Lectio et Oratio

Episode 8 -- Spiritual Combat c4 -- How to determine if we have confidence in God

How do I know if I actually trust in God?

Having introduced us to the first two spiritual weapons, Lorenzo Scupoli thinks that it is very important that we begin with the first weapon, distrust of self, rather than the second, trust in God.

Why?

Human beings are too presumptuous; that is, we are too overconfident, assuming more about our abilities than we should. We assume, presume, that we can do things that we cannot. Unless we start with distrust of self, we end up thinking that we trust God more than we do.

How do I actually become confident in God?

If we want to have confidence in God, there are four means to obtain it.

1. Ask for confidence humbly.

2. Contemplate (lovingly ponder) God’s power and goodness as shown in the sufferings and teachings of Christ.

3. Recall all the examples in Scripture of those who trusted in God and came out victorious.

   1. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Joshiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Peter, Paul, St Joseph

   2. Ruth, Hannah, Esther, Judith, Mary

4. At the beginning of every action, remind oneself of both our own weakness and God’s almighty power.

In this episode, we look at a method for determining whether we trust ourselves or trust in God.

Episode 7 -- Spiritual Combat c3.2 -- The Means to Confidence in God

How can I obtain greater confidence in God?

In our last episode we read about confidence in God.

• Confidence is trust in God.
• Confidence is part of the virtue of Hope.
• We trust that God will give us the means to union with Himself. We must be confident that he wants to help us.
• We distrust our own strength, but not His.

How do we obtain confidence in God? Scupoli gives us four means. In our last episode, we read about the first two.

1. Beg God for this confidence!
2. Meditate on God’s almighty power -- nothing is too hard for Him. Meditate on his infinite goodness and mercy as shown in the sufferings and love of Christ Jesus and in the parables of Christ. Our Lord is the good shepherd who is looking for his lost sheep!

St Philip Neri knew how to combine distrust of self with trust in God. Beware of St Philip! One day he wanted to burst the bubble of two young Dominicans who lacked distrust of self.

And one day, meeting two Dominicans, he passed between them, saying, “Let me pass, I am without hope,” meaning that he had no confidence in himself or in anything he had done. The good fathers, understanding the words in their ordinary sense, stopped him and began to console him, and to ask him a multitude of questions; at last he smiled and said, “I am past all hope of myself, but I trust in God.”

Episode 6 -- Spiritual Combat c3.1 -- Confidence in God

Why is confidence in God the second weapon in the spiritual battle?

In the last episode, we finished reading Chapter 2, on Distrust of Self.

We have seen that this distrust is distrust of the self that relies on its own strength. We can call it the false self, the self that thinks its own strength is all it needs.

What is the foundation of distrust of self?

1. Self-knowledge of our own weakness and tendency to all evil, left to ourselves.
2. Humility of heart -- desire for oneself what is proper to oneself, that is, to lower ourselves before God and others.

Are there any saints who practiced such distrust of self as a foundation for their spiritual life?

St Philip shows us a great example of distrust of self. Here are some quotations from him.

• Every day St Philip used to make a protest to God with the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, saying, “Lord! beware of me to-day, lest I should betray You, and do You all the mischief in the world.”
• At other times he would say, “The Wound in Christ’s Side is large, but if God did not guard me I should make it larger;”
• When Philip was just going to receive Holy Communion, he would say, “Lord, I protest before Thee that I am good for nothing but to do evil.”
• He used to say that his only preparation for mass was to present himself to God as one who was ready, so far as he was concerned, to be guilty of any and every evil, if God did not assist him.

Why does God send us trials and even allow us to fall into terrible sins?

Scupoli says that this is God’s way of giving us distrust of self. God prefers the proper means.

What are the proper means that we can practice for obtaining this great weapon?

1) meditating on our weakness,

2) begging Christ on the Cross for this gift,

3) getting used to accepting our weakness in the face of temptations from ourselves and demons,

4) humbling ourselves after we fall.

Episode 5 -- Spiritual Combat c2.2 -- Distrust of Self

What are the four means to obtaining distrust of self?

