The devil appeared to three monks and said to them: If I gave you the power to change something in the past, what would you change?
The first of them, with great apostolic fervor, answered: "I would prevent you from causing Adam and Eve to fall into sin, so that mankind would not be separated from God."
The second, a man full of mercy, said to him: “I would keep you from turning away from God and condemning yourself forever.”
The third of them was the simplest and instead of answering the tempter, he knelt down, made the Sign of the Cross and prayed, saying, ""Lord, deliver me from the temptation of what might have been and what was not."
The demon, screaming and trembling with pain, fled.
The other two, surprised, said to him, "Brother, why did you react like this?"
He answered them:
“First, we should NEVER talk to the enemy.”
Second: NO ONE in the world has the power to change the past.
Third: Satan's INTEREST was not to prove our virtue, but to hold us in the past, so that we neglect the present, the only time God gives us His grace and we can cooperate with it to do His will.
Of all the demons, the one that most holds men back and prevents them from being happy is “what could have been and was not.” The past is left to the mercy of God and the future to His providence. Only the present is in our hands. Live today loving God with all your heart.
The first of them, with great apostolic fervor, answered: "I would prevent you from causing Adam and Eve to fall into sin, so that mankind would not be separated from God."
The second, a man full of mercy, said to him: “I would keep you from turning away from God and condemning yourself forever.”
The third of them was the simplest and instead of answering the tempter, he knelt down, made the Sign of the Cross and prayed, saying, ""Lord, deliver me from the temptation of what might have been and what was not."
The demon, screaming and trembling with pain, fled.
The other two, surprised, said to him, "Brother, why did you react like this?"
He answered them:
“First, we should NEVER talk to the enemy.”
Second: NO ONE in the world has the power to change the past.
Third: Satan's INTEREST was not to prove our virtue, but to hold us in the past, so that we neglect the present, the only time God gives us His grace and we can cooperate with it to do His will.
Of all the demons, the one that most holds men back and prevents them from being happy is “what could have been and was not.” The past is left to the mercy of God and the future to His providence. Only the present is in our hands. Live today loving God with all your heart.
The devil appeared to three monks and said to them: If I gave you the power to change something in the past, what would you change?
The first of them, with great apostolic fervor, answered: "I would prevent you from causing Adam and Eve to fall into sin, so that mankind would not be separated from God."
The second, a man full of mercy, said to him: “I would keep you from turning away from God and condemning yourself forever.”
The third of them was the simplest and instead of answering the tempter, he knelt down, made the Sign of the Cross and prayed, saying, ""Lord, deliver me from the temptation of what might have been and what was not."
The demon, screaming and trembling with pain, fled.
The other two, surprised, said to him, "Brother, why did you react like this?"
He answered them:
“First, we should NEVER talk to the enemy.”
Second: NO ONE in the world has the power to change the past.
Third: Satan's INTEREST was not to prove our virtue, but to hold us in the past, so that we neglect the present, the only time God gives us His grace and we can cooperate with it to do His will.
Of all the demons, the one that most holds men back and prevents them from being happy is “what could have been and was not.” The past is left to the mercy of God and the future to His providence. Only the present is in our hands. Live today loving God with all your heart.
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