Married, Father, United
Twelfth Annotation.
The twelfth: As he who is receiving the Exercises is to give an hour to each of the five Exercises or Contemplations which will be made every day, he who is giving the Exercises has to warn him carefully to always see that his soul remains content in the consciousness of having been a full hour in the Exercise, and rather more than less.
For the enemy is not a little used to try and make one
of such contemplation,
Tenth Annotation.
The tenth: When he who is giving the Exercises perceives that he who is receiving them is assaulted and tempted under the appearance of good, then it is proper to instruct him about the Rules of the Second Week already mentioned.
For, ordinarily, the enemy of human nature tempts under the appearance of good rather when the person is exercising himself in the Illuminative Life, which corresponds to the Exercises of the Second Week, and not so much in the Purgative Life, which corresponds to those of the First.
The soul has followed Moses and the cloud, both of these serving as guides for those who would advance in virtue; Moses her represents the commandments of the Law; and the cloud that leads the way, its spiritual meaning. 
The soul has been purified by crossing the Sea; it has removed from itself and destroyed the enemy army. 
It has tasted of the waters of Marah, that is, of life deprived of all sinful pleasure; and this at first had seemed bitter and unpleasant to the taste but offered a sensation of sweetness to those who accepted the wood. 
Next it enjoyed the beauty of the palm trees of the gospel and the springs; it filled
itself with the living water, that is, the rock. 
It took within itself the bread of heaven. 
It overwhelmed the foreign host – a victory due to the extended arms of the Lawgiver, which thus foreshadowed the mystery of the Cross. 
Only then can the soul go on to the contemplation of transcendent Being. 
Fortunate is the man who has come to have God as his helper and to have his hopes in Him alone.
Let the Devil bear malice towards him, let all men persecute him and plot against him, let all his adversaries fight against him – he never fears anyone, because his has God as his helper.
He remains always a victor, always glorified, always happy, always rich, always cheerful and joyful, even if he happens to fall into extreme poverty and into a great many adverse and grievous circumstances of this present life.
For inasmuch as he hopes in Almighty God, he does not despair, he is not sorry, is not anxious, but expects help from Above.
Fortunate, then, is such a man and worthy to be deemed happy, just as the Prophet-king David regards such a man as happy, saying: “Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hoe is in the Lord his God.”
Such were all the Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Holy Ascetics and all the Saints from the beginning of time.”
“But Adam did not wish to say, “I sinned,” but said rather the
contrary of this and placed the blame for the transgression upon
God Who created everything “very good,” saying to Him, “The woman
whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I
ate.” And after him she also placed the blame upon the serpent,
and they did not wish at all to repent and, falling down before
the Lord God, beg forgiveness of Him. For this, God banished them
from Paradise, as from a royal palace, to live in this world as
exiles. At that time also He decreed that a flaming sword should
be turned and should guard the entrance into Paradise. And God did
not curse Paradise, since it was the image of the future unending
life of the eternal Kingdom of Heaven. If it were not for this
reason, it would have been fitting to curse it most of all, since
within it was performed the transgression of Adam. But God did not
do this, but cursed only the whole rest of the earth, which also
was corrupt and brought forth everything by itself; and this was
in order that Adam might not have any longer a life free from
exhausting labors and sweat…”
For now is the time to labor for the Lord,
for salvation is found in the day of affliction:
for it is written: ‘In your patience gain ye your souls’ (Luke 21:19)
The evil one cannot comprehend the joy we receive from the spiritual life; for this reason he is jealous of us, he envies us and sets traps for us, and we become grieved and fall.
We must struggle, because without struggles we do not obtain virtues.
When you pray to God in time of temptation do not say, 
‘Take this or that away from me’, 
but pray like this: 
‘O Jesus Christ, sovereign Master, help me and do not let me sin against Thee. . .’ 
Why do you beat the air and run in vain? 
Every occupation has a purpose, obviously. 
Tell me then, what is the purpose of all the activity of the world?
Answer, I challenge you!
It is vanity of vanity: all is vanity. 
It is by warfare that the soul makes progress.
David Given Schwarm 