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St. Teresa of Avila was one of the most remarkable writers on the spiritual life. She and St. John of the Cross were contemporaries in Spain, enjoyed a holy and deep spiritual friendship, dedicated themselves to the reform of religious life, suffered great crosses, and are both now numbered among the doctors of the Church.

This poem is one of many written by St. Theresa, and profiles the perfection of the spiritual life, which is found in charity.

CCC: Anything from Part IV, the section on prayer (the whole last quarter of the Catechism); or just the introductory material for this part would suffice 2558-2565.

Today “spirituality” abounds. When we go into even the big book stores most popular today, we find huge sections dedicated to “spirituality,” often under the very inappropriately named section of “metaphysics.”[2]

There is a huge proliferation of Eastern and Asian philosophies and quasi-religions among the teachings of Catholic spiritual writers. And there are heterodox writings that cause much confusion, error and distress.

Spirituality in our day has become often ambiguous, dualistic, “up in the clouds,” not practical, not real, private, psychologized or sociologized.

Indeed, spirituality does deal with the interiority of man, and some of these questions arise touching on all these questions. Spirituality discusses the transcendent side of the human person, his religious nature, indeed, his whole Catholic life.

Spirituality is the concrete living of the principles of the Catholic life, according to the particular call a person has received as an individual or as part of a group, such as a family, a parish or a religious order. Spirituality determines much about a person’s particular manner of prayer.[3]

Spirituality must always stay linked to Church dogma. “There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of the faith.”[4]

We have just crossed the half way mark with the introductory units. There are ten, each one dealing with the basic principles of Catholic Theology in one sector as another, such as scripture, sacraments or morality.

This unit deals with matter analogous to moral theology, but instead of considering as our object the moral quality of a human act, our object is now the life of the Christian, and how the experience of this life normally unfolds, the goals to which it tends, and the means to achieve these goals.

Being an introductory unit, and looking at the outline of the Deposit of Faith Series ) (DOFS), the gentle reader may wonder why in this sector there are no other units, as there are, for example, many units listed under the introduction to Sacred Scripture.

Specializing units would be of great interest, but they deal with matters that the author has decided for practical reasons not to include. For example, a unit on Angelology would be in order, together with one on Demonology. An entire unit could be dedicated to the extraordinary phenomena of the spiritual life. But as the DOFS’s purpose is to be an introduction into the Magisterial and Traditional teachings with an eye to the student’s complimentary Scripture Study Group activities, these specialties will not be included.

Capital sins (deadly sins). The general categories of sins under which all sins can be classified, according to their objects. They are: pride, avarice (greed), lust, laziness (sloth), gluttony, anger and envy.[5]

Charity. The Theological Virtue (cf.) by which one loves God above all things and one’s neighbor as himself out of love for God. Spiritual progress and perfection consists in charity. It is distinguished from love since its origin is divine, its object is divine, and its practice is done only by grace. It is completely lost by mortal sin. Possessing charity a requisite for entering heaven.

Concupiscence. Human appetites or desires which remain disordered due to the temporal consequences of original sin, which remain even after Baptism, and which produce an inclination to sin.

Dogma. A proposition promulgated by the Church’s Magisterium “in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith,” of “truths contained in divine Revelation,” or “truths having a necessary connection with these.”[6]

Grace. “Grace is a participation in the life of God.”[7] “Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call.”[8] Its divisions will be dealt with in the unit on Christian Anthropology (unit 7.1 of the DOFS).

Spirituality. Spirituality is the concrete living of the principles of the Catholic life, according to the particular call a person has received as an individual or as part of a group.

Theological virtue. The virtues which are infused by God, which have him as their object, and which are faith, hope and charity.

The spiritual life can be defined a number of ways. But in every definition, the same goal is always true: the glorification of God in his creatures. This is the reason why the saints recommend frequent meditation upon God as creator and upon all creatures, including all human beings and even oneself, as having been made by God.

