Catholic Candle note: The article immediately below is part thirteen of the study of the Choleric temperament. The first twelve parts can be found here:

1. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #36: About the Temperaments – Beginning our Study of the Choleric Temperament – Part I: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/08/27/lesson-35-about-the-temperaments-the-choleric-temperament/
   

2. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #37: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament– Part II: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/09/26/lesson-37-about-the-temperaments-continuation-of-the-choleric-temperament/
   

3. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #38 — About the Temperaments – Continuing our Study of the Choleric Temperament – Their Spiritual Combat – Part III:: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/10/24/lesson-38-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat/
   

4. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #39 About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – That Temperament’s Spiritual Combat – Part IV: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/11/26/lesson-39-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat-part-iv/
   

5. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #40: Temperaments – Choleric Temperament – Their Spiritual Combat – Part V: https://catholiccandle.org/2024/12/30/lesson-40-temperaments-choleric-temperament-their-spiritual-combat-part-v/
   

6. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #41 – About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament: a Choleric’s Spiritual Combat — Part VI: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/01/27/lesson-41-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-vi/
   

7. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #42: About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – a Choleric’s Spiritual Combat – Part VII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/02/21/lesson-42-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-vii/
   

8. Mary’s School of Sanctity — Lesson #43 About the Temperaments –Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament — Their Spiritual Combat Part VIII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/03/27/lesson-42-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-viii/
   

9. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #44 About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – Their Spiritual Combat, Part IX: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/04/23/lesson-44-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-ix/
   

10. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #45 About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat Part X: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/05/20/lesson-45-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-x/
    

11. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #46 About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Cholerics’ Spiritual Combat – Part XI: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/06/28/lesson-46-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xi/
    

12. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #47 About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat – Part XII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/07/24/lesson-47-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xii/
    

13. Mary’s School of Sanctity – Lesson #48 About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat Part XIII: https://catholiccandle.org/2025/08/29/lesson-48-temperaments-choleric-temperament-a-cholerics-spiritual-combat-part-xiii/

Mary’s School of Sanctity

Lesson #49 About the Temperaments – Continuing Our Study of the Choleric Temperament – The Choleric’s Spiritual Combat – Part XIV

Note: When referring to a person with a choleric temperament in this article we simply will label him as a choleric.

In our last lesson we discussed how Satan hates the fact that humans are created with intellects and are capable of knowing universal truth. This archenemy of mankind has launched his major attack on man’s highest faculty, namely, his intellect.

We saw how Satan tempts us humans to believe that making efforts to think carefully puts a damper on our enjoyment. We saw how this is a lie and that man’s highest delights come when he engages his mind in the pursuit of truth.

Now we will consider another snare that Satan uses – he inclines people to believe that they do not have the ability necessary for careful thinking. However, in order to understand how it is false to believe that we do not have the ability to think carefully, we must first reflect more about human nature itself.

Satan Preys on Fallen Human Nature

As we stated above, one of the devil’s tricks is to tempt humans into supposing that they do not have the necessary ability to think carefully and deeply. Someone could claim that thinking deeply was easy for Adam but ever since the fall of man, man does not have the ability to think. This is an old deception of Satan.

St. Thomas Aquinas explains the effects of original sin as follows:

Original justice was forfeited through the sin of our first parent [Adam], as already stated above (I-II Q. 81 a. 2); so that all the powers of the soul are left, as it were, destitute of their proper order, whereby they are naturally directed to virtue; which destitution is called a wounding of nature.

Again, there are four of the powers that can be the subject of virtue, as stated above (I-II Q. 61 a. 2), viz. the reason, where prudence resides, the will, where justice is, the irascible [passions], the subject of fortitude, and the concupiscible [passions], the subject of temperance. Therefore, in so far as the reason is deprived of its order to the true, there is the wound of ignorance, in so far as the will is deprived of its order to the good, there is the wound of malice; in so far as the irascible is deprived of its order to the arduous, there is the wound of weakness; and in so far as the concupiscible is deprived of its order to the delectation moderated by reason, there is the wound of concupiscence.

