"We will never be free of trials and
temptations as long as our earthly life lasts.
For Job has said: 'Is not the life of
human beings on earth a drudgery?' (Job 7:1).
Therefore, we should always
be on our guard against temptations, always praying
that
our enemy, the devil, 'who never sleeps but constantly looks for someone
to
devour.' (1 Pet 5:8), will not catch us off guard. No
one in this world is so
perfect or holy as not to have temptations
sometimes. We can never be entirely
free from them. Sometimes these temptations
can be very severe and troublesome,
but if we resist them, they will be very
useful to us; for by experiencing them
we are humbled, cleansed, and instructed. All
the Saints endured tribulations
and temptations and profited by them, while
those who did not resist and
overcome them fell away and were lost. There
is no place so holy or remote
where you will not meet with temptation, nor
is there anyone completely free from
it in this life; for in our body we bear the
wounds of sin—the weakness of our
human nature in which we are born."
— Thomas á Kempis, Imitation of Christ, p. 31
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