Mary rejected temptations, always and completely, right away, as was discussed by Fr Craig, in his homily on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception.
Rule 12 instructs us to stand firm in the beginning. Mary knows how to battle Satan, and she practiced this rule perfectly. She did not engage him, or have conversation with him or his ideas. She rejected any and all thoughts form the enemy. She is our most wonderful role model. We study her, and she teaches us how to battle Satan.
With God's grace, we too can respond as she did. How can we do this? This goes back to the silence and the reflection and the examine prayer, that allow us to BECOME AWARE that the stirring are from the enemy. This brings us also to realize that these temptations are opportunities to sharpen our spiritual battle skills and to become more practiced warriors. We are then learning and getting better, by the fortification of our will...to REJECT the uncovered inspirations from the enemy!
For example the Chaos that we allow, that brings disorder to our life is just in reality a big distraction for us, from serving Our Lord, in the peace and power of our God.
We build the skill set and our strength and we see that we truly are CAPTIVES SET FREE.. In this simple practice we learn to overcome him. Not bound to sinning over and over, we can stop it through becoming aware, understanding and rejecting. Then with this new skill, that we repeat over and over, we become more proficient, as we imitate Mary, who teaches us to practice Rule 12, by rejecting the enemy in every situation.
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