Many years ago I read the book, The Contemplative Life, by Fr Thomas Philippe, O.P., but recently I re-read it after having read an account of Fr Philippe’s personal holiness by one who knew him. The book is a collection of retreat addresses given to a community of contemplative Dominican nuns, so it may not have universal appeal. But I think there is quite a bit there that applies to anyone who lives, or desires to live, the contemplative life, whether in a monastery or in the world. The following is a selection from his chapter entitled, “The Great Enemy of the Contemplative Life.” That enemy is, of course, the devil. It’s not enough, however, merely to know that. One must have some insight into his tactics in order to foil his attempts to disturb the life of grace and union to which God calls us.
“Since nature does not have to furnish any predispositions for the contemplative life, the greatest obstacles to this life do not come from our nature. The obstacles that arise from within us are not on the 
same plane as our contemplative life. Our proper enemy is Satan; being a pure spirit, he is on the same plane as contemplation.
“It is a simple fact of experience that it is especially in monasteries that the devil tries to sow trouble. While he has lost the love given to him at creation, he has not lost his intelligence; and he is well aware of the strategic points of the Church. He leaves to his henchmen the task of unleashing the various forms of concupiscence in the world and trapping souls by them; he takes direct personal responsibility for the more difficult objectives—namely, contemplatives. He is their personal enemy, especially of those who have entrusted themselves to the Blessed Virgin…
“The contemplative life demands a great deal of confidence. Since the intimate knowledge of God grows only in peace, contemplatives are particularly vulnerable to disturbance. The contemplative life is very delicate, a life in faith and in darkness; hence it lacks the security that comes from seeing for oneself. This makes our lives very vulnerable to disturbance the moment we become separated ever so little from the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
“Within this sanctuary, in the deepest part of our souls, the devil cannot act. This is the domain of contemplative prayer in which the Holy Spirit alone is master. The heart of Jesus is an impregnable fortress for us. The devil’s strategy is to try to make us leave this fortress of love and lead us onto the field of the imagination or of false lights, where he can attack us.
“As there is a special presence of God in monasteries, there is also a special presence of the devil; that is why the Church blesses those places. When we feel ourselves vaguely troubled without there being any evident reason, we should ask the Blessed Virgin to free us from the devil; often that will be enough to restore our peace. Rather than trying by ourselves to ward off imaginations and reasonings that trouble us, we should take refuge in Mary. Otherwise we may simply stir up our feelings, which is exactly what the devil wants. He cannot act directly on our wills, but he can make use of our feelings, either by instilling anxiety into them, or by pushing them to extremes and to a violence they do not naturally have. Whereas the Holy Spirit acts in the depths of our soul by love, the devil acts on our feelings by creating disturbance.
“The devil was created for contemplation; the contemplative life is, therefore, normal for him. Along with his intelligence, he has retained a sense of the contemplative life; only it no longer blossoms into love. Having rejected God as his supernatural end, he can no longer find repose in God. He has, therefore, no place of rest, not even a natural one; that is why, as St Augustine says, he wanders about in the world like an intruder.
“We can understand his hatred of religious, poor human beings who by nature are not made for a purely contemplative life as he was, but who by grace now possess what he rejected. Knowing only too well the demands of contemplation, he makes every effort to impede it by creating disturbance.
“His second objective is to sow the tares of dissension and division. It is easy for him to do this, for the only basis of total and permanent union among contemplatives is the love of God; as soon as we step outside that love, there is occasion for division. As a result of his sin, Satan has fallen into the realm of division, and he seeks to draw us into his wake.
“The remedy is very simple. We should always try to come back very humbly into our Lord’s presence and into his peace. We should follow the example of the saints and not seek to flout the devil or even look at the temptation. If we stay on his level, we are always in danger of being defeated: ‘Satan is an admirable dialectician.’ But we have a defense against which he has no weapon: faith, trust, love, and docility to the Holy Spirit. As long as we are in the domain of contemplative prayer with the Blessed Virgin, we are safe; as soon as we leave it, he can do with us as he will. We must never want to ‘play’ with him, not even to insult him. This can be a subtle temptation, and it is dangerous, for he is intelligent and powerful…
“The children of the Blessed Virgin should avoid acting as the children of Eve: abstain from curiosity, and not play games with Satan. Rather, they should follow Mary’s faith, obedience, and humility.”
Fr Philippe was obviously devoted to Our Lady and reveals her prominent role not only in our contemplative life but also in our struggle with the devil. For on the spiritual level she is the woman who is endlessly at enmity with the serpent, and whose Seed crushes his head (see Gen. 3:15). It’s not hard to see in our own spiritual lives how the devil is the quintessential “disturber of the peace,” the peace in which God wishes us to dwell. The challenge is to stay so focused on the Lord in faith, hope, and love, that we do not stray from his embrace and thus become vulnerable to attack and temptation. Let us pray—and pray and pray!—that we may receive the grace to overcome this enemy of our spiritual lives and to rest secure in the Lord. “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my stronghold and my refuge” (from the Byzantine Liturgy; cf. Ps. 17/18).
Making All Things New 