The spiritual life is not a short race but a long journey, a lifelong struggle that Lorenzo Scupoli calls “The Spiritual Combat.” Our fight against sinful habits and selfish desires does not end until we die.

Scupoli teaches that our passions are like weeds that keep growing back. They never completely disappear in this life. Therefore, a Christian must always be watchful and ready to fight. There is no middle ground: either we fight or we are taken captive by sin.

St. Robert Bellarmine says, “He who wants to die well must live well.” The small victories we gain every day — over impatience, pride, or selfishness — prepare us for the final battle at death. The habits of prayer, humility, and self-control become our armour in that last hour.

As a person approaches death, the enemy often attacks in four main ways: doubts about faith, despair, pride, and spiritual deception. These are common traps to try to steal the soul at the end.

The enemy may try to make the dying person doubt the Catholic faith. Scupoli advises not to argue with these doubts but simply to say, “I believe what the Holy Catholic Church believes.”

St. Therese of Lisieux experienced strong temptation against faith near the end of her life. She felt deep darkness, but she did not give up. Instead, she kept making acts of faith and trust in God.

Another temptation is despair — feeling that one’s sins are too great to be forgiven. Scupoli gives a helpful rule: if remembering your sins makes you humble and trust God more, it comes from God; if it makes you anxious and hopeless, it comes from the devil.

The saints teach us to trust in God’s mercy. Even at the last moment, we should be like the Good Thief, St. Dismas, who turned to Jesus with complete trust.

Jesus told St. Faustina, “I perform works of mercy in every soul. The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy” (Diary, 723). The saint loved to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for the dying.

The third temptation is pride. As death approaches, the enemy may remind the soul of its good works, prayers, and sacrifices. He tries to make the person think, “I have done enough. I deserve heaven.”

This is dangerous because it shifts trust from God’s mercy to one’s own merits. Scupoli teaches that the soul must answer with humility, remembering that everything good comes from God. Even the holiest person must rely completely on Jesus, not on personal achievements.

The fourth temptation is spiritual deception. The enemy can appear as an angel of light and show impressive or comforting visions to mislead the soul. These experiences may seem holy, but they can draw the soul away from humility and obedience.

Scupoli advises that the soul should not seek visions or supernatural signs. Instead, it should say, “I do not need visions. I only need the mercy of Jesus.” The safest path is simple faith, trust in God, and submission to the Church.

St. Anthony of the Desert practised this wisdom. When strange visions appeared, he made the Sign of the Cross and ignored them, choosing humility over curiosity.

Scupoli urges us to prepare now so that the final battle will be easier. Death is the most important battle because we can fight it only once, and it determines our eternal destiny.

Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD, wrote, “Although death is the last, it is not the only coming of the Lord in the life of a Christian; it is preceded by many other comings whose special purpose is to prepare us for the last. Death will then be for us in the fullest sense a coming of grace.”

He points out that from baptism until death, the Lord continually comes to our soul. Every sacrament, every holy inspiration, and every growth in grace is a visit from God, by which he lives in us more deeply and completely. A person who has always opened his heart to these divine visits, who has welcomed them with love and obedience, and who has followed God’s grace faithfully has no reason to fear his final coming.

The key to a holy death is submission to the will of God. Father Gabriel wrote, “God is the absolute master of our life; as we should live for love of Him, striving to conform in everything to his holy will so that it becomes in everything and for everything the supreme norm of all our actions, so should we know how to die for love of Him, and accept death from his hand at the hour and under the circumstances ordained by Him.”

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death!”


