so, when there comes upon you a movement or thought, inciting you to commit some sin or some imperfection, understand that this is a temptation of the devil, and make the sign of the cross, and be on your guard as if you saw that same devil standing by and telling you to do this.

St. Gregory gives an example that well illustrates this point, of what happened to the blessed St. Benedict in regard of a monk of his. He says that this monk was much tempted in his vocation; he thought he could never stand the rigor of religion and wanted to return to the world. He often went with this temptation to St. Benedict, and the saint told him it was a temptation of the devil, and gave him suitable advice. After doing this many times without success, since the novice never ceased making instance to go, the saint, wearied with his importunity, said to him, “All right,” and told them to give him his clothes. Still after all, being a father, he could not help feeling it, and put himself in prayer for him. As the monk was going out of the gates of the monastery to return to the world, he saw coming at him a great dragon with open mouth to devour him. Trembling and shaking all over, he set up loud cries: “Help me, help me, brothers, there’s a dragon coming to devour me.” ‘The brothers rushed to his aid at his cries, and saw no dragon, but saw the monk trembling as though in the agony of death. They took him to the monastery, and when he saw himself inside, he made a vow never more to go out of it. He fulfilled his vow and thenceforth was no more troubled with that temptation. St. Gregory observes here that by the prayers of blessed St. Benedict he came to see the dragon that was seeking to devour him, which before that he did not see, and so was following it because he did not take it for a dragon or for a devil; but when he saw it and recognized it, he began to cry out and ask for help to deliver him from it. Thus it is no imagination nor conceit of our own brain, but a fact of sober reality, that it is the devil who assails us in temptation. And so also the Apostle St. Peter, like a good shepherd, has warned us; and every day Mother Church brings it to our mind as a fact of great importance: Brethren, be sober and watch, for your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him manfully, and let not yourselves be carried away by his deceits and persuasions (I Pet. v. 8).