Sometimes the little analogies from nature that St. Francis de Sales uses to illustrate our development in the spiritual life bear more resemblance to a Disney cartoon than to real life. For example:

"When caught out in the field by a storm little bees pick up small stones so that they can keep their balance in the air and not be easily carried away by the wind."

Last week's article noted that even the strongest temptations cannot overwhelm a person's desire for the good. The fire of the good always burns.

However, in the face of strong temptation, it may not burn brightly. Temptation must be overcome. So how does one do that?

Perhaps no one in the history of the world has thought about the nature of reality with as much depth and as much breadth as did Aristotle.

Aristotle maintained, for example, that human moral decision-making was motivated not by a sense of obligation and even less by the "weighing" of the potential good and bad consequences of various alternative actions.

One reward for a commitment to leading a virtuous life is criticism. As surely as night follows day, the person of devotion and virtue will be accused of hypocrisy and it will be suggested that they have turned to God out of weakness.

Of course, we are hypocrites. There is no one of perfect virtue save Jesus himself and his Blessed Mother.