In this, as in all else, we see how carefully Satan conducts his warfare. If it were possible to do so, what leader would fail to attack his enemy when he was in the very act of laying in new supplies of food and ammunition upon which to subsist, and with which to fight? Lastly, in the very moment of temptation our prayers must be strong and unceasing. The more the temptation increases, the more fervently--yea, desperately--must we pray, crying out as a drowning man might call to the only one from whom he could expect help. But, says one, there's the rub. How can I pray when a thousand distractions are thrust in so powerfully from every side? We are to find the answer to such questions in our Lord's {88} hour of deepest temptation in Gethsemane where we are told that "being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly"[13]--literally, more intensely. Let the intensity of our prayer keep pace with the intensity of assault. We can more than defeat Satan if at such times we compel ourselves to pray with greater care and exactness, framing with extraordinary care the very words we are speaking to God, and if our perturbation be such that we can find no words to utter, let us not grow faint, but remember that this was precisely the case with our Lord in His Agony, when He prayed over and over again, "saying the same words."[14] By his constant effort to interfere with our prayers, especially in seasons of trial and temptation, Satan gives his testimony to the efficiency which we shall acquire if we are earnest in our work of preparation for the battle. He fears it with a fear born of long experience. "Grievous indeed to us," says St. Bernard, "is the temptation of the enemy, but far more grievous to him is our prayer."[15] He has through all the ages contended against the grace and strength of God as he found it in its manifold forms in the Saints. He sees the history of the spiritual {89} warfare repeating itself in us, and surely it should be a source of rejoicing to us that he should count us as foes to be feared, as he feared in other days, or in our own time, the great Saints and warriors of the Kingdom of God. [1] _Imitation_, I, xiii. [2] St. Mark xiv, 38. [3] Eph. vi, 11-18. [4] 2 Tim. iv, 7. [5] St. James i, 6. [6] See _The Speaker's Commentary_, in loc. [7] St. Matt. xii, 36. [8] Ps. li, 2. [9] Zech. iv, 6. [10] Cor. xii, 3. [11] Eph. iii, 16. [12] "St. Thomas and many other grave doctors say that it is by reason of the war that the devil is accustomed to make against those that are in prayer, that the Church, directed by the Holy Ghost, ordains that we should begin all the canonical Hours with this verse, 'O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me.' Whereby we implore God's assistance in prayer against the snares and temptations of the enemy."--Quoted by Rodriguez, _Christian Perfection_. [13] St. Luke xxii, 44. [14] St. Matt. xxvi, 44. [15] St. Bernard, _Serm. in Dedicat. Eccles._, III. {90}