According to this, one of the advantages we are to derive from these temptations, is to humble ourselves before God, acknowledge our misery and frailty, and to say to him: You see, O Lord, what I am: what can be expected from filthy clay but poisonous exhalations? Who can hope for anything else from an earth that you have cursed, but thorns and briars? It can produce nothing else, unless you cultivate it by your grace. Here is matter enough for our humiliation. If a poor coarse coat, which is an exterior thing, serves, as the saint takes notice, to humble him that wears it, what must an infinity of shameful thoughts, which they had before contracted. Wherefore this kind of fire is to be extinguished by tears, and by bitterly weeping and bemoaning our past follies. St. Bonaventure says, that it is very good remedy against these temptations, to look upon them as a due chastisement for our past disorders; and by an humble and patient submission to them, to say with Joseph’s brethren, “We deserve to suffer all this, because we have sinned against our brother” (Gen. xlii. 21). God is moved with mercy, when man acknowledges that he deserves the punishment which the divine justice inflicts upon him, as the same father observes; and holy Scripture tells us, that the people of Israel made frequent use of this means to obtain their pardon from God. Another admirable means to obtain God’s assistance in all our temptations, and particularly in impure ones, and to make us come off always conquerors, is to doubt our own strength, and put all our confidence in God. I have already spoken of this, and I shall speak more hereafter, when I come to treat of the fear of God; so that at present it shall suffice to say that, generally speaking, humility is a sovereign antidote for all manner of temptations. The revelation which St. Anthony had is well known. He one day saw in spirit the whole earth covered with snares, and all of them were so dexterously laid, that being affrighted at the vision, he cried out, Lord, who can escape all these? And presently it was answered him, The humble of heart, be therefore humble, and God will deliver you from those tempting snares of the flesh. “God has a particular care of little ones,” says David: “I myself was humbled, and he delivered me. (Ps. cxiv. 6.) The highest mountains suffer most from storms; a tempestuous wind roots up the tallest oak; whilst the little shrub and the osier, by yielding and plying to the wind, resume their former attitude as soon as the violent blast is over.

According to this, one of the advantages we are to derive from these temptations, is to humble ourselves before God, acknowledge our misery and frailty, and to say to him: You see, O Lord, what I am: what can be expected from filthy clay but poisonous exhalations? Who can hope for anything else from an earth that you have cursed, but thorns and briars? It can produce nothing else, unless you cultivate it by your grace. Here is matter enough for our humiliation. If a poor coarse coat, which is an exterior thing, serves, as the saint takes notice, to humble him that wears it, what must an infinity of shameful thoughts, which every moment pass through our hearts, wherein they make so much havoc, do to us? Holy brother Giles compares our flesh to a hog, that takes pleasure in wallowing continually in the mire, and to a beetle, that always lives in dirt. This consideration ought to prevail so far upon us, as to divert our attention from impure thoughts; and commonly it is better not to dwell on, or combat the objects which the temptation presents, but immediately to turn our eyes from them, and contemplating our own condition, say with an humble heart, certainly I am a very wicked creature, since so many bad thoughts as these come into and fill my mind; for by this we evade the stroke intended by the devil, and so put him to confusion. It is also very profitable, when we are surprised with bad thoughts and evil motions, to conceive as much confusion for them as if we were really in fault, for hereby we shall be very far from consenting to them. The devil, the first author of pride, cannot see so much humility without being in a fury. And you cannot vex him more or sooner oblige him to leave you in peace, than by turning those means by which he designed to ruin you, to your own good and advantage. Moreover, this holy confusion is a sign that the will is very far from consenting to sin, and consequently brings along with it great confidence and satisfaction. 

‘The Practice of Christian & Religious Perfection’ written by Father Alphonsus Rodriguez

Following quote and previous image taken from a Franciscan Media page–their Saint of the Day

Born in Spain in 1533, Alphonsus inherited the family textile business at 23. Within the space of three years, his wife, daughter, and mother died; meanwhile, business was poor. Alphonsus stepped back and reassessed his life. He sold the business, and with his young son, moved into his sister’s home. There he learned the discipline of prayer and meditation.

At the death of his son years later, Alphonsus, almost 40 by then, sought to join the Jesuits. He was not helped by his poor education. He applied twice before being admitted. For 45 years he served as doorkeeper at the Jesuits’ college in Majorca. When not at his post, he was almost always at prayer, though he often encountered difficulties and temptations.

His holiness and prayerfulness attracted many to him, including Saint Peter Claver, then a Jesuit seminarian. Alphonsus’ life as doorkeeper may have been humdrum, but centuries later he caught the attention of poet and fellow-Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins, who made him the subject of one of his poems.

Alphonsus died in 1617. He is the patron saint of Majorca.

In Honor of St Alphonsus Rodriguez

a poem by Gerald Manley Hopkins

Honour is flashed off exploit, so we say;
And those strokes once that gashed flesh or galled shield
Should tongue that time now, trumpet now that field,
And, on the fighter, forge his glorious day.
On Christ they do and on the martyr may;
But be the war within, the brand we wield
Unseen, the heroic breast not outward-steeled,
Earth hears no hurtle then from fiercest fray.

 Yet God (that hews mountain and continent,
Earth, all, out; who, with trickling increment,
Veins violets and tall trees makes more and more)
Could crowd career with conquest while there went
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Majorca Alfonso watched the door.

