Flower of Devotion

The Most Holy Virgin said to St. Bridget:

The prayers of the devout go to the Heart of God and unite the soul with God in one bond of love. In every way, Satan often hinders the hearts of men from praying for that which would serve them salvation or which would be contrary to the pleasures of the flesh.
It may disturb them to such an extent that when they pray for other sinners, they are not heard.
The same is true of regret and repentance. With them, Satan gives man evil inspirations, which awaken in the heart of those who desire to devote themselves to sincere repentance: “Ah, you tender heart, how difficult it is to undertake extraordinary deeds! Can everyone be perfect? It is enough for you when you are one of many; Why go any further? Why do you do what others don’t? After all, you won’t be able to do it permanently anyway. Everyone will mock you as you humiliate and humiliate yourself.”
Such satanic inspirations deceive the soul, which thinks, “It is difficult to give up the things to which I am accustomed. That is why I will confess what has passed; for it is enough for me to follow the way that the greater part of men walk. I can’t be perfect. After all, God is merciful, and He did not redeem us so that we should go to perdition.”
With such thoughts, Satan dissuades the soul from listening to God’s voice. Not as if God did not know all that is going on in the soul of man, but because God, when He sees such thoughts, is angry that man is more willing to follow Satan’s temptations than to follow His voice and the voice of his own reason.
Though Satan is so cunning, yet God is wiser and more powerful than he is, and he breaks his snares, that man’s prayers may come to his throne of God. These snares are broken when God inspires man to remember what is good and to make his heart desire to have the will to flee from evil, to seek and do what pleases God.
Satan’s efforts lose their strength even when the soul humbly repents and is willing never to repeat what it has confessed. It is important to know that Satan lays his snares, not only for God’s enemies, but also for his friends. When God visits a man with his perfect inspirations, Satan stirs him up either to be suddenly carried away by pride, or to fall down in excessive fear, or to suffer and endure the sins of others through improper indulgence, or to perish ultimately through over-rejoicing or over-sorrow.”