In our last episode, we began reading about distrust of self. What does Fr Scupoli mean by this? He does not mean self-doubt or thinking oneself always in the wrong.

DISTRUST of Self = distrusting one’s own strength apart from God

• On my own strength, can I take one step towards heaven? No.
• On my own strength, can I overcome strong temptations? No.
• On my own strength, can I merit eternal life? No.

Why are we distrustful of “our own strength” apart from God’s help?

1. We are fallen human beings with a tendency to sin and an indifference to good. We are very weak in doing good.
2. We have a supernatural and divine calling for which we need grace.

What is the proper means to obtaining distrust of self? We will talk about those in this episode. But remember. Distrust of one’s own strength is a gift from God. We have to ask God for it. We have to pray.

Episode 4 -- Spiritual Combat c2.1 -- Distrust of Self

Really? What does it mean to distrust oneself?

In chapter 1 of The Spiritual Combat, Lorenzo Scupoli explains what Christian perfection is and is not. It is not a matter of external practices considered in themselves. On their own, such practices can lead to great pride and spiritual blindness.

Spiritual perfection consists in:

1. Knowing the infinite greatness and goodness of God and having a true sense of our own weakness and tendency to evil.
2. Loving God and hating ourselves (the selfish part — Romans 7)
3. Humbling ourselves not only before God, but also for His sake, before all men
4. Renouncing our own will entirely in order to follow His will.
5. Doing all for the glory of God.

Who puts these desires in our hearts? The Holy Spirit.

Who encourages us to walk this path of self-denial? Christ Jesus, the Son of God, in the Gospel. “If you want to be my disciple, pick up your cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Who is the one who rewards us? God the Father

Who is our main enemy? Ourselves, our passions (impulses for things that are not good), our uncontrolled desires.

What is your main passion? What do you desire as you should not? Human admiration? Food? Sex? Getting back at others? Seeing others suffer? Rest and peace? Money and things? We have a passion for these things and then other actions follow to obtain them!

What are our weapons in this spiritual combat?

1. Distrust of self
2. Confidence in God
3. Proper use of our intellect, will, imagination
4. Prayer

Episode 3 -- Spiritual Combat c1.3 -- Four Weapons in Spiritual Combat

What are the weapons I must use along this true path of perfection?

200 years ago, in 1821, the daughter of a loyalist doctor, a wife and mother of many children, the famous convert, the foundress of parochial Catholic schools in the United States, St Elizabeth Ann Seton died. After her husband’s death and her conversion to Catholicism, her educational work with the poor developed into a religious order of sisters.

At their meals, the sisters would have reading. One of the early books this new order read together in the refectory was The Spiritual Combat.

In our last episode, we read about God’s plan of goodness for making us holy, a plan that includes crosses and trials as the true path to holiness. Our Father wants us to be like His Son. But we, on our own, are so full of self-love, pride, and vanity. We prefer ourselves to others (bad self-love); we want more than we should for ourselves (pride); we love to make a display of self to win admiration (vanity). Come, Holy Spirit.

In this episode, we will aim to finish reading the famous chapter 1 and its conclusion about the four weapons in the spiritual battle against our fallen human nature, the world, and the devil. Courage!

Episode 2 -- Spiritual Combat c1.2 -- What is the True Path to Perfection

What is the true path to Christian perfection?

What did we cover in our last episode? The first third of chapter 1. In this episode, we will continue discussing the true path of Christian perfection. True perfection does not consist in external practices themselves. But how do we know if we are on the right path?

Episode 1 -- Spiritual Combat c1.1 -- What Christian perfection is not and is

How does one reach the summit of Christian perfection?

We will begin reading chapter 1 of The Spiritual Combat, a major influence of St Francis de Sales. The beginning of this book is very powerful and memorable. In this episode, we will read about Fr. Scupoli's discussion of the true nature of spiritual perfection.

The Spiritual Combat focuses on the 4 spiritual weapons that we will need to be holy: distrust of self, trust in God, spiritual exercises, and prayer. The Spiritual Combat cannot be unread, after it is read. It leaves its mark.

Join us, if you are interested in being challenged and encouraged to live not only a devout life, but a life that aims at perfection in divine love.