Passing All Three Tests

One

The wrong truth – focusing on the test you pass instead of on the test you fail

GK Chesterton once pointed out that it is a pleasure in the heart of hell to tell the truth in such a way as to lead people astray.

Satan told Adam and Eve that if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would be “like God.” And then they did become “like God,” but in a way that destroyed instead of glorified them. Satan loves to focus on the wrong truth. To lead you into sin by focusing on the wrong truth. 

In everything we do there are three parts: what you’re trying to do, why you’re trying to do it, and the circumstances of the situation. Three “tests” so to speak.

All three must be good. You have to pass all three tests for your action to be morally permissible. But what Satan will do, what he does to all of us, is he focuses our attention on the test we truly pass. That way he distracts us from the test we fail. And that way he leads us into sin.

Two

When You Fail the Object

Whenever you do something intrinsically wrong, an action that attacks some human good, Satan calls attention to the truth that your intentions are good, or that the situation is an extreme one.

A girl may agree to sleep with her boyfriend by saying, “I really just want to show him I love him” (good motivations) or “we’re going to get married anyway, after all” (circumstances). But what she’s doing is wrong.

A priest may preside at a same-sex wedding ceremony and say, “I just want them to know that the Church hasn’t turned its back on them” (good motivations) or “If I don’t, they’ve said they’ll cut God out of their lives completely” (circumstances). But what he’s doing is wrong.

A man may be a financial advisor, a contractor for home repairs, or a mechanic who works for a company that practices charging hidden fees or recommends unnecessary products or services, and in this way cheats and exploits people. He’ll say, “Look, I’m just trying to pay the mortgage and support my family. What’s wrong with that? And anyway, it’s not like I have any other job prospects.” Well, that’s a fine motivation and a difficult situation, but it doesn’t justify ripping people off.

So if you find yourself constantly reassuring yourself that your motives are good, or you’re in a difficult situation – watch out. That may be Satan getting you to focus on the wrong truth. You need to look very carefully at what you’re doing. 

Three

When you Fail the End/Motivation

Sometimes what you’re doing is okay, but why you’re doing it is really wrong. 

You might want to fire somebody just because they get on your nerves. Then the temptation will be to focus on how it’s your prerogative to let people go, and you did document the weaknesses of this person. Okay, but was that really why you fired them? Or you might be secretly resentful of someone – a friend, or a spouse, or a coworker – and turn them down every time they invite you to do something together. You might say, “Listen, there’s nothing wrong with not going out to coffee, or not going over to someone’s house, or not answering a call, or not being intimate with my spouse. It’s not like I’m always obligated to say ‘yes’ to everyone.” That’s true. But if you’re saying ‘No’ out of anger or bitterness, then that’s a perverse motivation. 

If your motives are corrupt, Satan will always work to point out that objectively, on paper, what you’re doing or not doing is perfectly legitimate. But focusing on that truth will, if your motives are corrupt, just confirm you in your sin of unforgiveness.

Four

When you Fail the Circumstances

Again, if you’re doing something totally inappropriate to your particular situation, Satan will always try to focus on the wrong truth. 

Maybe you’re a dad and a business owner and your family and your employees really need your undivided attention, but you suddenly realize that you want to be a permanent deacon. What a good thing! And it’s great that you want to get more involved at the parish. But it’s not for you. If your family or your business that supports a lot of families needs focus, the exact wrong thing for you to do is escape them and hop up on the altar. Focusing on what a great thing the permanent diaconate is, is the wrong truth for you. 

Or if you’re a priest or a married man and a woman wants to confide in you about her unhappy marriage. And she wants to keep confiding in you about it. Wow, that is bad news. You need to run from that. That’s how priests end up leaving the priesthood, and how adulterous affairs get started.

But what is Satan going to say? He’s going to say, “Look, there’s nothing intrinsically evil about comforting a woman in distress. That’s just basic chivalry. And you do want to help her, don’t you? You do feel bad for her?” He’s going to focus on the wrong truth. And the right truth is that an unhappy woman can go to a priest for confession or a professional for professional advice. But if she needs emotional support and guidance, she should get it from family and friends and maybe a wise religious nun. If you forget that, Satan will have used the wrong truth to lead you astray.

Five

Mary and Practical Discernment

There’s an incredible poem by Joyce Kilmer called “The Robe of Christ” and it imagines that Satan was one of the soldiers who played dice for Jesus’ robe and Satan won it. And since that time, Satan is able to disguise himself in that robe. He can make himself look like Jesus. He can tempt us in such a way that we don’t know whether it’s the devil speaking to us or the Lord.

After all, as we said, Satan usually tempts us with the truth, so how do we know when it’s the wrong truth?

Well, now we know the main way to catch Satan out in his deceitful truth. We look at what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it, and what the concrete circumstances are. We don’t just look at the tests we pass, we look to see if there’s any we fail. 

But also, we pray to Our Lady. Because even if we don’t, she knows the difference between Jesus and the devil in disguise. The poet knows that the robe of Christ could just be a cover for temptation, so he invokes Mary, “I see the robe, I look, I hope, I fear – but there is one. Who will direct my troubled mind; Christ’s Mother knows her Son. ‘This is the man of lies,’ she says, ‘Disguised with fearful art. He has the wounded hands and feet, but not the wounded heart.’ Beside the cross on Calvary, she watched them as they diced. She saw the devil join the game and win the robe of Christ.”

Constantly turn to Mary and She will prevent us from ever letting Satan lead us astray by presenting us with the wrong truth.