Author: Michael Heidt

Resisting Temptation to The Last Breath

Via Forward in Christ:

By Ray Sutton

“This is the great work of man; always to take blame for his own sins before God, and to expect temptations until his last breath.” St. Anthony the Great

So wrote St. Anthony the Great, considered to be the father of monasticism both East and West. Having inherited enormous wealth after both his parents died, Anthony was orphaned. Then one day he heard the words of Jesus Christ from St. Matthew’s Gospel, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions” (19:21). He sold and gave away all that he had.

Subsequently he entered the monastic life. At the time the way to do this was to live in community with other monks. Instead, Anthony of Egypt or Anthony of the Desert, as he is also referred to, chose life in a cave to live as an ascetic. There he engaged the hermitic (hermit or life alone) tradition of monasticism. 

In his life of solitude, Anthony also discovered spiritual warfare as he had never known it before. He fought virtually every kind of demon of temptation. St. Athanasius, his good friend, records and preserves St. Anthony’s teachings in the classic biography of his life, the Life of St. Anthony. Thus began the influence of St. Anthony on saints East and West.

Perhaps the most famous bishop and theologian in the West to be influenced by St. Anthony was St. Augustine; in the Eastern Church he is recognized as Blessed Augustine. The famed Bishop in North Africa, also considered to be one of the four Doctors of the Church, learned about St. Anthony from his friend Ponticianus. 

Ponticianus shared a story with Augustine about two of his friends who had discovered Athanasius’ Life of St. Anthony. These two read St. Anthony’s Life together. One of them, an Imperial Inspector, found himself blurting out in the midst of their reading, “Tell me, please, what is the goal of our ambition in all these labors of ours? What are we aiming at? What is our motive in being in the public service? Have we any higher hope at court than to be friends of the Emperor… But if I should choose to be a friend of God, I can become one now.” It was then that he discovered through St. Anthony’s life that all his worldly ambition was nothing compared to friendship with God. Both men were converted from their reading of St. Anthony’s Life.

Upon learning of what happened to the two about whom Ponticianus related, Augustine read St. Athanasius’ Life of St. Anthony. He writes in his Confessions of how at one point as a young, nineteen-year-old, he had prayed his legendary prayer, “Grant me chastity and continence but not yet.” After reading St. Anthony’s Life, he began to realize the time of “not yet” had come to an end. 

Shortly thereafter, he sat outside the Cathedral in Milan listening to St. Ambrose preach on the Epistle to the Romans. There on a bench he heard a child singing a song in the background, tolle et lege, which means “take up and read.” Looking down he saw a text from Romans. He read it and the rest as they say is history. Augustine converted, returning to the faith of his mother, Monica, who had prayed for him all during his sojourn resisting the call of God on his life.

Significantly, both the Eastern and Western traditions on resisting temptation emerge from St. Anthony. In the West, St. Augustine forges a path in his own autobiography, Confessions. Combined with his other commentaries and writings, he develops a theology and way of fighting sin and temptation on which others would build. From Dante to C.S. Lewis, we learn much about the techniques of old Scratch, the Devil. 

As for Lewis in particular, while studying at Oxford I joined the C.S. Lewis Club that often met at Pusey House, where I was doing most of my own doctoral research. I recall one evening that a speaker said, “Lewis provides in his writings perhaps the most extensive insight into the struggle with evil of any other in the Western Tradition of Christianity.” He went on to explain that Lewis had lived on the other side in the world of evil for much of his life. When he converted, he brought with him the detailed insights of the dark kingdom’s intrigue that entices so many with Faustian promises. Indeed, and he was given the gift of prose with which to communicate his insights about the ways of the Evil One with stories for children young and old. All of his writings if read carefully, are a tour de force on the corporate and individual ways of temptation.

In the Eastern Church, however, we find a tradition that provides perhaps the best analysis of the actual process of temptation. It is most clearly sketched in a work called the Philokalia. It is written by the 12th century St. Peter of Damascus, based on a collection of writings going back to the Church Fathers and other Eastern monastics. The process of temptation presented in the Philokalia builds primarily on a text from the Epistle of James in the New Testament. James writes:

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. “ (ESV)

James explains clearly that God is not the author of temptation; Satan is. God allows temptation as part of our testing. The classic example is Job. In the first chapter of this massive Old Testament book we learn that Satan had to ask permission to tempt Job. God gave it for the purpose of perfecting Job. The desired end for God was as James explains, “to receive the crown of life,” the ultimate reward for any believer. And as St. Anthony explains, temptation continues to our last breath. Temptation is endemic to our life in Christ just as it was part of His.