人生最後的戰鬥：準備聖善的臨終

靈修生活不是一場短跑，而是一段漫長的旅程。 這是一生的奮鬥，斯庫波里神父（Lorenzo Scupoli）稱之為「神修戰鬥」。我們與惡習和私慾的鬥爭，直到死亡那一刻才會結束。

斯庫波里神父教導，我們的私慾偏情如同野草，會不斷重新長出；在今生永不會完全消失。因此，基督徒必須時刻警醒、準備戰鬥。沒有中間地帶：不是奮戰，就是被罪俘虜。

聖羅伯白敏（St. Robert Bellarmine）說：「想要善終的人，必須善度此生。」每天對抗急躁、驕傲、自私上的小小勝利，正是為臨終最後一戰作準備。祈禱、謙遜、自制的習慣，便是那最後時刻的盔甲。

臨終時，魔鬼常以四種主要方式攻擊：搖惑人的信德、誘感人絕望、誘感人驕傲、以幻象誘感臨終者。這是在最後階段去撂取靈瑰的陷阱。

魔鬼可能使臨終者懷疑天主教信仰。斯庫波里神父建議不要與這些懷疑爭辯，只需簡單地說：「我相信天主教會所相信的一切。」

聖女小德蘭（St. Thérèse of Lisieux）在臨終前也經歷強烈的信德黑暗，但她不放棄，反而不斷作信德與信賴的行為。

另一誘惑是，使人覺得自己的罪太大，不能被寬恕。斯庫波里神父給了一條辨別原則：若回想自己的罪使人更謙卑、更信賴天主，這來自天主；若使人焦慮、失望，則來自魔鬼。

聖人教導我們信賴天主的仁慈。即使在最後一刻，也要像善盜(右盜)聖狄司馬（St. Dismas）一樣，全心投靠耶穌。

耶穌對聖女傅天娜說：「我在每一個靈魂內進行慈悲的工程。罪過越大的人，越有權利獲得我的慈悲。」（「日記」723）聖女特別喜愛為臨終者誦念慈悲串經。

第三項誘惑是驕傲：臨終時，魔鬼可能提醒人過去的善行、祈禱、犧牲，使人想：「我做得夠好了，我值得上天堂。」

這是十分危險的，因為把信賴從天主的仁慈轉向自己的功勞。斯庫波里神父教導：靈魂必須以謙遜回應，記得一切美善都來自天主；即使最聖善的人，也完全依靠耶穌，而非自己的成就。

第四項是以幻象誘惑臨終者，魔鬼能假裝成光明的天使，顯示令人印象深刻或安慰的幻象，藉此誤導靈魂。這經驗似是神聖的，但把靈魂帶離謙遜和服從。

斯庫波里神父建議：不要尋求異象或超自然徵兆，而應說：「我不需要異象，我只需要耶穌的仁慈。」最安全的途徑是簡單的信德，相信天主，對教會的順從。

沙漠的聖安多尼隱修士（St. Anthony of the Desert）遇到奇怪的異象時，只是劃十字聖號並不理會，以謙遜勝過好奇。

斯庫波里神父勸勉我們現在就要準備，使最後的戰鬥更容易。死亡是最重要的一戰，因為我們只能打一遍，而決定我們的永恆命運。

加俾額爾神父（Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.）寫道：「雖然死亡是主在基督徒生命中最後的一次來臨，但並非祂唯一的來臨；在此之前，主以無數方式臨於我們，特別為了預備我們迎接最後的時刻。如此，死亡便能在最圓滿的意義上，成為主恩寵的來臨。」

他指出，從領洗到死亡，主不斷臨於我們。每一件聖事、每一次聖善的感動、每一次恩寵的成長，都是天主的來訪。以此，祂更深入地，完善地活在我們內。凡是常常敞開心門、以愛與服從迎接祂的人，便無需害怕祂最後的來臨。

聖善臨終的關鍵在於順從天主的旨意。加俾額爾神父寫道：「天主是我們生命的絕對主宰；既然我們應當為愛祂而生活，努力在一切事上與祂的至聖旨意相契合，使祂的旨意在一切事上、為一切事成為我們行動的最高準則；同樣，我們也應當懂得為愛祂而死，並在祂所指定的時刻與境遇中，從祂的手中甘願接受死亡。」

「天主聖母瑪利亞，求妳現在和我們臨終時為我們罪人祈求天主。」

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