THE ENEMIES OF THE SOUL
378. The enemies of the soul are three: the world, the devil, and the flesh.
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The Saint Job said: “Man’s life on earth is a continuous battle” (Job, VII, 1)
Our soul has enemies that always fight against it and pursue it.
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379. The world consists of worldly, wicked, and perverse people, and it is overcomed by despising their pomp and vanities.
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The world is made up of evil and perverse people.
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With their bad examples, advice, and false sayings, they try to lead us away from serving God.
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We overcome it by ignoring it.
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[“Television is the devil’s box,” “there is no excuse to have a TV in the home of the righteous,” Our Lady of the Roses tells us ( www.tldm.org )]
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The wicked laugh at the good, at those who practice virtue; but we must remember that the laughter of the wicked will turn into everlasting weeping (John, XVI, 20)
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380. The devil is an angel who rebelled against God along with many others, and they were thrown into hell; he is overcome and fled from through prayer and humility.
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The devil is the condemned angel.
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Because of the envy he has for us, seeing that we are meant to occupy the throne of glory that he lost, he constantly tries to tempt us.
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[Envy and selfishness, and the hatred they generate towards the pure of heart (specially, but even to everybody because the devil hates Jesus and His creation), are typical sins of the devil.]
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He deceived Eve and even tried to deceive Jesus Christ Himself.
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He is defeated through prayer and humility.
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Through prayer: because without God's help, promised to those who pray; the devil, father of lies, would deceive us.
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Through humility: because the devil, full of pride, when he finds humility, flees desperately.
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381. By the flesh, we understand our passions and disordered inclinations; it is overcome with prayer, humility, mortification, and the guarding of the senses.
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[That's why we should completely avoid TV, movies, theater, and theme parks (which make us play as if risking our lives). Our Lady of the Roses tells us that TV enters through the eyes and stains our soul.]
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Mortification is dominating bad inclinations.
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Original sin has left in the heart of man a tendency toward evil.
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All men, good and bad, have bad inclinations; but the good control them, and the bad let themselves be carried away by them.
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Flesh is the worst enemy of our soul, and the one that wages the cruelest war against us.
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Even the devil and the world use the flesh to overcome us.
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A person is wicked, precisely because he lets him be carried away by bad tendencies.
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Ah! If Judas Iscariot had known how to control the passion of greed, he would now be a great saint in heaven.