However, temptation is not sin. The fact that one is tempted does not mean he or she is weak or that a sin has been committed. Yet, temptation is the beginning of what can give birth to sin, to use James’ analogy. The Eastern Fathers and Desert Monks in the Philokalia provide us with a lucid development of the process. It is: 1. Provocation/bait; 2. disturbance/interaction/coupling; 3. assent; 4. captivity; 5. Passion. Sometimes disturbance and coupling are separated into two explaining why some will speak of six steps into the plunge into sin. The following is a simple explanation. I’ll explain them as a fivefold process combining 2 & 3.

First, temptation begins with provocation or as is sometimes called, bait. Fleeting thoughts or a surprising, unexpected situation enters the horizon of our journey with God. Satan is always ready through his minions, demons, to put bait on the hook to lure us into sin. Even when we’ve placed ourselves in a dangerous context, a target rich environment for sin, Satan takes advantage to offer temptation. He’s always ready to do this even if we’re not, and often especially, least expecting it.

Second, once the bait has been cast, a disturbance in our soul erupts leading to a coupling with sin. The thoughts and desires aroused are entertained. We begin to dwell on the sinful by forming images in our mind. We play with the image. We think we’ll be “okay” just for a moment to find pleasure in it. We often begin to experience emotional arousal over the images. This is a critical moment when we cross over into the beginning stage of sin.

Third, we give into conscious assent. This is sometimes described as the onset of seduction. We continue to find pleasure in the sinful thoughts. At the same time the soul may become further disturbed and even struggle. Then if not resisted, one decides to take action on the thought. Assent is given.

Fourth, the struggle continues to the point of becoming captive. A rationalization begins to provide a way to continue into some kind of action. No doubt by the grace of God we can choose to break free. If not, we become captivated to the point of being a prisoner to evil desire.

Fifth, passion overtakes us. The thoughts that have been enticing and increasingly envisioned begin to control us. They even start to form a habit. There may be a back and forth. But by being allowed to stay around too long in our thoughts, hearts, and lives, too persistently, and by being too passive to the temptation, the desire becomes a passion dominating our existence.

St. Maximus the confessor summarizes: “First the memory brings some passion-free thought into the intellect. By its lingering there, the passion is aroused. When passion is not eradicated, it persuades the intellect to assent to it. Once this assent is given, the actual sin is committed.”

The Good News of the New Testament is that Grace is greater than all our sin! Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the Liberator clad in His glorious armor to fight for us. But we must make a conscious choice to resist and to fight. We have a conscious choice at every stage of the temptation. St. Paul tells us to put on Christ and His armor (Ephesians 6). If we will, we can resist temptation.

Again, St. Maximus summarizes well the help that God will give to those who resist. He says, “Some temptations bring men pleasure, some grief, some bodily pain. The Physician of our souls by means of his judgments applies the remedy to each soul according to the cause of its passion” (The Ascetic Life and Four Centuries on Charity). 

The hope we have is perhaps best stated by St. John Climacus, “The sea is bound to be stirred up and roused and enraged, so to cast out of it again on to the dry land the wood, the hay, and the corruption that was brought down into it by the rivers of the passions. Let us watch nature, and we shall find that after the storm at sea there comes a deep calm.” In this life we taste of those intermittent calms. But to end where we began, the ultimate calm will not come according to St. Anthony until we take our last breath.

God help us to stay in the fight against the world, the flesh and the devil until we breathe our last. And then there will be calm as never known beside the still waters of heaven.

The Most Rev. Ray R. Sutton is the Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) and the Ordinary of the Diocese of Mid America.

Scholarships

Forward in Faith North America is now offering scholarships of $2,500 to male seminarians training for the priesthood. Applicants should complete the form below and mail it to the FIFNA office or email it to Fr. John Himes: fr_john_himes@hotmail.com

Forward in Faith North America Scholarship Application
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The Swartz Trust was established, the income from which is to be used: “…specifically for the purpose of training male seminarians for the priesthood and furthering the education of priests in evangelism.” Scholarships are for $2,500.

Please note: Upon approval, your name will be presented to the Trust’s banking institution and a check will be mailed to your Seminary for the purpose of crediting your account. This generally occurs in late August.
Upon approval, it will be necessary to receive from you, the applicant, your Social Security Number, to satisfy the requirements of the banking institution.

Application Deadline – May 31,

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Brexit is more than just a populist revolt against globalism

Via the Catholic Herald:

The people of the United Kingdom who voted to leave the European Union have rejected a false spiritual vision

Brexit has finally arrived, and it is a triumph for Britain and for Europe, if not for the European Union.

There was a time when Christians like Hilaire Belloc would confidently say things like “Europe is the faith and the faith is Europe.” Of course, Belloc was entirely correct in saying so in 1924. “Europe” was forged into a unity not by a souless bureaucracy in Brussels, but had received its essential unity from Christianity. From the time of Augustine to Charlemagne to Blessed Karl of Austria, Europe was a Christian idea. Even the great attacks on metaphysical realism which began some six hundred years ago, and which advanced steadily through the reformation, dividing up Europe along new political axes could not shake the fundamental sense that it had a kind of spiritual unity which was Christian.