In the spiritual life, the Trinity dwells within us, making us more like the Trinity. We are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, who is the one mediator of salvation, and this happens necessarily through Mary, the mediatrix of all graces.[9] The spiritual life can only happen in and through a rich life of unity with the Catholic Church, the mystical body of Christ.

A simple summary of the principles of the spiritual life can be found here: the life of grace, the cultivation of the Theological Virtues (cf.), and the cultivation of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The fundamental means of the life of grace are the sacraments, but there are other ways to cultivate grace, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving,[10] and acts that are related to these.

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange states, “A saint who has little learning in theological matters but who has a very great love of God, is certainly more perfect than a theologian who has a lesser charity.”[11] This “perfection,” of course, is not some ideal impeccability and purity; however, it is in some sense, that it tends to that. This perfection is found in the intensity of love. This means that a repentant sinner struggling to live grace is more perfect than someone who has not sinned but feels no temptations; this is so because his love is greater.

Spiritual perfection is the goal, therefore, and it consists in supernatural charity. Something is perfect when it attains its end. The soul that loves God attains truly the possession of him. St. John writes, “He that abides in charity abides in God, and God in him.”[12] “Therefore the perfection of the Christian Life consists chiefly in charity.”[13]

Love is a reciprocal reality, even the divine love of charity. “Amicus amico amicus,” “a friend is a friend of a friend,”[14] as Boethius writes and as St. Thomas repeats in his Summa when discussing charity. God’s part, of course, is always there. Spiritual perfection simply requires our reciprocal love.

It would be worth reviewing what we studied in the previous unit, the introduction to moral theology, to distinguish between the affectionate love of the senses, which even some animals enjoy, from the truly human love of freedom which springs from the will.

1. What holds people back from deciding to truly pursue spiritual perfection? Why? And what are we to think of these reasons?

2. What kinds of mistakes can Catholics make in establishing their goal when they set out to progress in the spiritual life?

Many authors divide the spiritual life into three different stages, an approach which is in fact quite ancient, and each stage has its own characteristics. These three stages are often called the purgative way, the illuminative way, and the unitive way. Each stage can last how ever long God and the individual will it. Yet in some sense, all three ways intertwine and accompany the Christian from beginning to end, as dimensions of the spiritual life more than stages. Yet some aspects of the various dimensions stand out in a special way at different stages of our lives.

Beginning, Purgative way. All of us begin here. It is necessary for us to be purified from our sins and attachments. This is why the first words of Christ are, “Repent, and believe the Gospel.”[15] The focus of this moment in the spiritual life is the mortification of the deeds of sin, the struggle against the capital sins, against temptations and against scruples. It culminates with the dark night of the senses.[16]

Some say that meditation is the proper prayer for this stage, which is the prayer that is discursive, that considers and reflects, that reasons and compares. Meditation is not necessarily abandoned, but perfected, in the later stages.

Proficient, or Illuminative way. After an initial purification, the soul is set off upon a remarkable and brilliant informing of the soul according to the wisdom of God. This is a stage, or again a “dimension,” of discovery of the truths of the spiritual life, of eager spiritual reading, of an insatiable thirst to learn more. The very things one learns fills him or her with great enthusiasm and eagerness.

Just as it is a time to receive light, it is a time to give light. Therefore this stage is characterized by a steady growth in the virtues. If the virtues begin to be acquired in the purgative stage, they now grow and mature, as a strong and healthy tree, bearing fruit for others by the example of one’s life and the wisdom of one’s words. If one ripped out the weeds in the first stage, now he is planting seeds in their stead.

The previous stage attacked mortal sins, now the follower of Christ attacks venial sin with energy and good results. Yet there is an interior purification that happens, even more painful – yet more joyful – which is the purification of the soul, or the dark night of the soul, where even the pleasure of spiritual goods is deprived the soul, so the soul can learn to love looking for nothing in return.