Accordingly, these are the four wounds inflicted on the whole of the human nature as a result of our first parent’s sin. But since the inclination to the good of virtues is diminished in each individual on account of actual sin, as was explained above (in I-II Q. 85 a.1& 2), these four wounds are also the result of other sins, in so far as, through sin, the reason is obscured especially in practical matters, the will hardened to evil, good actions become more difficult, and concupiscence more impetuous.¹

Personal Sins Increase the Effects of These Wounds

In the above text from St. Thomas, he explains that not only the wounds of original sin are evident in man, but also that one’s personal, actual sins increase the effect of these wounds of original sin for him. We can readily guess that Satan and all of his fellow demons know the strengths and weaknesses of each individual, so of course, they know exactly what temptations to use on each individual soul.

Natural Inclinations Affect All Humans

Although the wounds of original sin influence all humans, each person is unique in his material dispositions, and from this it is easy to see how each person can be uniquely affected by the wounds of original sin. In other words, each person has his own individual degree of the wounds of original sin. In the vast number of humans that have ever lived, there is a wide spectrum of strengths and weaknesses. For example, some races of people seem to be naturally strong in their mental acuity whereas other races seem to be stronger in their physical prowess.² We can observe that God certainly has created a variety of humans and we must take many things into consideration in our relations with our neighbor. We will discuss this aspect of relationships in more detail at a future time.

Personal Dispositions and the Seven Capital Sins

The demons make ready use of tempting humans to the seven capital sins. Here is what the Concise Catholic Dictionary tells us about these sins:

The so-called “deadly sins” seven in number, called “capital” because they are the source of most other sins: called “deadly” because they easily lead to mortal sins. They need not be separate acts but can exist as habits or vices. The seven capital sins are: pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.³

Just as humans have natural tendencies connected to their material make-up, they have natural weaknesses and strengths. There is not a perfect balance between the strengths and weaknesses. Some may have far more weaknesses than they have strengths. Some may have only weaknesses and, seemingly, no strengths. Furthermore, there are souls who may have more strengths and fewer weaknesses.

The demons know that humans share the wounds of original sin. The demons also know that one capital sin often leads a soul to the other capital sins, and because the demons know the inclinations of souls, including their strengths and weaknesses, they strive to drag the soul into the capital sin to which that soul is most prone.

In addition to this common condition of the wounds of original sin and the particular genetic (i.e., material, bodily) disposition⁴, human nature also includes the passions. In Lesson #39 we reflected how the passions work in order to get a better understanding of the passion of anger. We studied anger and how the choleric is prone to this passion. We also saw how anger is one of the capital sins which the choleric is prone to commit.

A Genetic (Material, Bodily) Disinclination toward the Effort to Think Carefully

Thus, there can be a genetic (material, bodily) disinclination to make the effort to think carefully. A person can be ill-disposed to do the mental work involved in deeper thinking. St. Thomas goes so far as to call the fear of mental work, stupor. He adds, “just as laziness shrinks from the toil of external work, so amazement and stupor shrink from the difficulty of considering a great and unwonted thing, whether good or evil; so that amazement and stupor stand in relation to the act of the intellect, as laziness does to external work.”⁵

So when a person has not previously made habitual efforts to think deeply or carefully, he is not accustomed to the task. In this way, the work involved is unusual to him and viewed by him as “unwonted”.⁶ Such a person “shrink[s] from the difficulty of considering” a “great and unwonted thing”, as St. Thomas explains.

The Attitude that “I don’t have the ability”, Stems from Fear.

Ultimately this kind of attitude is caused by fear. In order to give this topic a thorough treatment and to gain a clearer understanding of how this problem is not exclusively a choleric one, we will need to consider further the passion of fear.

A Preview…

In our next lesson we will begin our study of the passion of fear because this passion affects all the temperaments. We will then be able to see how deep-thinking is really perceived by the choleric.