165 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year zealous servants), you are found so barren and fruitless, neither doing nor planning anything good. Lament, so that at least when He comes and sees you steeped in tears, He will not hesitate to scatter holy seed in your heart. 2. “then the devil comes” (Lk 8:12). Consider that you used to ask many times for holy inspirations, often craving them fervently, and many times they were given to you even without asking, yet you gained no fruit from them. Notice the cause of this, namely, as soon as the Holy Spirit instills them in you, the evil spirit, this infernal harpy,53 arrives and either expels them with many filthy thoughts [f.26r] or crushes you with an immensity of evil deeds; and thus, having gained control over your soul, he tramples it underfoot. For this reason, the divine seed planted in your heart bears no fruit. Therefore, you should use the same remedy against the evil one that the best farmers use: to avoid dismay at the sight of their fields destroyed by travelers, they block the paths made by such travelers and erase even their smallest footprints. As for you, block the infernal traveler’s access to your heart and close the footpaths; that is, divert your ears and eyes from useless distractions and hope that the future seed of God planted in the field of your soul will not be trampled underfoot, but that that it will yield a great and profitable harvest. 3. “And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away” (Lk 8:6). Consider your reason and reluctant will to be like the hardest rock. Although many a time the Lord, either Himself or through others, such as spiritual guides and other sowers of the Divine Word, has scattered on this rock His holy seeds, which are good inspirations and incentives to virtue, He reaps no fruits; because those inspirations, those seeds of virtues cannot take root in 53 Cf. Goffredo Bendinelli, EI, vol. IV, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 1929, pp. 568-569 (s.v. Arpia): “Harpies are female demons … with a human head, torso and arms, [with] the rest as a bird. …Their greatest popularity is perhaps … due to their nature as infernal winged demons … involved in the transport of souls to the afterlife.”
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