Let us constantly watch over ourselves, to avoid the traps that are set for us.


Our mind, indeed, sets traps for us: this guide often strays from the path, dragging our entire life astray. Our hearts set traps for us, bowing down to fulfill their own impulses, moving away from the fulfillment of God's will. Sin sets traps for us, both the sin planted in us through the fall, and the sin that works on us from the scandals that surround us everywhere. The world sets traps for us, which serve vanity and corruption, which strive to bend everyone to this service, using both flattery and persecution. Enemies set traps for us - fallen spirits; people controlled by them, enslaved by them, set traps for us. Often, even friends set traps for us, willingly or unwillingly.

The Lord commanded us to watch over ourselves constantly, hardening ourselves in good deeds, restraining ourselves from sin through the Word of God, through prayer, through faith, through humility.

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov

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