VisitationSiste: Questions to Ponder: Why does St. Francis spend so much time talking about the importance of not taking pleasure in temptation? Do we all have different temptations, or the same ones? Are temptations at least in part culturally conditioned? For example, in America we might be more tempted toward being busy, or toward being materialistic, as compared to other cultures. Have you made progress over the course of your life in not giving in to temptations? Have you found ways to avoid particular temptations? How does prayer play a role here? Spiritual reading? Guidance from a spiritual director or confessor?Is such growth in the strength of the spirit really possible? Does resistence to temptation strengthen character? What other behaviors are needed besides merely avoiding what is bad?How can we encourage our friends, family members and those under our charge to avoid temptation? How can you do this in a work situation, where moral warnings are often rebuffed? Or even in the family? Should we take the path of least resistance when among others?
Jul 9, 4:09 PM
Guest4263 (Guest): Hi Sister Susan ! Filling inn for friend at Kairos tonight at Wende ! Please keep Men in your prayers ! God Bless You All! Brian PS have a great chat !
Carol Ann: Flirting with temptation is just asking to be burned
Jul 9, 7:37 PM
Ruth (Guest): good similie, Carol Ann.
Jul 9, 7:37 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes!
Jul 9, 7:37 PM
Dawn (Guest): taking pleasure is a foot in the door so to speak. best to not. good Carol ann
Jul 9, 7:37 PM
Ruth (Guest): Kinda like dancing around the edge of a fire.
Jul 9, 7:38 PM
VisitationSiste: One is tempted every day
8 PM
Dawn (Guest): there are many temptations, which belong to our common human nature
Jul 9, 7:39 PM
Carol Ann: The trick is to discern the temptations when they come and send them packing
9 PM
Ruth (Guest): And I think temptations are not only culturally determined, but very specifically and cleverly “designed” for individual personalities.
Jul 9, 7:40 PM
VisitationSiste: I can give in to them tho esp re food- even tho I am not an over eater in general if I am stressed for some reason I will be more prone
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Ruth (Guest): Yes, and specific stress situations M
Dawn (Guest): I am tempted to “think” to much but working on! 2 PM
VisitationSiste: These can be common temptations but yes they do seem to be geared to our weaknesses 2 PM
Ruth (Guest): “He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous!” Shakespeare 3 PM
Dawn (Guest): I pray about this often….oh gosh Ruth! PM
Carol Ann: Stress is a biggie for me too, but also physical illness makes me much more susceptible. To pick on me then is cheating
Jul 9, 7:43 PM
Ruth (Guest): Dawn, how do you decide how much is too much?
Jul 9, 7:44 PM
Carol Ann: Ooh, I over think stuff all the time
5 PM
Ruth (Guest): I wanna KNOW, too. So much so that I sometimes — even often — stay up too late to research a question.
Jul 9, 7:45 PM
Dawn (Guest): when my thoughts begin to cause stress or take me on a path not of God, then I will check it….singing is good! I spend alot of time with children, so singing is good and fun
M
Carol Ann: That’s a great idea
Jul 9, 7:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): Sometimes even the answer to which will be unlikely to impact behavior.
Jul 9, 7:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): Love your idea,
Jul 9, 7:46 PM
Ruth (Guest): SING!
47 PM
Dawn (Guest): I will ask ” does anyone have a song in their heart this morning?” and off we go…
Jul 9, 7:47 PM
VisitationSiste: A way of distracting oneself and of course reaching out taling us out of ourselves
47 PM
Carol Ann: I usually sing to myself though–and know ho a to pray by which song pops to mind first
Jul 9, 7:49 PM
Dawn (Guest): I will also, Ruth, want to research things…and sometimes I wonder if curiosity is a tempation?
Jul 9, 7:49 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes it is at least in religious life!
M
Carol Ann: Sr., do you mean curiosity about academic subjects, etc or something else?
