Predominant Faults

"Predominant Faults"--from Fr. Jim Tucker at Dappled Things. Read the rest here! Just the reassurance I needed to hear ;)

I hear a lot of confessions. People will frequently mention their frustration that they find themselves confessing the same things over and over. "I've been working on and praying for patience for 20 years, and I still am an impatient person. What a failure I am in the spiritual life!" There is a certain discouragement, and sometimes a certain surprise, that we commit the same sins over and over again.

This shouldn't be surprising at all. In fact, this is one of the general patterns of moral life in a fallen race. It has to do with what is called one's predominant fault.
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How long will we have to put up with the combination of temptations that fall along our crack lines? Basically, until death. Success in the ascetical aspects of the moral life does not bring freedom from temptations (although it will generally lessen their strength), it enables us to withstand the temptations more surely. The temptations will all be removed once the cracks are perfectly healed, in the resurrection of the just.