Wednesday. [Eph. 5:25-33; Luke 4:1-15]

   The devil approaches the God-man with temptations. Who among men is free of them? He who goes according to the will of the evil one does not experience attacks, but is simply turned more and more toward evil. As soon as one begins to come to himself and intends to begin a new life according to God’s will, immediately the entire satanic realm enters into action: they hasten to scatter good thoughts and the intentions of the repentant one in any way they can. If they do not manage to turn him aside, they attempt to hinder his good repentance and confession; if they do not manage to do that, they contrive to sow tares amidst the fruits of repentance and disrupt his labours of cleansing the heart. If they do not succeed in suggesting evil they attempt to distort the truth; if they are repulsed inwardly they attack outwardly, and so on until the end of one’s life. They do not even let one die in peace; even after death they pursue the soul, until it escapes the aerial space where they hover and congregate. You ask, “What should we do? It is hopeless and terrifying!” For a believer there is nothing terrifying here, because near a God-fearing man demons only busy themselves, but they do not have any power over him. A sober man of prayer shoots arrows against them, and they stay far away from him, not daring to approach, and fearing the defeat which they have already experienced. If they succeed in something, it is due to our blundering. We slacken our attention, or allow ourselves to be distracted by their phantoms, and they immediately come and disturb us more boldly. If you do not come to your senses in time they will whirl you about; but if a soul does come to its senses they again recoil and spy from afar to see whether it is possible to approach again somehow. So be sober, watch, and pray—and the enemies will do nothing to you.

Wednesday. [Gal. 6:2-10; Mark 7:14-24]

   From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. Here common sins are listed; but all the rest also, both large and small, proceed from the heart, and the form in which they proceed are evil thoughts. The first seed of evil falls as a thought to do this or that. Why and how does it occur? Part of these occurrences can be explained by known laws of the combining and linking of ideas and images, but only part. Another, most significant part comes from the self-propelled irritation of the passions. When a passion lives in the heart, it cannot not demand satisfaction. This demand is revealed in an urge for something or other; with the urge is united with some or other object. From here comes the thought: “That is what I must do.” Here the same thing happens as, for example, when one is hungry: feeling hunger, one feels an urge for food; with the urge comes the thought of the food itself; from this follows obtaining this or eating that. Third, perhaps a bulkier part, proceeds from unclean powers. The air is filled with them, they dart around people in packs, and each according to its kind spreads its influence around itself onto people with whom it comes into contact. Evil flies from them like sparks from a red-hot iron. Where it is readily accepted the spark takes root, and with it the thought about an evil deed. Only by this can one explain why evil thoughts arise for unknown reasons, in the midst of activities which decisively are not related to them. But this variety of reasons does not make for variety in terms of how to react to evil thoughts. There is one law: an evil thought has come—cast it out and the matter is finished. If you do not cast it out the first minute, it will be harder the second minute, and the third minute yet harder; and then you will not even notice how sympathy, desire, and the decision will be born; then the means will appear … and sin is at hand. The first opposition to evil thoughts is soberness, and vigilance with prayer.