A Word from the Cistercian Fathers

But what good does it do to point out the dangers [of the devil] without pointing out also some consolation, some remedy that can be applied?  The peril indeed is great, and grave is the struggle …    Great, too, are the stakes, for we have frequent – no, continuous – fights against the tricks of the devil, the deceiver, whom we cannot see; the subtlety of his nature, combined with his long practice of malice, has made him very clever.  It rests with us, however, to refuse to be overcome in this conflict; none of us is overthrown in it against his will.  Your desire, O man, is under you, and you must master it.  The enemy can arouse the impulse of temptation, but it rests with you, if you choose, to give or to refuse consent.  You have the capacity, if you choose, to make your enemy your servant so that all things may work together for good.  See, the enemy stirs up the desire for food, he puts into the mind vain or impatient thoughts, and he arouses the impulse of lust;  you alone can refuse your consent, and as many times as you resist so many times will you be crowned.   Yet I cannot deny, brothers, that these things are troublesome and dangerous – but if we offer strong resistance in this struggle, we shall have holy tranquility, resulting from a clear conscience.  I think, too, that if we refuse to allow those thoughts we frequently find in ourselves to linger but stand up against them with a mighty spirit, the enemy will depart in confusion and not return to that place so readily.  But who are we, and what is our strength, that we should be able to resist so many temptations?  This surely was what God was looking for, this was what he was working to lead us to, that, seeing our weakness and that we have no other help, we would run towards his mercy with perfect humility.  Therefore I ask you, brothers, to have this safe refuge of prayer always at hand. … But whenever I speak of prayer, I seem to hear expressed in your hearts some human thoughts that I have also heard frequently from others and sometimes experienced in my own heart.  Why is it, seeing that we never cease from prayer, that scarcely ever does any one of us seem to experience the fruit of his prayer?  As we come to prayer, so we return; no one responds to us, no one gives us anything, but we seem to have labored in vain.  But what says the Lord in the Gospel?  Do not judge by the appearance, he says, but judge with right judgment.  What is right judgment but the judgment of faith?  The one made righteous by faith lives.  Follow the judgment of faith, then, and not your own experience, since faith is true but experience is false.  What is the truth of faith if not what the Son of God promises:  Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it will come to you?  None of you should think his prayer of small account, brothers.  I tell you that he to whom we pray does not think it of small account.  Before it has left your mouth he has ordered it written in his book.  Unquestionably we can hope for one of two things, that he will grant either what we ask, or what he knows is better for us.  We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but he has pity on our ignorance.  He accepts our prayer in his goodness, but does not give us what is not expedient for us or what we should not be given so quickly.  Therefore, our prayer will not be fruitless.  Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for Lent and the Easter Season, Lent – Sermon Five:  Of the Struggle of the Flesh and the Devil against the Human Spirit, and the Efficacy of Prayer, v. 3-5 (CF 52, p. 44-46)