Quattro assalti dei nostri nemici nell'ora della morte. Si parla prima dell'assalto contro la fede e dei modo di difendersi
The Four Final Assaults
The author introduces the four primary temptations that threaten the soul at the hour of death.
There are four primary and most dangerous attacks our enemies usually launch against us as we face death. They are temptation against the faith, despair, vainglory, and various deceptions and disguises in which demons appear as angels of light.
Defending the Faith
Practical instructions on how to reject the enemy's intellectual deceptions by clinging to the authority of the Church rather than engaging in debate.
As for the first assault, if the enemy begins tempting you with his false arguments, immediately stop reasoning and take refuge in your will, saying: “Get behind me, Satan, father of lies, because I refuse even to listen to you. It’s enough for me to believe what the holy Roman Church believes.”✦✦ As much as you can, don’t entertain thoughts about the faith, even when they seem harmless. Instead, regard them as pretexts the devil is using to draw you into an argument. And even if you don’t manage to turn your mind away in time and recover your courage, stand firm and hold your ground. Don’t yield to any argument or passage from Sacred Scripture that the adversary may put forward, because every one of them will be incomplete, misapplied, or misinterpreted, even if it seems sound, clear, and convincing to you. If the crafty serpent asks you what the Roman Church believes, don't answer him. Instead, recognize his deception and his desire to lead you astray with words, and make an inward act of more fervent faith. Or, to make him burst with rage, answer that the holy Roman Church believes the truth. And if the evil one replies, "What is this truth?" Then answer, "Exactly what the Church believes."
Clinging to the Crucified
A final prayerful exhortation to remain steadfast in the faith by fixing one's heart on Christ crucified.
Above all, keep your heart fixed on Christ crucified, saying: “My God, my Creator and Savior, come quickly to my aid and don't draw away from me, so that I won't stray from the truth of your holy Catholic faith. By your grace I was born into that faith; may it please you that I also finish this mortal life in that faith, for your glory.”
Read the original Latin
Quattro sono gli assalti principali e più pericolosi con i quali i nostri nemici sono soliti farsi incontro a noi nell'ora della morte. Sono questi: la tentazione contro la fede, la disperazione, la vanagloria e varie illusioni e trasformazioni dei demoni in angeli di luce.
Quanto al primo assalto, se il nemico ti comincia a tentare con i suoi falsi argomenti, lascia presto l'intelletto e ritirati nella volontà dicendo: “Va' indietro, satana(Mt 16,23), padre di menzogne(Gv 8,44), perché io non ti voglio neppure sentire, bastandomi credere quanto crede la santa chiesa romana”. E non dar luogo per quanto puoi ai pensieri intorno alla fede, pur sembrandoti innocui; anzi li devi considerare come pretesti del demonio per attaccare briga. E se anche non facessi a tempo a distogliervi la mente e a riprendere animo, sta' forte e ben salda per non cedere a qualunque ragione o autorità di sacra Scrittura che l'avversario adducesse: infatti tutte saranno manchevoli o male addotte o male interpretate, anche se a te paressero buone, chiare ed evidenti.
Se l'astuto serpente ti domandasse quello che crede la chiesa romana, non gli rispondere; ma vedendo il suo inganno e che vorrebbe anche sedurti con le parole, fa' un atto interiore di più viva fede; oppure per farlo scoppiare di sdegno, rispondigli che la santa chiesa romana crede la verità. E se il maligno replicasse: “Qual è questa verità?” , tu ripiglia: “Quello appunto che essa crede”.
Soprattutto tieni sempre il tuo cuore fisso sul Crocifisso, dicendo: “Dio mio, creatore e salvatore mio, soccorrimi presto e non ti allontanare da me, perché io non mi allontani dalla verità della tua santa fede cattolica; e ti piaccia che, come in quella fede sono nata per tua grazia, così in essa a gloria tua io termini questa vita mortale”.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.16.23 — But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not thinking the things of God, but the things of men."
- ↩John.8.44 — You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
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