Catholic Candle note: The article below is Part XXVI of the study of the temperaments, starting with the Choleric temperament. Here are links to the first twenty-five parts:

1. Part I: Beginning our study of the choleric temperament: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/08/27/lesson-35-about-the-temperaments-the-choleric-temperament/
   

2. Part II: A general overview of the weaknesses of the Choleric Temperament: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/09/26/lesson-37-about-the-temperaments-continuation-of-the-choleric-temperament/
   

3. Part III: A consideration of the pride of the Choleric Temperament: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/10/24/lesson-38-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat/
   

4. Part IV: A general discussion of anger as a passion – in order to establish a foundation for studying anger in the Choleric Temperament: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/11/26/lesson-39-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat-part-iv/
   

5. Part V: Concerning the motivations for anger: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/12/30/lesson-40-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat-part-v/
   

6. Part VI: Concerning what anger does to the body: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/01/27/lesson-41-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-vi/
   

7. Part VII: Explaining when anger is sinful: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/02/21/lesson-42-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-vii/
   

8. Part VIII: Explaining how being slighted provokes anger: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/03/27/lesson-42-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-viii/
   

9. Part IX: Explaining how anger turns into the sin of holding a grudge: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/04/23/lesson-44-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-ix/
   

10. Part X: Recommendations to help cholerics to overcome pride: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/05/20/lesson-45-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-x/
    

11. Part XI: Explaining how a person sins by not using his reason: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/06/28/lesson-46-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xi/
    

12. Part XII: Explaining some reasons why a choleric does not use his reason properly: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/07/24/lesson-47-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xii/
    

13. Part XIII: Explaining why the choleric fears to use his reason well: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/08/29/lesson-48-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xiii/
    

14. Part XIV: Explaining generally how Satan targets our fallen and weakened intellects: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/09/24/lesson-49-temperaments-choleric-temperament-the-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xiv/

15. Part XV: Explaining the passions in general, to lay the foundation for our consideration of the passion of fear: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/10/26/3050/

16. Part XVI: Explaining fear as a passion: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/11/25/lesson-51-temperaments-choleric-temperament-the-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xvi/

17. Part XVII: Explaining how fear works in the soul and influences all of the temperaments: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/12/29/lesson-52-temperaments-choleric-temperament-the-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xvii/

18. Part XVIII: Explaining how pain and death are objects of fear for persons of any temperament: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/01/26/lesson-53-temperaments-choleric-temperament-pain-and-death-are-objects-of-fearf-any-temperament/

19. Part XIX: Explaining in what way sin is an object of fear for all temperaments: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/02/26/lesson-54-temperaments-choleric-temperament-whether-sin-is-an-object-of-fear-for-all-temperaments/
    

20. Part XX: Explaining the causes of fear – applying to all temperaments: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/03/31/marys-school-of-sanctity-3/
    

21. Part XXI: Explaining the effects of fear in all temperaments: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/04/26/about-the-temperaments-part-xxi-explaining-the-effects-of-fear-in-all-temperaments/
    

22. Part XXII: Explaining how to order our loves so we can use the passion of fear properly, and how the devil attempts to prevent this ordering: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/05/28/about-the-temperaments-part-xxii-how-to-order-our-loves-so-we-can-use-the-passion-of-fear-properly/
    

23. Part XXIII: Explanation of sloth in order to analyze this snare of Satan and to combat him: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/06/26/about-the-temperaments-part-xxiii-explanation-of-sloth-in-order-to-analyze-this-snare-of-satan/

    
    

24. Part XXIV: Explaining more about how the devil tries to draw us away from reasoning and from the things of God: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/07/29/about-the-temperaments-part-xiv-how-the-devil-draws-us-away-from-reasoning-and-the-things-of-god/
    

25. Part XXV – Explaining the Devil Attempts to Destroy Our Prayer-Life and How We Should Counterattack: https://catholiccandle.org/2026/08/31/lesson-60-about-the-temperaments-part-xxv-the-devil-attempts-to-destroy-our-prayer-life/
    

Mary’s School of Sanctity

Lesson #61 – About the Temperaments, Part XXV – The Fight against Worldliness which is a Huge Detriment to a Deep Prayer Life

In our last lesson we saw how the devil sought to undermine and destroy St. Teresa of Avila’s salvation. We saw how her worldliness weighed her down and hindered her desire to give herself completely to God. We will now apply this lesson to ourselves and search our souls to see if we are also inordinately attached to the world (as she had been, earlier in her life). Our worldly attachment can be determined primarily by our use of creatures (i.e., all things created by God). Thus, it is important to examine our use of creatures.

Because worldly attachments draw us away from prayer and from God, we must avoid inordinate attachments to the world. In this lesson we will focus on the creatures that particularly draw our minds away from God, which imperceptibly also draw our hearts from God. However, before we delve into the use of creatures, let us remind ourselves of what Our Lord says about worldliness and keep His words in our mind as we consider our use of creatures.

Let Us Remember What Our Lord Says About Worldliness

Our Lord explained to His Apostles that they must be “in the world” but not “of the world.” Praying to His Father, Our Lord says the following words:

I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them: because they are not of the world, as I also am not of the world.

