Do not let us enter into Temptation

(Jesus compares the Apostles to Judas, without naming him): "But you who are not armored by unfortunate Doctrines and even more unfortunate passions, please pray like this. Pray with humility that God may prevent Temptations. Oh! humility! Knowing yourself for what you are! Without degrading yourself, but knowing yourself. Saying: 'I could give in even if it seems I cannot because I am, to myself, an imperfect judge. Therefore, my Father, deliver me, if possible, from Temptations by holding me so close to You that You do not allow the Evil One to harm me.' For, remember, it is not God who leads to Evil, but it is Evil that tempts. Pray to the Father that He may support your weakness so much that it cannot be induced into Temptation by the Evil One."    

The wording of this sixth petition is the one that has undergone the most modification:

• Latin: Ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem.
• Before 1966: Do not let us succumb to Temptation
• From 1966 to 2017: Do not subject us to Temptation
• Since 2017: Do not let us enter into Temptation

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains why it is difficult to properly render everything contained in the original Greek term:

"[...] Our sins are the Fruits of consenting to Temptation. We ask Our Father not to 'submit' us to it. Translating the Greek term into a single word is difficult: it means 'do not allow us to enter into' (cf. Matthew 26:41), 'do not let us succumb to Temptation.' God does not experience evil, nor does He experience anyone" (James 1:13), He rather wants to free us from it. We ask Him not to allow us to take the path that leads to sin. We are engaged in the struggle 'between the flesh and the Spirit.' This petition pleads for the Spirit of Discernment and strength (CEC § 2846)."        

Confronting the texts of Maria Valtorta with such a subtle concept to define will be a good measure of their theological value and canonical conformity.

Being tempted does not mean consenting to Temptation. Jesus Himself was tempted at the beginning of His public life and at the threshold of His Passion. The Internal Struggle brought Him to the point of sweating blood. "Now such a struggle and victory," the Catechism adds, "are only possible in prayer. It is through His prayer that Jesus is victorious over the Tempter, from the beginning (in the desert) and in the ultimate struggle of His agony (at Gethsemane) (CEC § 2849)."

In Maria Valtorta

Jesus was tempted and prayed to His Father

It is this distinction between Temptation and consent as well as the link between victory over the trial and prayer that Jesus explains to Judas, who will so need to take this teaching into account and does not understand Jesus whom he desires to follow nonetheless.

[...] "All can be tempted. Sinners, only those who want to be." - "You have never sinned, Jesus?" - "I have never consented to sin. And not because I am the Son of the Father, but because I willed this to show man that the Son of Man did not sin because He did not will to sin and that man, if he does not want sin, can avoid committing it."

"You have never been tempted?" - "I am 30 years old, Judas. I have not lived in a cave on a mountain, but among men. Even if I had been in the loneliest place on earth, do you think Temptations would not have come? We carry everything within us: good and evil. We carry everything with us. On the good blows the breath of God and He kindles it like a thurible of pleasant and sacred perfumes. On evil blows Satan and makes it a pyre of fierce flames. But careful will and constant prayer are like wet sand on infernal flames; they smother and triumph over them."

[...] "Here: Temptation bites you like desire, Judas. Satan makes it sharper, more precise, more enticing than any gratification. Moreover, the act brings satisfaction and sometimes disgust, while Temptation does not weaken but like a pruned tree develops more abundant blossoms." - "And you have never given in?" - "I have never yielded." - "How could you?" - "I said: My Father, do not lead me into Temptation" - "How did You, Messiah, You who perform miracles, ask the Father for help?" - "Not only for help: I asked Him not to lead me into Temptation. Do you think that because I am Who I am, I can do without the Father? Oh no! Truly, I tell you that the Father grants everything to the Son, but also the Son receives everything from the Father. And I tell you that everything asked of You in my Name to the Father will be granted (EMV 69.5).

On the gift of the Our Father

The dialogue with Judas from which we just read an excerpt serves, one year later, to comment on the sixth and seventh petitions when Jesus first teaches the Our Father to His Apostles. There are eleven of them, because Judas takes advantage of being in Jerusalem to revisit his toxic relationships. The link between the assault of Temptation and the deliverance from the Evil One is made through prayer, because "it is not God who leads to Evil, but it is Evil that tempts."

"The man (Judas) who did not feel the need to share the Passover supper with us asked me less than a year ago: 'How? You asked not to be tempted and to be helped in Temptation itself?' We were just the two of us, alone... and I answered.

Another time, we were four in a secluded place, and I answered again]. But he was not yet satisfied, because in a complicated mind one must first open a breach by demolishing the perverse fortress of his sufficiency. And, for this reason, I will say it again, ten, a hundred times until all is accomplished.

But you who are not armored by unfortunate Doctrines and even more unfortunate passions, please pray like this. Pray with humility that God prevents Temptations. Oh! humility! Knowing yourself for what you are! Without degrading yourself, but knowing yourself. Saying: 'I could yield even if it seems I cannot because I am, to myself, an imperfect judge. Therefore, my Father, deliver me, if possible, from Temptations by holding me so close to You that You do not allow the Evil One to harm me.' For, remember, it is not God who leads to Evil, but it is Evil that tempts. Pray to the Father that He may support your weakness so much that it cannot be induced into Temptation by the Evil One (EMV 203.12).

The strength to overcome Temptation comes from God

In a dictation of July 7, 1943, two and a half months after the inaugural vision, Jesus comments, for our time, the Our Father. God does not tempt and leaves to our freedom the choice to triumph over Evil by "imploring from the Father the strength to overcome it."

God does not lead you into Temptation. He tempts you with gifts of Good only, and to draw you to Him. Misinterpreting my words, you believe that they mean that God leads you into Temptation to test you. No. The good Father who is in Heaven allows evil, but He does not create it. He is the Good from whom flows every good. But evil exists. It has existed since Lucifer turned Against God. It is up to you to make evil good, by defeating it and imploring from the Father the strength to overcome it. That is what you ask with this last petition, that God may give you enough strength to resist Temptation. Without His help, Temptation would bend you, for it is strong and cunning, and you are limited and weak. But the light of the Father enlightens you, but the power of the Father strengthens you, but the love of the Father protects you, thanks to which evil dies and you are delivered from it.

"Not to enter into Temptation," the Catechism states, implies a decision of the Heart:

"Since the Spirit is our life, let the Spirit also make us act" (Galatians 5:25). In this "consent" to the Holy Spirit, the Father gives us strength. "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13). (CEC § 2848)."

Further reading

• Our Father
• Our Father who art in Heaven
• Hallowed be Thy Name
• Thy Kingdom come
• Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
• Give us this day our daily bread
• Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
• But deliver us from evil

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Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992).