One of the devil’s biggest traps—a temptation he employs frequently—is that of discouragement. When we become discouraged, emotional exhaustion and spiritual apathy settle in. If we don’t recognize discouragement for what it is—a temptation to be avoided—and if we don’t fight against it through means of constant humble prayer, we are likely to sink lower into despondency.
The soul cannot but move. If she does not go forward, she turns back.
(St. Catherine of Siena, Dialogue 49)
I once gave in to discouragement. My life held a great deal of grief and trauma, and I could see no way out. Confusion, chaos, gaslighting and verbal tirades had left me exhausted to the utmost. Although I still prayed, I also sunk into discouragement, a crushing discouragement that pulled me away from my true self and what God wanted me to do. Instead, I was immersed in fear and hopelessness—I was not who God wanted me to be. My soul moved backward.
If I’d rooted myself in what St. Catherine of Siena calls the “house of self-knowledge,” despair wouldn’t have found a foothold within my soul. If I had focused on the One Who Is rather than on my misery, the trap would not have closed in upon me.
The house of self- knowledge consists of the knowledge of ourselves—that without God, we are nothing—seasoned with the knowledge of God within us—that we are made in His image and likeness and redeemed by the Precious Blood of His Son.
So indeed it is true that of ourselves we are nothing … This ought to make us always lowly and humble.
But it would not be good to dwell exclusively in this knowledge of ourselves because we would become discouraged and weary, and from discouragement we would end up in despair. Now the devil wants nothing more than to lead us to discouragement, so that he can eventually bring us to despair. So we ought to dwell in knowledge of God’s goodness within us, realizing that He has created us in His own image and likeness and created us anew to grace in the Blood of His only-begotten Son, the gentle Word incarnate, and that God’s goodness is continually at work in us. But note, on the other hand, that it wouldn’t be good to dwell excessively in this knowledge of God, because we would become proud and presumptuous. So the one knowledge should always be combined with the knowledge of ourselves. Then we will be humble, patient, and meek.
( St. Catherine of Siena, Letter T23)
In other words, the house of self-knowledge consists of the knowledge that we are black but lovely (Song of Songs 1:5). We have become blackened with sin, shame and weakness, yet because we have been made in God’s image and redeemed by Our Bridegroom, He can truly say to us, “How beautiful you are my love, how beautiful you are!” (Sg 4:1)
Yet it can be difficult to remember God’s truth about ourselves. There are times we doubt His word, or feel such dryness in prayer that the beauty of Scripture reaches our heads but not our hearts. Perhaps the impact of the world feels too great of a burden, as once it did for me. Those are the times we mut be on our guard against discouragement. Our purely human discouragement can all too quickly open the door to the temptation of spiritual despair.
The faithful can’t be tempted with overt vices and evil, such as lust or gluttony or any of the other deadly sins. Instead, the devil must be more covert, “the most crafty of all the creatures” (Gen. 3:1). That’s why he tries to use discouragement to lead the faithful astray and into despair. He doesn’t want us to dwell in our house of self-knowledge or realize how beautiful we are as God continuously gazes at us.
[The devil] cannot trick God’s servants with what is obviously evil or with an excessively broad conscience, so he tries to trick them with scrupulosity and unwarranted discouragement, under the pretext of virtue … The devil cannot use what is obviously evil to make God’s servants fall, so he tries to use the appearance of virtue to make them fall. And so he gains more ground with them by means of discouragement than in any other way.
(St. Catherine of Siena, Letter T335)
The key to avoiding discouragement is to remain in our house of self-knowledge, grounded in the humble truth of who we are as children of our heavenly Father, enveloped with the peaceful knowledge that of ourselves we can do nothing, but in Christ we can do all things (Phil. 4:13).
Understand that God allows these ordeals only so that we may test in ourselves the virtues of patience and courage and perseverance. These virtues have their wellspring in self-knowledge … Wise people realize this, and they are happy in time of struggle because they see that God allows it to make them grow into greater and more proven virtue. For virtue is tested and seen to be truly virtue only through what is contrary to it.
Remaining in prayer during times of discouragement—especially if prayer seems dry and lifeless—gives us the stamina of spirit that is required to continue the soul’s journey toward God. By not giving up on prayer and not giving in to desolation, we open our souls to receive the shower of graces our Lord longs to give us. By this persistence in prayer, our Divine Bridegroom will see how much we love and desire Him—which greatly consoles His Sacred Heart.
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This post was first published in The Prodigal Parishoner and is reprinted here with permission.
Find out more about the author’s novel on St. Catherine of Siena here.
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