I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil.

They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world.

St. John’s Gospel, 17:14-16.

These precious words of Our Dear Lord should keep us focused on God’s Will and on our Eternal Good, so that we make a thorough and sober examination of conscience concerning our use of creatures.

Our Use of Creatures – Including Time

St. Ignatius of Loyola explains in his Spiritual Exercises how creatures must be used to help us to attain our end, namely heaven.¹ But how do we know if something is detrimental to the attainment of our end?

We must weigh whether the object (viz., the creature in question) distracts us from God and from the proper service and love that we owe to God. To help us to conduct this careful weighing, let us consider how we use time, which itself is a creature.

Our Lord alludes to the proper use of time when He warned His Apostles that we will be judged on every idle word.

But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it on the Day of Judgment.

St. Matthew’s Gospel, 12:36.

Fr. Martin von Cochem, in his book The Four Last Things, expands this consideration further when he says:

If it is so hateful to a criminal to be brought before an earthly magistrate, well may the poor soul quake with fear when she [meaning the soul²] is introduced into the presence of God, the strict and omniscient Judge, and required to give the most accurate account of all of the thoughts, words, deeds, and omissions of her past life.³

With these quotes in mind, let us investigate the tactics of the devil to tempt us to be worldly, waste time, and not use our intellects.

As we discussed recently in our lessons, the things that the devil especially does not want us to focus on are:

• Filial love towards God;
  

• Deep and careful thinking;
  

• Knowledge of God;
  

• Knowledge of ourselves; and
  

• The purpose for which we were created.

Therefore, the devil presents his allurements to our souls principally to obstruct these five focuses.

The Devil First Attacks the Intellect of Man

In striving to wreak the greatest destruction upon man, the devil seeks first to attack man’s ability to reason. For in doing this, the devil can easily conquer the soul of the man by destroying his focus on the other four areas listed immediately above. As we explained in a recent lesson,⁴ the devil first tries to distract man in order to hinder him from a life of prayer. Below, we discuss this further.

Distractions of Our Minds

The devil uses creatures which distract our minds and prevent us from developing a desire to think deeply. He wants this desire to be weak in us or, better yet, to be entirely absent from us.

He also tries to make us worldly by tempting us to put ourselves and other interests ahead of God – that is, have false gods before God.

Satan wants us to focus on this world and its problems, activities, and allurements, instead of submitting our wills and our lives to God. He wants us to be distracted with the concerns of this world – whether fables such as manmade climate change, or simply seeing the evils all around us, the devil wants us to be so worried about anything except our salvation. He certainly doesn’t want us to trust in God and to turn to Him in prayer.

He wants us to waste time, especially with entertaining ourselves. He wants man to lead a life of dissipation. Thus, the devil doesn’t want anyone to ever use his God-given intellect.

The Gadgets – the Tools of Satan

For decades the devil has used technology and promoted gadgets that are effective tools to lure souls away from God. One could say that the start of many moral perils was the motion picture. After the advent of movies, then came television. Television was fashioned into a highly effective means to corrupt society. What a great many souls have been corrupted by these tools! This corruption came in the form of:

• Indoctrination with lies – both explicit and implied;
  

• Promotion of worldliness;
  

• Promotion of covetousness and envy;
  

• Promotion of immodesty and impurity;
  

• Promotion of passively received sights and sounds which are not filtered by our intellect; and
  

• All the while squandering huge amounts of our time.

Then came a more recent gadget: a very portable cellular phone which the devil mockingly (and ironically) inspired to be named “the smart phone”. This tool encourages modern man to not use his intellect and instead to blindly believe whatever he sees and hears on this gadget. This gadget contains all of the dangers of television and many more – all in a device small enough to allow a person to carry it easily and to engage in these evils everywhere he goes.

When one considers all of the ramifications of having and using this gadget often, one can readily see how this tool of Satan is a masterful stroke to sweep souls into hell. From pornography to satisfying one’s idle curiosity – all readily accessible at one’s fingertips. This so-called “smart phone” is a classic trap of Satan!

Adding further evil, the devil presents this gadget as a status symbol. It is widely implied in society that one is “strange” if one does not use a so-called “smart phone” – and indeed, if that device is not a newer-model one. Thus, having a so-called “smart phone” can be a temptation to envy and to pride (unreasonable human respect) because the pressure is so strong to follow the crowd. People do not want this latest fad to leave them behind.

The fact that the world promotes these so-called “smart phones” for use everywhere and for all types of transactions and interactions, shows the devil’s influence is behind this gadget. There is hardly any place one can go without seeing people immersed in their phones. The devil’s servants push so heavily the impression that no one can “get by” without having one of these phones, that our times seems almost apocalyptic.⁵

These so-called “smart phones” certainly promote the spirit of the world and direct users to the pool (or we could say “cesspool”) of information tainted and twisted to match the prince of this world, namely Satan. What should a person do if he has one of these phones? He should do what would please Our Lord. He should avoid having one of them by trying to retain a land-line even if it is more expensive. If one has a cellular phone, it would be best to try to not get the latest fad or status phone but instead to be poor-in-spirit and not be like everyone else.

