Lest You Remain

“If you are the Son of God” (Mt 4:6). Look at the cunningness of the devilish snake: indeed, how guilefully he assails the Christ-Man. When he sees Him fasting, he tempts Him with greediness. When he does not achieve anything, he attempts even greater impudence saying: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” (Mt 4:6). And when this trick does not work, he displays before Him and promises all the kingdoms of the world in their magnifi- cence and tries to push Him to idolatry, saying: All these I will bestow on you if you prostrate yourself in homage before me” (Mt 4:9). This is a typical behavior of infer- nal Ulysses; the same method of temptation he applies to the servants of God. He uses every, even the smallest opportunity to seduce them: greediness with the hungry, sluggishness with the tired, tantrums with the impatient, some he provides with opportunities for lasciviousness, others for impudence, pride and insolence. To the one suggesting greediness we should answer: “Not on bread alone is man to live, but on every utterance that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). To the one encour- aging presumptuousness we should respond: “You should not put the Lord your God to the test” (Mt 4:7). With other temptations, other solutions should be applied, to overcome them; however, attempts of the tempter should be ridiculed and annihilat- ed. In the end, he targets perseverance in serving God, spiritual exercises and the prac- ticing of the virtues. He partly does it personally, partly by using dishonorable peo- ple, helpmates of his cunningness, through revealing bodily pleasures, fame, riches, honors or the waning glory of this world. With these ruses, he tries to discourage one from the service of God, to draw away from the plow, the servants consecrated to God and to lure them out of the shrine of God to the world (which is a crime close to idol- atry). But here comes the sharp sword of the God’s word against this hellish, hundred- handed monster: “Scripture has it: ‘You shall do homage to the Lord, your God; him alone shall you adore” (Mt 4:10). 3. “At that the devil left him, and angels came and waited on him” (Mt 4:11). Consider the very positive outcome of the temptation. The evil spirit attacked, the God-Man resisted. The One has triumphed, the other has been defeated and forced to flee. The God-Man was surrounded and comforted by angels. This is how God’s Providence deals with the tempted: it allows the evil spirit to attack them, leaves them to themselves, permits blows and them to be flooded with various waves of temptations, but to their great consolation and inexplicable joy, it keeps withholds all the joy and comfort till the end: “I will see to it that the victor eats from the tree of life” (Rev. 2:7). Undoubtedly, it is the same as in the case of the great commanders of the world who, after a skillfully managed battle and a victo- ry, give to their comrades, splendid rewards, wreaths, titles and various privileges. Similarly, our Heavenly Commander, after a good, brave and skillfully managed Program of Vigils 55