Jul 9, 7:51 PM
VisitationSiste: More like about what others are doing and what is going on
Jul 9, 7:51 PM
Carol Ann: Aah, out in the world we c a LL that “tmi”–too much information
Jul 9, 7:52 PM
53 PM
Ruth (Guest): There was a time — it was a dividing line in my life — near the beginning of medical school, when I was badly head injured in a car crash. I thought I might never again be able to go back to teaching OR to finish medical school. ANY sudden loud noise would — as if by a short circuit — trigger in me a screaming AS IF terrified or insane, even when I KNEW it was just a bed pan dropping on the floor, a window, suddenly closing or bottles being thrown down the garbage chute next to my dorm room. I discov PM
Ruth (Guest): discovered that I could not scream and sing at the same time, so I’d force myself to sing. Sometimes the scream would break through again, and I’d get it under control again by singing psalms and hymns again. Looked really crazy. But I knew from the Catechism — Baltimore Cat. #2 — that my life would be meaningful if I only CHOSE to know, love, and serve God — even if the “service” were nothing more than forming a good intention.
Jul 9, 7:57 PM
Carol Ann: Ruth, you have bern through so much, and you are like that energizer bunny that just keeps ticking no matter what
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VisitationSiste: What strength!
Jul 9, 7:59 PM
Dawn (Guest): the accident created , in a way…most difficult temptations, Ruth.
Jul 9, 8:00 PM
Ruth (Guest): No, Carol Ann, I need to rest, too. But I have been compared to a “Stehaufmenchen” — a toy, like a small doll, with a rounded, weighted bottom. You knock it down, and it just pops up again.
PM
VisitationSiste: This effect from the accident- I don’t think it is strictly a temptation but…
Jul 9, 8:02 PM
Carol Ann: It is a cross
Jul 9, 8:03 PM
Ruth (Guest): I do not think curiosity is usually a bad thing. God gave us our minds to USE them — not the sort of curiosity, you were mentioning, sister — which I’d call being a busy-body, into other’s business unnecessarily — but “figuring things out,” making sense of what SEEMS useless or senseless.
Jul 9, 8:03 PM
Dawn (Guest): the thorn, St Pauls. I was told by a priest the thorn in his side was seizures
8:04 PM
VisitationSiste: But a temptation that reoccurs can also be like a thorn
Jul 9, 8:06 PM
Dawn (Guest): right, curiosity can be a goo
M
Dawn (Guest): right, curiosity can be a good thing, ie: to want to learn something
Jul 9, 8:07 PM
VisitationSiste: What about the questions about work?I never used to talk about temptations at work but then my faith was not as strong then
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Carol Ann: I face many strong ones. In the networks I belong to, theRe are many ” spiritual coaches ” who rely on new age or occult tools and demand that I do also M
Dawn (Guest): in nursing there could be a temptation to want to “discuss” -beyond necessity- maybe within hearing distance of others
Jul 9, 8:10 PM
Carol Ann: When invited inot one’s cirole I replied thank you kindly but I already belong to a circle. Now this person barely greets me and is on a campaign to prove that Catholicism and the occult are compatible
1 PM
VisitationSiste: That is a real challenge to face such serious issues
Jul 9, 8:11 PM
Dawn (Guest): maybe these things help to build our faith, Carol Ann, or can help
Jul 9, 8:12 PM
Ruth (Guest): Indeed, Sister. For sixty years I attended daily Mass, no matter what, as long as it was POSSIBLE (not possible during some of my residency training). Then there were scheduling changes because of lack of priests, fewer Masses. Well, recently, because of disorganization, misplacing car key, certainly not deliberately I missed SUNDAY Mass. I got so upset with myself that I started crying, and the negative self-speak started. I recognized that the EVIL ONE would try to use that to hurt my relationship w
Jul 9, 8:13 PM
Carol Ann: Yes. I do not challenging her directly, but refuse to play when she passes out tarot cards for fun or insist I direct o e pole to her channeling sessions
Jul 9, 8:13 PM
Dawn (Guest): I also have others around me who challenge…
14 PM
Dawn (Guest): yes Ruth! how it goes
Jul 9, 8:14 PM
Carol Ann: Er, people, to her sessions
Jul 9, 8:14 PM
Carol Ann: Self speak Isa big temptation or me too
Jul 9, 8:15 PM
Dawn (Guest): I have thought…people are influenced and they may not even know who is doing the influencing!
5 PM
Carol Ann: Too true, Dawn
Jul 9, 8:16 PM
VisitationSiste: I think immediate prayer at the moment of temptation, or even when a non believer approaches you gives grace
7 PM
Carol Ann: I’ve been known to call St. Michael and his army
Jul 9, 8:17 PM
Dawn (Guest): I have a St Benedict metal given as a gift, blessed and exorcised, not sure ..but when I am having esp challenging day I wear it, outside my clothes so it is visable.
