The Foolishness of the evil one

[Denise]

The Foolishness of the evil one


The devil is real and his temptations are real. He hates you with a pure hate and desires your destruction. This is good to know. But the evil one is also quite shrewd and manipulative and will rarely speak blatant lies to you since he knows this temptation will most likely not convince you. Instead, he seeks to speak confusion to you, identifying things that are partly true and mixing them with subtle lies so as to lead you astray. You may find that you begin to obsess about this thing or that. And you may find that your reasoning might make some sense, but you begin to experience a sadness and confusion as you think. Stop thinking in those moments and run to the Mercy of God. When your thinking is immersed in God, you are left refreshed and light. You begin to have new joy and clarity. But when the evil one begins to have his way with you, the opposite effects are felt in your soul. Be attentive to his sneaky deceptions and pay no attention to them (See Diary 1497-1499).

1497

When I went, in my thoughts, to the chapel, my spirit was plunged into even greater
darkness. Total discouragement came over me. Then I heard Satan's voice: "See how
contradictory everything is that Jesus gives to you: He tells you to found a convent, and
then He gives you sickness; He tells you to set about establishing this Feast of Mercy while
the whole world does not at all want such a feast. Why do you pray for this feast? It is so
inopportune." My soul remained silent and, by an act of will, continued to pray without
entering into conversation with the Spirit of Darkness. Nevertheless, such an extraordinary
disgust with life came over me that I had to make a great act of the will to consent to go on
living...
And again I heard the tempter's words: "Ask for death for yourself, tomorrow after Holy
Communion. God will hear you, for He has heard you so many times before and has given
you what you asked for." I remained silent and, by an act of will, I began to pray, or rather,
submitted myself to God, asking Him interiorly not to abandon me at this moment. It was
already eleven o'clock at night, and there was silence all around. The sisters were all asleep
in their cells, and my soul alone was struggling with great exertion.
The tempter went on: "Why should you bother about other souls? You ought to be praying
only for yourself. As for sinners, they will be converted without your prayers. I see that you
are suffering very much at this moment. I'm going to give you a piece of advice on which
your happiness will depend: never speak about God's mercy and, in particular, do not
encourage sinners to trust in God's mercy, because they deserve a just punishment.
Another very important thing: do not tell your confessors, and especially this extraordinary
confessor and the priest in Vilnius, about what goes on in your soul. I know them; I know
who they are, and so I want to put you on your guard against them. You see, to live as a
good nun, it is sufficient to live like all the others. Why expose yourself to so many
difficulties?"

1498

I remained silent, and by an act of will I dwelt in God, although a moan escaped from my
heart. Finally, the tempter went away and I, exhausted, fell asleep immediately. In the
morning, right after receiving Holy Communion, I went immediately to my cell and falling on
my knees I renewed my act of submission in all things to the will of God. "Jesus, I ask You,
give me the strength for battle. Let it be done to me according to Your most holy will. My
soul is enamored of Your most holy will."

1499

At that moment, I saw Jesus, who said, I am pleased with what you are doing. And
you can continue to be at peace if you always do the best you can in respect to
this work of mercy. Be absolutely as frank as possible with your confessor.
Satan gained nothing by tempting you, because you did not enter into
conversation with him. Continue to act in this way. You gave Me great glory today
by fighting so faithfully. Let it be confirmed and engraved on your heart that I am
always with you, even if you don't feel My presence at the time of battle.