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St Philip Neri in the 16th century would gather those each day who were desirous of seeking Christian perfection. He would read from a spiritual book and then discourse on the meaning of what was read. This podcast (and the nightly prayer group from which it springs) seeks to carry on St Philip’s method of helping people become holy, even saints, in their own homes.
Episodes
Thursday Jul 15, 2021
Thursday Jul 15, 2021
What should we say to God after we have sinned?
We will look at the final chapter and finish the marvellous little book, A Treatise on Peace of Soul. Fr Scupoli adds to his advice from chapter 14 about responding to our own faults. He gives us some very valuable tips, a spiritual secret, on what to say to God when we fall.
Chapter 14 presents God as our merciful Father. It shows us the filial confidence we need after we sin. Filial comes from the Latin words, filius (son) filia (daughter). We need the confidence of a son or daughter towards their eternal Father. Our sins did not change who He is. He is who He has always been. Let us not focus so much on ourselves after our sins. Yes, prepare for confession, but be not disturbed. We are weak! We are fallen creatures. Without Him, we will fall.
Chapter 15 is about what positive steps we should take after sinning. He gives us a little method of speaking to God. In summary, we say:
God, you have seen what I have done in my weakness.
You have given me the grace to repent!
May I have the grace to never offend you again.
Then he wants us to proceed with our devotions without further pondering over our fall.
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
What is the best way to respond after we have sinned?
It is not unknown for people to love Fr Scupoli solely for chapter 14 of A Treatise on Peace of Soul. Why? He sets before us one of the most helpful and peace-making practices. He shows us what we must do after we sin! The advice he gives is for small sins and big sins, occasional sins and frequent sins, sins of weakness and sins clearly chosen. In summary, he says:
Do not be disquieted and depressed.
Do not waste time sifting all the circumstances of the fault
Be aware of your inherent weakness
Turn to God with great confidence, the confidence of children in their infinitely loving Father.
At the end of chapter 13, Fr Scupoli gives us some steps in responding to temptations and trials, especially in prayer. More or less he gives these pieces of advice.
Consider the emotional dryness in devotions a gift from God.
The soul needs do is to humble itself in the sight of God.
Persevere
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
What is the best way to respond in times of interior trial and desolation?
In the second part of chapter 13 of A Treatise on Peace of Soul, Fr Scupoli instructs us in the proper way to respond when faced with temptations, afflictions, and interior desolation. In all these cases we no longer experience "emotional sweetness in devotion." Why does God allow us to enter into such states? They purify us and make us grow in holiness. Should we be disturbed when God leads us along this path? No. Should we attribute it to the devil? No. Instead, we should do seven simple things that we will discuss in this episode!
Last episode Fr Scupoli discussed the basic benefit that temptations bring to the soul. They take away the sin of presumption. There are two kinds of presumption.
Presumption firstly hopes for what it should not, such as forgiveness without repentance and heaven without good works.
The second kind of presumption leans too much on one"s own power. Such presumption acts as though something is possible to one"s own power that is not possible.
God allows us to be tried and to fall so that we will have excessive trust in our own powers taken away. God uses trials as a heavenly medicine. Through them he transforms us. He makes us humble.
Monday Jul 12, 2021
Monday Jul 12, 2021
What benefits does spiritual dryness actually confer?
In chapter 13 of A Treatise on Peace of Soul, Fr Scupoli discusses the sin of presumption. He shows how dryness in prayer can help us overcome it.
Last episode we saw how spiritual dryness is a sign of spiritual progress. Beginners in the spiritual life do not normally experience it. Those stuck in sin and in love with this world as their ultimate goal do not complain of it. God allows these interior states as precious signs of his love.
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
What reasons can be given for spiritual dryness being a blessing?
In chapter 12 of A Treatise on Peace of Soul, Fr Scupoli urges us to keep our souls at peace when we enter into spiritual dryness. Such an interior state is a sign of spiritual growth!
Last episode we saw how the devil tries to make us lose our peace of soul by persuading us that we are lazy and unfaithful and lukewarm. He especially likes to make us lose our peace of soul by making us feel guilty about our lack of emotional fervour in our prayers. Let us not be deceived. Dryness and distraction is often something God allows. Such interior states are often the sign of God"s closeness. His Light is so bright that it blinds our imagination and intellect and emotions. They feel nothing. But He is with us!
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
What profit can one draw from persevering in prayer despite dryness and distractions?
In chapter 11, Fr Scupoli deals with tactics of the devil. In the second part of the chapter he tells us how to conquer the devil by our fidelity to prayer despite dryness and distraction.
Friday Jul 09, 2021
Friday Jul 09, 2021
At the beginning of chapter 11 we read that the devil is overcome by humility. He sinned through pride and self-assertion. His temptations are defeated by humility, by submitting ourselves to God. The devil likes to make us consider ourselves to be self-sufficient. He likes to make us compare ourselves to others. Let us instead remember what he taught us in chapter 10.