Also, it would be best to use the phone very sparingly – rarely, even. Let us look at what St. Bonaventure says when he is addressing the obstacles to the prayer of contemplation. He explains how St. Bernard of Clairvaux describes the fourth obstacle to contemplation as “the phantoms of corporeal images.” St. Bonaventure says,

This last [meaning the fourth obstacle to contemplation] is more difficult to overcome than the others [viz., barriers to contemplation], and therefore solitude is especially recommended in contemplation. It behoveth the man who contemplates to be in some sense dumb, deaf, and blind so that seeing he may not see, and hearing he may not hear, nor take delight in talking; that is, that he may be so withdrawn from transitory things, and so united to God, that he may not, by hearing, seeing, speaking, cease to contemplate, but that he may avoid interruption as much as possible. And if necessity obliges him to break off [from his prayer], he must not lay up in the soul those images of things which have passed through its windows. ⁶

If St. Bonaventure could say this of the distractions of simple everyday discourse with one’s fellow man, how much more he would say if he saw man’s modern technological gadgetry? Furthermore, if one considers the nature of the so-called “smart phone”, where what one hears and sees on this phone is passively absorbed by the mind, and these images on the screen are constantly flashing from one thing to the next, it is easy to understand how this is disruptive to one’s ability to concentrate.

All of this, likewise, harms one’s ability to focus on his prayers and fight the distractions of all that he has seen and heard. Hence, the use of the so-called “smart phone” is not conducive to the soul’s ability to focus on heavenly things and a deep prayer life. Instead, it distracts and agitates the soul, making it more difficult to settle down into the proper frame of mind to ponder and pour out one’s heart to God. One could also see that the degree of this dissipation one experiences corresponds to the degree in which the will is weakened in its efforts to serve God.

When the mind has been engaged in worldly matters and the allurements of the senses, one is less apt to desire to engage in mental work (including spiritual work). The devil can take advantage of the wounds of Original Sin and can easily tempt a person to believe that intellectual work is so tedious and difficult that he will think that mental work is such a “chore” or a “plague.”

We can see this attitude in the world around us where most people do not desire to think carefully or to think independently of the world. Many simply spend hours mentally loitering, frittering away their day on their so-called “smart phone.” How often do we find that when we ask someone a question, he immediately pulls out his so-called “smart phone” to find the answer? He’d rather trust a worldly gadget than his own intelligence. In conclusion, it seems prudent to be very leery of this modern thought-blocking gadget.

One Can Do a Simple Examination of Conscience to See His Attachment to This Gadget:

• How often do I use this phone?
  

• How long am I on this phone during a single use?
  

• Do I ever just leave the phone behind and go about my day?
  

• Do I find that I have it with me all day?
  

• Do I have it at my bedside at night?
  

• Do I check my phone as soon as I awaken in the morning?
  

• Do I use my phone in bed?
  

• Has my phone been a source of past sins?
  

• Does it interrupt my family or social interactions?
  

• Do I quickly get onto my phone when I have a “spare minute”?
  

• Has this phone really become a strange god before God?
  

Some Tips on How to Treat a So-Called “Smart Phone”:

• Never use the phone without real need.
  

• Never use the phone for entertainment.
  

• Never use the phone for social media.
  

• Never use the phone for “window shopping.”
  

• Before using a “smart phone”, ask yourself what you specifically need to accomplish on the phone. Do this task and get off of it. Do not expand the scope of your original reason for using the phone.
  

• Never forget that the devil’s minions use this tool to keep track of and indoctrinate society.

As one weans himself off of his so-called “smart phone”, a person discovers that he has a new freedom. In this way one can see that the “smart phone” really makes one a slave to a mere creature.

It is Important to Test Ourselves to See How Attached We Are to Objects, that is, to Creatures:

One can ask himself questions similar to the ones regarding the “smart phone” and substitute another object in its place. If one finds he is inordinately attached to any object or person, he should pray to Our Lord to help him to detach himself and to order this creature and all creatures to God and to our final end. As St. Ignatius teaches, we must be indifferent to all objects and persons “in so far as it is left to the choice of our free will and is not forbidden”.

The simple rule-of-thumb to test our attachment to an object, i.e., to a creature, is to recall these words of Our Lord:

For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?”

St. Matthew’s Gospel, 16:26.

We should ask ourselves who really comes first with us, God or a creature? Do our actions and habits show this? Here is a strong sign: what comes first with us and what we love most, tends to be what we seek to spend our time with, when we are able to do so.

In Conclusion:

This self-awareness of our use of creatures is extremely important in fostering a healthy prayer life and Divine Friendship. Also, God put it in man’s nature for him to take the greatest delight in using his highest faculty (viz., his intellect). This should be a great incentive to improve our minds as well as to avoid all worldly dissipations. These dissipations and the creatures that foster them must be avoided if we are to have the degree of Divine Friendship that the Good Lord wills for us to have with Him.

A Preview…

Having considered how the devil tries to destroy our desire and likewise our delight in using our intellects, in our next lesson, we can concentrate on how the devil lures us to bodily pleasures, concerns, and desires as a means to draw us away from God and from a life of prayer.