The Schuman Declaration of 1950 was a kind of post-war reconstruction plan for Europe, and it marks a new kind of being imagined for Europe. French foreign minister Robert Schuman and others believed the material causes of the war could be eliminated by pooling coal and steel production. Bringing France and Germany together “under a common High Authority” for economic development was their stated aim. Yet the common authority being established in these nascent years of the European Union was never merely economic. The goal was loftier. The Schuman Declaration understood itself to be engaged in remaking Europe. “Europe will not be made all at once…it will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.”

There could be no doubt that in 1950 there was a new kind of spiritual dream emerging. The new idea for European unity was thought to be more spiritually advanced, more “existentially” aware. It had the potential to create a political harmony that would hold nations (and nationalisms) in check. Existentialist philosophers such as Henri Bergson had earlier imagined, with his distinction between individual matter and élan vital, that a “creative evolution” was possible for European man. A generation later, Christian democrats like Jacques Maritain staked out new “personalist” anthropologies which similarly envisioned that our selfish individualism, just like our violent nationalism, could be overcome through new kinds of political cooperation that would help us to come of age as citizens and persons. There was a wild kind of optimism which Christians and non-Christians alike seemed to find attractive. The new vision for Europe was born out of this existential yearning for peace and solidarity, yet it was still in search of some “creative evolution,” beyond nations, towards a greater whole.

Against the backdrop of Communism, the European Economic Community, as it came to be called in 1958 at the Treaty of Rome, would highlight the way in which shared prosperity could bring peace and solidarity. However, after the Fall of the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, it was clear that “a new stage in the process” had been reached, and the dream of liberal unity was rushing ahead by the dialectics of historical necessity. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992, officially known as “the Treaty on European Union,” laid the foundations for a single currency (gradually introduced from 1999 onwards). Yet more immediately, and arguably, more in line with its much grander vision, the Maastrict Treaty gave birth to “European citizenship,” and something like the “creative evolution” of a greater whole was being realized. The United Kingdom was one of the original twelve member states — yes, like that original sacred body which gave birth to Europe, there were twelve. “Europe is the faith, and the faith is Europe” now meant something new which Belloc never imagined.

In 2004 the European Union drafted a new constitution that invited much controversy after seven (mostly Catholic) member states insisted that the constitution make explicit reference to “the Christian roots of Europe.” Pope St John Paul II had warned in 2003, in “Ecclesia in Europa,” that such “efforts to create a vision of Europe” which ignore “its profound Christian soul” will withdraw the enlivening sap from the ancient tree. Of course, the saint was right. But it made no difference the following year.

The request from member states to reference the Christian roots of Europe was rejected. Christian Democrat MEPs valiantly lobbied to include in the new constitution a milder reference to the “Judaeo-Christian” roots of Europe. Yet to no avail. In truth, all such demands were only late realizations that the new “vision of Europe” that had been emerging was not merely neutral about Christianity. It had a different spiritual vision entirely, and aimed at a different kind of unity emanating from Brussels.

The dream of the European Union was born out of enormous shared suffering. It rose out of ashes. Yet the dream evolved into the wrong kind of faith. It was taken over by managerial elites who had forgotten the God who made Europe, but not her wars. As St John Paul the Great warned, it was taken over by a false hope which is depriving European people of children and churches and hope.

The people of the United Kingdom who voted to leave the European Union have rejected this false spiritual vision and its anti-political manifestation. Brexit is largely and rightly seen as a populist rejection of globalism. But it is also something more. It is evidence that any attempt to remake European unity on some faith which forgets God is as unsteady as that tower once built so high in Babylon. The United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union should be seen not only as a return to self-governance, a recovery of agency on behalf of their own political common good, and as an encouragement to other nations to do likewise. It should also be seen as a call to return to that highest common good which we can call God.

Brexit has triumphed. The people were right to reject the false faith of the European Union. But Britain should take care to recover the true faith — the faith of Belloc’s Europe, and not Brussels.

Donald Trump First President to Address March For Life in Person

Via LifeSiteNews:

“Donald Trump made history Friday by becoming the first sitting president to address the March for Life in person, telling hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers he was ‘proud to stand with you’ to ‘protect the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential.’

“The president thanked students for making the trip, praised pro-lifers for their support of mothers. ‘Young people are the heart of the march for life and it’s your generation that’s making America the pro-family, pro-life nation,’ he said.

“’All of us here today understand an eternal truth: every child is a precious and sacred gift from God,’ Trump said. ‘Together we must cherish and defend the sanctity and dignity of human life. When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the boundless love a child brings to a family.’”

Read the rest here and watch the historic speech livestreamed here.

Forward in Faith North America is unequivocally pro-life.