Thursday Jul 08, 2021
Thursday Jul 08, 2021
In the second part of chapter 10 we read that each has his own path to God. We must not get absorbed in the faults of others. Stay at home! Stay within oneself.
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
Wednesday Jul 07, 2021
What should I do when emotional disturbances, disgust, and irritation robs me of peace of soul?
Chapter 10 takes up the issue of emotional trials that threaten our peace of soul. Fr Scupoli does not deny that these afflictions will happen. He does not blame us when they happen. He makes a simple suggestion for how to respond to these special crosses allowed by God for our greater good.
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
Tuesday Jul 06, 2021
In chapter nine of this episode, we see that the main enemy of peace of soul is over reliance on self. St Peter is the great example of this. He promised Our Lord that he would die before denying Him. And yet, that very night, St Peter denied knowing Christ three times. The fundamental problem in the spiritual life is attachment to our own wills, attachment to self. Yes, we need to be detached from the things of this world. We cannot make anything of this world into our ultimate good. But whenever we love something too much, we love it for someone. That someone is ourselves!
Monday Jul 05, 2021
Monday Jul 05, 2021
How does the Eucharist give us help?
Chapter 9 begins with a warning about self-reliance from the example of St Peter. Our true reliance must be on the almighty power of God received in the Eucharist.
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
In this episode we see how much we need to love the Eucharist. We see how we can prepare better for Mass and how to act after receiving the Eucharist.
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
Besides the intellectual pursuit of God, how else do we look for Him?
In this episode we will finish reading chapter 7 of A Treatise on Peace of Soul. Besides the intellectual pursuit of God, we must look for him by meditation, prayer, and reading. But when we find him, when He communicates Himself to us, we must stop and enjoy His presence. We need to look for Him according to His path for us and His plans for us. We must be on guard against creating imaginary obligations that do not actually lead us to God. Only by following the path He gives us individually will we find true peace of soul.
We saw last episode that the soul can and should look for God by an intellectual pursuit. God gave us minds to know the truth. We should seek to know and to understand the highest truths, the truths about God. We honour Him by using the intellectual abilities that He gave us. You will know the truth, Jesus said, and the truth will set you free. Knowing truths about God sets us free from idols that we have created and from false ideas of God we have learned from others and our upbringing. But we search for God to find Him. We are made to enjoy the presence of the Lord!
Friday Jul 02, 2021
Friday Jul 02, 2021
How do we both wait on the Lord and seek the Lord? (continued)
In this episode we will be reading more from chapter 7 of A Treatise on Peace of Soul. Fr Scupoli encourages the practice of using our minds, our intellects, to seek God, to pursue Him. Fr Scupoli gives us three warnings about mistaken ways of thinking about God: using purely human concepts, using comparisons that limit God’s unbounded greatness, and thinking of God as able to be divided. He then encourages us to ponder God’s immensity, unity, and power. Fr Scupoli thinks that we can form a limited, but fruitful notion of God. He gave us minds to know Him with and to ponder his omnipresence and his presence in our souls. Remember: God enjoys dwelling in us. The One we are seeking is already present within! Finally, Fr Scupoli shows us the goal of seeking God. The goal is finding and enjoying Him!
Thursday Jul 01, 2021
Thursday Jul 01, 2021
How do we both wait on the Lord and seek the Lord?
In this episode we read about the need to wait on God to show Himself to us. Before he discusses the use of understanding in searching for God, Fr Scupoli describes and encourages the practice of what can rightly be called contemplative prayer, that is, an infused wanting of God and loving attention to the Lord. We have to make time for Him. We have to “waste time” with him. But we cannot force this mysterious gift of prayer. Let us ask the Lord for it and welcome the loving awareness of His presence that he sends us. The path to finding God, however, is not one of exaggerated human effort. We should not try to make ourselves feel His presence by our own efforts. We should not try to force ourselves to weep. We must seek him in reading and meditation. We must do his will. We must not refuse Him and ask for the grace to follow his will.
One of the things God wants of us is to love our neighbour. Two nights ago, we read all about the need for prudence in guiding our love for our neighbour. We must love our neighbour as ourselves. This means we must have true love for ourselves. You and I, individually, must want to praise God, to enjoy Him in heaven, and to follow His will. If you and I imprudently try to help others when God is not asking this of us, we run the risk of losing our own spiritual lives. Fr Scupoli gives some good advice in this area.
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
How does one combine helping our neighbour and maintaining peace of soul?
We saw in chapter five that heavenly peace requires our desires to be conformed to God’s will. Peace is the fruit of being aligned with God. When we desire things outside of his will, our souls cannot have peace. The question then arises: how zealous should we be for helping our neighbour? Very zealous. We cannot love God and be one with Him without loving those he created and shed his blood for. At the same time, however, helping our neighbour has special challenges. Unless we are guided by prudence, practical wisdom, we will end up hurting our own souls. Chapter six helps us avoid those dangers.
