There is certainly a problem today with much of the world not caring about God. Satan’s first temptation to the human race is to convince them to satisfy their own base pleasures and focusing on their own personal gain over loving God. Consequently, a relationship with God is something that they give little attention to. But there are many others who have responded to the call of God, and with His help have risen above their base desires to a new way of life. Satan’s previous temptations of personal gain and base pleasures become less effective, so for some, he uses another temptation that is the opposite extreme to the one previously used.
This is the temptation of scrupulosity. Satan will take a person’s new found zeal for virtue and try to weaponize it against them. He will try to convince the person that now that they are trying to do good, they are never doing enough of those good things. The person can fall into the trap of constantly comparing their neutral or good actions that they are doing to ‘holier’ actions that they could have been doing instead. In their failure to do the ‘holiest’ action, the person feels like they are a failure, and that it is sinful that they have not achieved the heights of sanctity.
St. Therese of Lisieux once battled scrupulous temptations, and her solution can give all who are struggling a blueprint out of anxiety into relief. As a nun, she was given the name of a seminarian to pray for by her superior. She took on the task eagerly, desiring to show as much love, prayer, and sacrifice for him as possible. She devoted her whole day to his intercession. But then she was given a second seminarian, and she despaired. She had already given everything for the first seminarian. How could she give up half the time that she was giving him to intercede for this new seminarian? In this dilemma, she turned to prayer and she received her answer one day after the reception of Holy Communion. Jesus told her to let her heart and soul be taken captive by Him, and He would take care of all the souls dear to her heart. Her answer was to love Jesus deeply, and He will make up for what she lacks. She just needed to trust Him.
While scrupulosity is a less common problem, it is one that has plagued many throughout history and will continue to do so. It is possible that much of the Protestant Reformation originated from Martin Luther’s scrupulous temptations, so it must be addressed. In St. Therese’s dilemma (and in the example of many saints), we have the key to breaking through the temptation of all scrupulous thoughts. We must love Jesus and trust in Him, rather than relying on our own merits. When we are weak, He will be strong, and our love for Him will bear much fruit not only in our own lives, but in the lives of the ones we love.