The proper prayer of this stage is the affective prayer, where devout affections predominate,[17] and the much thinking gives way to much loving. Not that thinking necessarily stops, but love abounds. It may be that the rigorous “thinking” of the mind gives way to contemplative prayer, where one sees what is seen, hears what is said (for example, in considering a Gospel passage) as if he were there. Both meditative and contemplative prayer can be done by our efforts helped with grace, or be infused by God in his great mercy.

Perfect, or the Unitive way. “‘The unitive way,’ says [Pope] Benedict XIV, ‘includes those who are in the state of perfection, who have their minds so drawn away from temporal things that they enjoy great peace, and are neither agitated by various desires nor moved by any great extent of passion, but have their minds chiefly fixed on God, and their attention turned either always or very frequently on him.”[18]

These souls live supremely in union with God, as St. Paul says, “I live not I, but Christ lives in me.”[19] They delight in contemplating God, in prayer of supreme interior silence and peace, a sort of lingering, persistent thought of God. They are attentive to the presence of God. Life becomes a persistent prayer.

Except on the very rare occasion of weakness, the spiritual purification focuses not so much on mortal or venial sins – perhaps these – but on defects.

1. Have you seen traces of any or all of these three ways or dimensions of the spiritual life in your own heart?

2. How can this doctrine, of the three ways, help motivate one to carry one’s cross? How and why?

There are three enemies of the spiritual life: the devil, the flesh and the world. And there are two purifications, one active and the other passive.

The Devil. The devil is a fallen angel, who sinned against God in a supreme and definitive rejection.[20] He brought many angels down into hell with him.

The devil interacts with us in one of these ways: temptation, oppression, obsession and possession. By temptation he attempts to attract us to commit sin. By oppression he fills the soul with doubt, despair, hatred and every foul interior movement. By obsession he assails one from without, by physical violence, horrifying locutions, making himself visible, causing bodily pain, and the like. By possession he controls one or more of the faculties of a human being.

He should be resisted with zeal. Don’t argue with the devil: even though his intellect is darkened by sin, he still possesses an angelic intellect, and can outreason the best of us. Occasionally the authority of the Church is required to free one from attacks of the devil, and this happens chiefly through the sacrament of confession, through exorcisms and prayers of deliverance from those appointed by ecclesial authority.

The flesh. These are the passions that lead us to sin. In this context, the word “passion” is used in various ways. Sometimes “passions” refer to those sensitive, interior inclinations to movement as discussed in our previous unit on moral theology (cf.). Sometimes “passions” refer to the seven capital sins. Other times “passions” refer to one of the two chief tendencies of all sin, pride or sensuality.

The inclinations of the flesh lead us to either relentlessly pursue pleasures of the flesh or flee with horror from all suffering, be it of the body or of the soul. “Flesh” in this context, of course, does not refer to the material or bodily side of the human person as apposed to their spirit, but to the fallen side of the human person, which is called concupiscence and is an effect of original sin.

The world. The world leads us to sin by its false principles especially those that deal with happiness, by ridiculing and persecuting the faithful, by the pleasures and diversions of spectacles, television, comedy, promiscuity in social situations (parties, beaches), evil conversations and so forth, and by the scandals and bad example of others. The Christian must repulse this temptation by a robust faith, by meditating upon the vanity of the world and all that is in it, and by battling human respect.

The active purification. Active purification is that which we bring upon ourselves with our own will. We need to purify our senses – both internal and external – our passions and our superior faculties.

We purify our senses actively by mortification, by custody of the eyes, by care of what we hear, and other such means. We actively purify our interior senses by taking care of what we see and read, by rejecting idleness, by dedicating the memory to divine things instead of relishing past sins, rejecting useless curiosity by dedicating ourselves to our duty, by the memory of God’s gifts, and so forth.

We purify our passions by educating them so that they continually move toward what is truly good, and my mortifying them fearlessly when they move toward what is evil.