Fr Scupoli does not hide from us what ultimate union with God will demand. He showed us last episode in chapter 5 that our desires are like chains. Our desires can enslave us. These chains will keep us from running after, flying up to, the Lord in freedom. At the end of the chapter, Fr Scupoli says that we have to pray, pray for the Lord to give us wings to fly. We must want what He wants for us and in the manner he wants. Our Lord said, “I did not come to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” But we cannot force our hearts to this conformity to His will. We have to gradually accustom ourselves to preferring His will. One of the best helps is to seek a spiritual father and learn to obey.
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
If we truly desire to become holy and peaceful, what must we do next?
Fr Scupoli reminds us in chapter 5 of A TREATISE on PEACE of SOUL of what we must desire above all else: God. The reason we want to seek this heavenly peace is because we want to be united to God. But we cannot make God show Himself to our souls. We cannot force a greater awareness of his Presence. What can we do?
Wait! Wait with confidence.
Pray for a desire for Him alone.
Learn the value of not pleasing ourselves.
Follow the advice of your spiritual father.
Keep our will free for what God wants.
Desire things in such a way that if we do not get what we desire, we will not be troubled.
Beg the Holy Spirit to give us a desire for holy solitude with God.
Chapter 5 is a most demanding chapter as it sets before us a great ideal, the ideal of a soul burning with desire for God.
We saw last episode that the peace of soul that God wants to give us is something that can grow and deepen. We are on a PATH, Fr Scupoli insists, a path towards heavenly peace. The path has major warning signs. If we keep going down this path, we will encounter neglect from others, contempt, being forsaken. We will be stripped at times of human companionship and will experience affliction. Why? God is leading us mysteriously to converse with Him alone and to depend on His presence. He is leading to the point where His will is what matters most to us. There are pitfalls on this path that we may fall into: indiscreet zeal, secret faults, failures to be humble, temptations to sin. But if only we stay on this path, we will find a "peace that surpasses all understanding" (Philippians 4).
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Is there an even higher, more sublime, peace of soul than I have now obtained?
Fr Scupoli turns in chapter 4 of A TREATISE on PEACE of SOUL to an even higher form of inner peace. He speaks of Heavenly Peace. The Path to this higher peace is a path of enduring affliction in the proper manner. God leads us to this peace by leading us to rely on Him alone.
Last episode we spoke about the need to guard our peace of soul by carefully rejecting whatever tends to depress and disconcert us. We need prudence to know what we can handle and what we cannot. The Lord is building a great masterpiece in our souls. He is building a spiritual mansion for His own indwelling. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is peace.
Sunday Jun 27, 2021
Sunday Jun 27, 2021
Can this peaceful heart be produced all at once?
Having put before us the untold consolations that can be ours if we pay attention to the movements of our hearts, Fr Scupoli turns in chapter 3 of A TREATISE on PEACE of SOUL to those who are impatient to obtain such a peaceful heart. He uses the Scriptural analogy of a building to help us understand the process involved. What is the foundation of this spiritual building? Can we put up a large building in a day? Who is the ultimate Architect of the building that is our spiritual lives? Let us remember St Philip Neri’s advice: “Saints are not made in four days.”
Last episode Fr Scupoli encouraged us not to be afraid of the attention, toil, attacks, and inward chaos we must endure. He proposed that wonderful results await those who strive after a peaceful heart through careful and gentle attention to their feelings. He exhorted us to pray in the most difficult times, if we want to regain serenity of heart. He showed us that living in the world with jobs and business affairs does not rule out having a peaceful heart. As long as we are not too eager to be finished with our duties or in a pointless hurry, we can carry out these tasks with God before our minds. The ultimate secret to serenity of heart is staying close to God and remembering His Holy Presence.
Saturday Jun 26, 2021
Saturday Jun 26, 2021
What kind of care is needed to produce a wonderful tranquility of heart?
In chapter 2 of Treatise on Peace of Soul, Fr Scupoli encourages the following:
- Mild, peaceful, constant attention to the feelings of the heart
- Being ready: much toil is necessary to gain serenity of heart.
- Prayer will be necessary to regain peace, especially in times of great turmoil.
- When at work and very busy, calmly attend to business affairs
- Watch out for too rigid a schedule and too great eagerness to be done.
- Keep before us God’s holy presence.
In this episode we will read about how Fr Scupoli develops these basic pieces of advice for gaining and maintaining serenity of heart.
Last episode, we read the opening chapter of this new little book, Treatise on Peace of Soul. It was one of the favourite books of Dom John Chapman, OSB, one of the great guides in the 20th century on the beginning stages of contemplative prayer. In chapter 1, Fr Scupoli places great emphasis on the importance of the human heart. The human heart, the centre of the human person, is where we decide for or against God, where we love God and are loved by Him. Our first obligation, Fr Scupoli writes, “is to direct the heart to place its affection in proper things, that exterior acts might flow from interior dispositions of the heart.” External practices will not help us grow in the spiritual life unless they flow from a heart that is at peace with God. Fr Scupoli stresses mildness, gentleness in our efforts to quiet our hearts.