173 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year into the holy desert. Neither should you doubt that the infernal foe can be defeated by you as many times as he attacks you, for armed as he is with many foul thoughts, vices, and evil incitements, his forces are far weaker than can be imagined. This dog can bark but cannot bite. Indeed, as often as you are refreshed by the banquet of the Most Sacred Eucharist, you always acquire new strength and defensive armor. After all, the Eucharist is the most powerful weapon against every temptation. 2. “If you are the Son of God” (Mt 4:3). Look at the cunning of this sly snake: How craftily indeed he attacks Christ the Man. He sees Him fasting and so he tries to incite Him to gluttony. When he achieves nothing by this temptation, he proceeds to a bolder impudence, saying: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” (Mt 4:6). But when this ruse proves to be of no avail either, he tries to induce Him to idolatry by showing and promising Him all the kingdoms and glory of the world: “All these,” he says, “I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Mt 4:9). This is how [f.30r] the infernal Ulysses59 is accustomed to behave; with this method of temptation, he approaches the servants of God. He takes advantage of even the slightest opportunity for their seduction: he tries gluttony for the famished, sleepiness for the halfhearted, flames of fury for the impatient; lustfulness for some and pride and conceit for others. It should be said to the one tempting you with gluttony: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). The one who incites to presumption must be rebuked thus: “[Again] it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” (Mt 4:7). When his other temptations are foiled by other remedies and his efforts are warded off or shattered; he usually makes a final strike against perseverance in divine service, in spiritual Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, Lublin 1973, pp. 1231-1232 (s.v. Babilon). Cf. Rev 14:8; 16:19; 1 Pet 5:13. 59 Cf. footnote 33 (p. 137).
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