We purify our intellect by disciplining ourselves to think logically, by reflecting upon our principles of life, by educating our intellect when it is in ignorance, by dedicating all our time not to useless thoughts but to useful ones, and by both avoiding rash judgments and formulating judgments when we have the sufficient knowledge to do so. The will is purified by rectitude in love, responsibility in our decisions, detachment from worldly goods. The will is always purified when we apply it to deny ourselves in any other faculty.

The passive purification. God is the agent of our purification, and we are on the receiving end. Full purification cannot happen without this act of God; for indeed, no one can attain any height in the supernatural life without God’s action. These purifications have taken on the name “dark night,” after the priceless inspiration given to St. John of the Cross.

There is the night of the senses. It consists in a series of prolonged aridity, dryness and darkness imposed upon all the senses, interior and exterior. It happens when God pours out his gift of infused contemplation when one is not prepared for it or has never experienced it. It seems like one can’t make a single step forward; it’s true, because God is taking one many titanic steps forward, and one can’t relish the enjoyment of making progress on one’s own. The proper response is to subject oneself to the will of God, to persevere in prayer and good deeds even though one’s feelings are all the opposite.

There is the night of the soul. It consists in a series of extremely painful purifications which no longer burn off the defects of the soul, but which pull out our imperfections at their very roots. It’s not essentially different from the night of the senses, but the difference is a vastly superior degree. The soul perceives in a profound way the irreconcilable chasm separating him as creature from God the perfect and loving creator. It is an experience that borders on despair; yet the soul adheres to God by raw faith. It is a horrible purification, and involves every aspect of a person’s existence. It is caused by yet a deeper gift of infused contemplation. It perfects faith, hope and charity, empties the soul of all love of self, and brings the most exalted spiritual blessings, which few eyes have seen and few eyes have heard.

1. Why does the world so readily silence the Church’s teaching about the Devil? Yet why does the media enjoy incorporating elements of the occultism, Satan and hell into so much cinema in our day?

2. What kind of obstacles can we create to hold the passive purification at bay?

The positive aspects deal with the development of the Christian life more than the removal of those things that separate us from God. They need to be in place and working simultaneously with the negative aspects, otherwise a person would simply be living a hell on earth. The Father has not destined us to such sadness, even in this valley of tears.

These aspects are principally these: the sacraments, the theological virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the prayer life. Secondary aspects will be listed in the next section.

Sacraments. These augment the gift of grace with total certainty, from the act of the celebration itself. The effect of the grace can be reduced by the state of soul of the celebrant, but not completely removed; or by the state of soul of the recipient, and in this case the effect can be completely impeded by only one thing, unrepentant mortal sin. To receive any sacrament in unrepentant mortal sin incurs yet a deeper sin of sacrilege. The sacraments conform us to Christ the priest, who gave them to us; and He himself is, in the Holy Eucharist, the source and goal of all of the other six sacraments. They are external signs instituted by the Lord which convey the grace they signify.

Theological virtues. (cf. Definitions above) There are three, faith, hope and charity. The unite us intimately to God, who is Truth, Happiness and Supreme Good. These are the only virtues that refer immediately to God, all the others refer to something different from him. God can infuse all the virtues in the human person; these virtues are not had unless God infuses them. By mortal sin we loose all our hope and all our love, but not our faith.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are supernatural habits infused by the Holy Spirit. They help the soul receive the motions of the Holy Spirit with ease. The Holy Spirit moves us, and we respond with ease and docility. There are seven[21]: four perfect the intellect (understanding, wisdom, knowledge and counsel) and three perfect the will (piety, fortitude, fear of the Lord). They differ from the virtues. Even the infused virtues have this in common with the gifts: that they come from God, but the gifts dispose us to act with superhuman availability to the inspirations of God. Therefore they are necessary for the spiritual life.

