_All must expect to be tried by temptations_; for the Lord assures us: “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away” (St. Matth. xi, 12); now our indolence tempts us to shirk this violence. Our Blessed Saviour allowed Himself to be tempted, and we are to be made like unto Him: “The disciple is not above his master” (ib. x, 24). Those who aim at a closer resemblance to their Divine Master must expect to be more violently tempted; and therefore Ecclesiasticus warns us: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation. Humble thy heart and endure” (ii, 1). In fact those who please God must be tempted; the two things are inseparable, as the Angel explained to Tobias: “Because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee” (xii, 13). Read the lives of the Saints, and you will not find one who had not to endure severe temptations, from St. Paul and the other Apostles down to the latest Saint. III _God will not allow us to be tempted above our strength_, as He has graciously promised through St. Paul, who writes: “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make also with temptation issue that you may be able to bear it” (I Cor. x, 13). This truth is strikingly illustrated by the history of Job, which is graphically told thus, in poetic language: “On a certain day, when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God and avoiding evil? And Satan answering said: Does Job fear God in vain? Hast thou not made a fence for him and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the work of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth? But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face. Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold all that he hath is in thy hand, only put not forth thy hand upon his person.” He thus allowed Satan to deprive Job of his possessions, but not to go any further. We all know how Satan carried out this permission to the letter, and took away in one day all that Job enjoyed, his sons and daughters included, so that he exclaimed: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as it hath pleased to the Lord so it is done,” and he added with perfect resignation: “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (i, 6-22). Next, Satan obtains power from God to afflict Job in his health, yet so as to spare his life; God controls all. “So Satan went forth from the face of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot to the top of his head. And he took a potsherd, and