Jul 9, 8:18 PM
Ruth (Guest): Carol Ann, you made the right choice. STAY as far away from anything occult as you can. They are not compatible. I’ve had similar problems in work situations. Then had blatant lies told to get me fired, when it was the liar who was just trying to “cover” her own irresponsibility. It cost a lot! — in multiple ways. But I remind myself that NOTHING that happens to me cannot be turned to the glory of God if I make the clear choice to let it. It is not so much any strength on my part, but KNOWING that
Jul 9, 8:18 PM
Dawn (Guest): with it, Mary, a Miraculous Metal…..
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VisitationSiste: You have strong souls!
Jul 9, 8:20 PM
Ruth (Guest): God is LOVE [Sorry too long winded again]. Believing that He will give the graces necessary to remain faithful to Him. But we have to ASK. And we have to be open to ALL he offeres.
Jul 9, 8:20 PM
Carol Ann: I’m charged with bring discriminatory but found myself hired by another with interesting (not occult) ideas anyway. We have some interesting discus s ion
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Carol Ann: But you are so right, Ruth. If it is His will to use the situation, He will protect us :23 PM
Lisa C: My Guardian Angel works hard
Jul 9, 8:24 PM
Ruth (Guest): Hi Lisa, welcome.
Jul 9, 8:24 PM
Lisa C: I was thinking there have to be more angels than people, because when we die our Guardian Angels do not get re-assigned.
Jul 9, 8:25 PM
Ruth (Guest): Dawn, see — knowing and remembering that St. Theresa recognized the TEMPTER is a coward — may be “discovered” by searching, with one’s mind.
Jul 9, 8:25 PM
Lisa C: Plus there are other kinds of Angels besides Guardian Angels
Jul 9, 8:26 PM
Carol Ann: Nine choirs, right L
6 PM
Dawn (Guest): thank you Ruth!
Jul 9, 8:26 PM
Dawn (Guest): for drawing that all together
Jul 9, 8:26 PM
Lisa C: I always wonder how the devil decided to go against God. He knows God, so how could he think he could win against God. Why does he do what he does?
Jul 9, 8:26 PM
Ruth (Guest): Another GOOD HELP in temptation is OUR MOTHER MARY. I do not think that I had much of a relationship with her when I was in medical school, but I wanted to come to know her better.
Jul 9, 8:27 PM
Lisa C: Oh yes, Blessed Mother, gives us great power to resist temptation.
M
Ruth (Guest): Now I am happy to pray the Memorare : . . . never was it known, that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought they intersession was left unaided . . .
Jul 9, 8:29 PM
Carol Ann: And never has any soul that fled to the Divine Mercy bern disappointed
Jul 9, 8:29 PM
Ruth (Guest): And I remember the wedding feast at Cana : They have no . . .
Jul 9, 8:30 PM
Ruth (Guest): Do what He says.
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Carol Ann: And suddenly they had more than they knew what to do with 31 PM
VisitationSiste: We need to accept the grace and protection offered and not rely only on ourselves
Jul 9, 8:32 PM
Ruth (Guest): Yup! And when Jesus on the Cross said to John, “Behold your Mother,” He was giving her to us as a moth
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Carol Ann: And when mail marked temptation arrives at our door, we need to stamp it Return to Sender
Jul 9, 8:33 PM
Lisa C: 1 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Jul 9, 8:33 PM
Lisa C: 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Jul 9, 8:33 PM
Lisa C: 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Jul 9, 8:33 PM
Lisa C: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
VisitationSiste: Thanks Lisa!
VisitationSiste: I need to go now.
Ruth (Guest): Good choice,
Lisa C: God be praised
Carol Ann: Blessed week,
Dawn (Guest): Thank you Mother!
Carol Ann: As Tiny Tim always sats,
Dawn (Guest): 
Ruth (Guest): Thank you,
Dawn (Guest): goodnight!
Ruth (Guest): Good night,
Dawn (Guest): keeping you all in my prayers.
Dawn (Guest): yes
Carol Ann: Praying always for my Sisters and brother and the men of Kairi