Episode 42 -- Spiritual Combat c25.2 -- How the Devil Tries to Rob our Peace

What are some the devils tactics for causing us to lose our peace of soul?

In reading about the importance of peace of soul, we saw that Fr Scupoli listed many trials that come upon human beings:

1. sickness
2. wounds
3. death
4. loss of friends and relatives
5. plagues
6. wars
7. fire
8. etc.

Fr Scupoli is thinking of the more common effects of original sin by giving us this list. He mentions things that have come upon the world through the disobedience of our first parents. God’s grace can enable us to accept these trials as permitted by God.

Fr Scupoli does not mention persecution, physical or emotional or sexual abuse, or various forms of mental illness. I think his advice about how to deal with the trials that he mentions does not apply in the same way to intense traumatic events.

In particular, his discussion gives three reasons why God allows trials,

1. for sinners to do penance,
2. for the just to grow in virtue an, heavenly reward, 
3. and other reasons known to God

He is not saying that these three are at work in every trial. He means that we are sometimes sent trials as a way of returning to God. If we are already close to God, trials can allow us to grow closer. Furthermore, God has many other reasons that he alone knows.

These three reasons need to be supplemented with other discussions and remedies for those who have been through trauma. What Fr Scupoli says will still have some application, but he was not primarily thinking of trials through human cruelty and violence. We can get ourselves in trouble if we think that our suffering such cruelty is our fault.

At the same time, we cannot forget the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection. Our Lord endured human cruelty and terrible persecution. He transformed what people did to him into an act of love and forgiveness. May the Lord open up the mysteries of his grace and love to all of us.

The Lord is the Good Shepherd. He defends us from he devil who wants to cause us to lose our peace of soul. In this episode we will read about some of his tactics.