Pope Francis said that the faithful always should be vigilant and should be able to understand how to “disguise himself as an angel and convince you”, making things “even worse than at the beginning”.
In the General Audience this Wednesday on 14 December, inside the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican due to bad weather, Pope Francis introduced the final phase of his catechism on discernment.
During the last audiences, the Pope spoke about the elements of discernment; prayer, knowing oneself, desire and the “book of life” and also desolation and consolation.
Today the Holy Father spoke of the need to be “vigilant” after the confirmation of the choice made. That is the “attitude of vigilance” before the devil.
“Since the risk is there, and the killjoy, the evil one, can ruin everything, making us return to the starting point, indeed, in an even worse condition,” warned the Holy Father.
He further said that this can be explained as “the ordinary attitude to have in the conduct of life, so that our good choices, sometimes made after arduous discernment, can continue in a persevering and consistent way and bear fruit.”
The Pope then pointed out that if there is a lack of vigilance there is “the risk that everything will be lost”, since the evil one ” waits precisely for the moment when we are too sure of ourselves “.
For this reason, the Pope stressed the need to “guard one’s own heart” and said that “when we trust too much in ourselves and not in the grace of God, then the evil one finds the door open.”
In this line, he warned about the “polite demon that enters without you noticing” and assured that a lack of vigilance can cause battles to be lost.
“It is not enough to make a good discernment and make a good choice. It is necessary to remain vigilant”, said the Holy Father.
In addition, he explained that the ability to guard is a grace that God has given us to fight the devil, the one who knows how to “disguise himself as an angel and convince you”, making things even worse than at the beginning.
“Watchfulness is a sign of wisdom, it is a sign above all of the humility, which is the master path of the Christian life,” Pope Francis said finally.