Our Dominant Passion
1. Among the passions which disturb us, there is one predominant
tendency which is our particular weakness. Perhaps we are not aware what
it is, but those who have to live with us know it well. It is essential
for us to know it also in order to make it a special objective in our
spiritual combat.
This information may be obtained by praying earnestly to the Holy Spirit
to enlighten us to know ourselves, by making a daily examination of
conscience, and by seeking the advice of our confessor, of our spiritual
director, and of any sincere friend. It is our predominant passion
which most often leads us into sin. It recurs in all our confessions and
we have great difficulty in overcoming it. The predominant passion of
Cain was envy, which he failed to combat in time, so that eventually it
caused him to commit fratricide. Lust was the predominant passion of
Mary Magdalen and of St. Augustine and until they managed to control it,
it led them into many grave errors. It was because the Apostle Judas
neglected to struggle against his own avarice that he became a traitor.
There are others who are inordinately proud and ambitious, and still
others who are governed by a craving for pleasure.
What is your
predominant passion? You must know what it is in order to combat it
determinedly, for otherwise it will lead you into one sin after another
until you are eternally ruined.
2. Holy and God-fearing people
know their own particular weakness. They accept it as a cross and will
not rest until they have conquered it with God's help. The battle cannot
be won in a day, but in most cases takes a great many years. Often the
ultimate victory is not gained until the hour of death.
It has
been said that self-love dies three days after ourselves. We are
enormously attached to our own ego, and humility is a very difficult
virtue to acquire. Sometimes we have struggled for years to gain it and,
quite suddenly, we meet with another disastrous fall. It would be easy
to be overcome by discouragement at this stage, but this should not be
allowed to happen. When we fall we should say to God in our repentance:
“It is good for me to be humbled.” To ourselves we should say
immediately: “Let us begin all over again!”
St. Francis de
Sales was endowed by nature with a sharp and hasty temperament, against
which he fought for many years with great determination and reliance on
God's help. Finally, he conquered and came to be regarded as an angel of
peace. Nevertheless, even in the later years of his life, he still
experienced inward tendencies towards anger, so that his exterior
gentleness was really a supreme act of virtue.
3. We can conquer our predominant passion by the following means:
(a) Fervent prayer.
(b) A daily examination of conscience, in the course of which we shall
discover whether we have made any progress in the way of perfection, and
shall renew our good resolutions.
(c) Weekly or at least fortnightly confession.
(d) Daily or at least frequent communion.
(e) Avoidance of the occasions of sin and employment of the necessary means to overcome sin.
(f) The performance of good actions which are opposed to our predominant passion.
(g) Determination to fight and to conquer, because we are convinced that it is absolutely necessary to do so.
There can be no half-measures, for the only alternative to victory is
defeat. If we are conquered, we shall be slaves of passion in this life
and shall be everlastingly unhappy in the next.
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