Who can read in Lipomanus-tom. v.-the unhappy fall of James the hermit, and not be seized with wonder and amazement? This man was threescore years old, forty of which he had spent in continual austerities; he was even famous for the many miracles he had wrought, and God had given him the power of casting out devils. Having one day cured a young woman who was possessed by the devil, and finding that the persons who brought her to him were afraid to take her home with them, for fear the devil should repossess her, he consented that she should stay some time with him. Now because he was too confident and presumed too much upon his own strength, God permitted him to fall into the sin of fornication with her. And as one sin ordinarily draws on another, fear of being discovered made him murder her and throw her body into a river. To conclude all, despairing of God’s mercy, he left his solitary way of living, went into the world again, and gave himself over to all manner of wickedness, till at last entering into himself, he merited by a severe penance of ten years to be restored to the state and perfection from which he had fallen, and to be canonized for a saint after his death.

‘The Practice of Christian & Religious Perfection III’ by Father Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J.

THERE is still another manner of answering the difficulty which relates to the fear we may have of losing esteem…if we truly have the spirit of humility, we ought to rejoice at being known to be as weak as we are; and therefore we need no other reason than this to move us to declare our defects and bad inclinations…. For true humility not only makes us know and despise ourselves, but it also makes us be glad to be known and despised by others. It is true that the obligation of giving an account of conscience was established amongst us for other ends; but though there should be no other advantage to be derived from it than that of exercising ourselves in the practice of humility, this alone ought to be sufficient to engage us punctually to satisfy this obligation. And if we have not those sentiments of humility which we ought to have, but on the contrary, desire to be esteemed, and to be promoted to the most considerable employments, I do not at all wonder that upon this account we let ourselves be seduced by those vain fears which pride and ambition are wont to suggest, and that we think thus within ourselves: if my defects come to be known…they will have no more consideration for me, and will never advance me to any extraordinary employments, but I shall always remain in contempt and oblivion. Many great servants of God have attributed to themselves not only defects, but even considerable sins, for fear that any one should cast their eyes upon them to raise them to any great dignities in the Church; but he who, on the contrary, endeavors to hide his true faults that others may have a better opinion of him than he deserves, and consequently advance him to great employments, is far from resembling those I speak of, and clearly manifests that he has in his heart no feeling at all of humility. 

‘The Practice of Christian & Religious Perfection’ written by Father Alphonsus Rodriguez

St John Climachus says, that the devil, who seeks nothing but our destruction, endeavors to set continually our virtues and good actions before our eyes, that so he may make us proud; and that God, on the contrary, who desires only our salvation, gives particular light to his elect, to make them perceive even the least of their imperfections; and hides the favors he bestows on them in such a manner, that often they perceive not when they receive them.  All holy writers teache the same doctrine; and Saint Bernard says, “that it is by a particular disposition of the divine goodness which is pleased to keep us humble, that the greater progress one ordinarily makes in perfection the less he thinks he has made; for when any one is arrived at the highest degree of virtue, God permits that something of the perfection of the lowest should yet remain to be acquired, that he may not think he is advanced so far as he is.” (De quat. mod.oran.)  Thus the comparison which is made between humility and the sun, is a very just one; for as the stars disappear, and hide themselves before the sun, so when humility shines truly in souls, all other virtues hide themselves before it in such manner, that they who are more humble indeed seem to themselves to have no virtue of all….When Moses came down for Mount Sinai, where he had forty days conversed with God face to face, “his countenance shown so bright, that all the children of Israel,” says the scripture, “behold it, and he alone knew not that his face was shining, because of the conversation he had had with the Lord.”  –St Alphonsus Rodriguez ‘The Practice of Christian & Religious Perfection II’

On the contrary, silence produces two admirable of facts, which teaches us how to speak well.  The first is, to forget all the language the world had taught us—a circumstance which is as necessary for us, in order to speak well, as it is for one that pretends to be master of any science to abandon of faults maxims he had already learned.  The second effect is, that long silence gives us time to learn how to speak; it gives us leisure—to observe the most accomplished in this science—there manner, their deliberation, their sweetness; and also their gravity and prudence, that we may form ourselves on those models.  An apprentice observes how his master works, thereby to conform himself, and to become afterwards master of his trade; so we ought continually two hearken to the best masters in the art of speaking, and endeavor to imitate them as much as we are able.

…..

“I have more impediment and slowness of tongue,” said Moses to God, “ever since you were pleased to speak to me.”  –St Alphonsus Rodriguez ‘The Practice of Christian & Religious Perfection II’

St Cyprian, interpreting these words of the royal prophet, “my chalice which inebriates, how excellent it is?” (Ps xii 5) and applying them to the Eucharist, says, “that as drunkenness renders a man quite different from what he was, so this divine sacrament renders us quite different from ourselves by making us quite forget the things of the world, and elevating our minds to a commerce with those of heaven.”  How different did the disciples at Emmaus become from what they were before, after they received this celestial bread from the hands of our Savior himself?  “They knew Him then, whom they knew not before” (Luke xxiv. 35) and from inconstant, feeble, and timorous persons, they became firm, faithful, and courageous.  It is after this manner that holy communion “ought to change you into another man, into a perfect man; that so they who live; live not to themselves, but live to him who died for them and is risen again to life.” (2 Cor v. 15) –St Alphonsus Rodriguez ‘The Practice of Christian & Religious Perfection II’