SCHOLION: The three phases of temptation

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I have an obligation as an Unreconstructed Ossified Manualist to remind (or in many cases teach) you about something before the big Memorial Day (PENTECOST) weekend.

The manualist I sometimes cite, Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, writes about temptation in The Spiritual Life. (Great, clear book.  He doesn’t fool around.  UK link HERE.)

I found a brief exposition of temptation, citing Tanquerey and Augustine, in the new Manual of Minor Exorcisms:

The moral theologian Adolfe Tanquerey quotes the teaching of St Augustine to explain the three phases of temptation – suggestion, pleasure and consent.

He says, “Suggestion consists in the proposal to some evil.  Our imagination or our mind represents to us in a more or less vivid manner the attaction of the forbidden fruit.”

Then he describes how pleasure follows the suggestion: “Instinctively our lower tendencies are drawn towards the suggested evil and a certain pleasure is experienced.”

He adds, “this pleasure does not, as long as the will refuses to consent to it, constitute a sin.”

But then explains, “If on the contrary, the will delights in the pleasure, willingly enjoys it and consents to it, the sin is committed.”

Read.  Ponder.  Commit to memory.  Teach to children.  Remember when examining your conscience.

And don’t forget to GO TO CONFESSION.