Then Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted of the devil, so that by humbly tolerating the enemy's attack, He might make us humble, and by overcoming him, He might make us strong. He firmly embraced a hard and solitary life in order to prompt the faithful to embrace perfection courageously, and to strengthen them in preparation for the bearing of heavy burdens to the end.
So now, disciple of Christ, penetrate with your good master the secrets of solitude. Once you have become, as it were, a companion of the wild beasts, imitate and share the mysterious struggle with a cunning enemy, and learn to have recourse to Christ in the critical moments of temptation: for we have not a high priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but One tried as we are in all things, except sin.
Bonaventure, The Tree of Life, I.10
[Bonaventure, The Works of Bonaventure I: Mystical Opuscula, José de Vinck, tr., Martino Publishing (Mansfield Centre, CT: 2016), p. 110.]