Prayer. The entire last quarter of the Catechism of the Catholic Church deals with prayer.[22] More than a “fourth pillar” attached to the previous three, this is an act that must accompany all forms of growth in the spiritual life. Much of sacred scripture is prayer, for example, the entire book of Psalms, many of the canticles, plus much more. It is easier to practice than to describe in theological theory. But there are teachings regarding prayer which the Church wisely offers in the CCC, most likely due to the great crisis in prayer the world is suffering from.

The Old Testament offers us great material for prayer, which was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God and Son of Mary. All the prayers of the Old Testament find their fulfillment and answer in him.

There are many types of prayer: blessing, adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, praise, examination, meditation and contemplation, private and liturgical to name a few; not all of these are mutually exclusive.

The saints furthermore are powerful and wise guides in prayer, for the vocal prayers they have passed on to us, but also for their doctrine about prayer; Ss. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross are outstanding examples, as are the hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Prayer is not easy. It has many enemies, such as distraction, lack of discipline of one’s time, dissipation, temptations, dryness and aridity, routine, excessive attachment to a certain method, overwhelming external activity, discouragement and attachment to sensible consolations.

Liturgical prayer, especially the Mass, is the most exalted of all prayer; private prayer should accompany liturgical prayer and is important for its usefulness. It’s not either or, but both and.

One important theologian[23] offers this list as his analysis of the degrees of prayer: vocal prayer, meditation, prayer of affection, prayer of simplicity, infused recollection, prayer of quiet, simple union, ecstatic union and transforming union.

The most perfect prayer is the Our Father, with its seven petitions, a prayer which Jesus taught us. The gentle reader is invited to take up the part in the CCC that refers to the Our Father and to meditate upon it slowly and methodically.[24]

1. Sometimes the world proposes false ways to grow in the spiritual life, even false modes of prayer. How can we identify these? What are some examples?

2. What are some practical ways we as laity can cultivate a serious, systematic and fruitful prayer life in the midst of our busy lives?

There are means to cultivate the spiritual life that will help both the purification process as well as the growth in grace, theological virtues and life of the gifts. These are proven and tested by time in the lives of many of the saints.

Presence of God. Keeping the presence of God in prayer, in recreation, in work, in human relations is a powerful way to cultivate spiritual perfection. The Church even offers indulgences for spontaneous prayers said in our hearts or mouths while we dedicate ourselves to our duty.

Examination of conscience. It is necessary prior to confessing one’s sins in the sacrament of reconciliation. It is wise to do at least once a day; such an examination would not focus just on one’s sins, but also on what God has been doing, where God has been leading one, throughout the day.

Development of character. Knowing oneself leads to overcoming oneself and eventually to being lord of oneself. It is a natural exercise to develop one’s character, but dominating the field of one’s own character offers huge amounts of clarity in the spiritual life.

Plan of spiritual work.[25] A person who wants to get somewhere makes a plan. Where are you going in your spiritual life? “If each year should see one fault rooted out from us, we should go quickly on to perfection,” writes Thomas a’Kempis in his magnificent The Imitation of Christ.[26] So let us focus on one defect we need to overcome, consider what things cultivate that defect in our lives, and resolve with concrete detail to overcome it not with “I will not…” but with “I will do this,” following the wisdom of St. Paul, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”[27]

Spiritual reading. The fruit for the spiritual life from this exercise cannot be praised enough. It gives us new ideas, inspires us with the lives of saints, corrects us on faults we let keep in, and in general gives us that edge. Good matter for reading includes the Bible, the writings of the saints, the lives of the saints, the Magisterial documents, and books of theology renowned for their fidelity to Church teaching.

Holy friendships. A good friend keeps us in line, shares our joys and sorrows, keeps us in check, understands when we need to pour our hearts out. One can even recreate with a holy person without risking sin or evil getting involved in a moment of leisure. A friend is different from a spiritual director. The company you keep is very important. Steer away from evildoers, stay close to the honest.[28] “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”[29] Spend time with sinners for their conversion only if you are sure, or trying to figure out, that they are not hard of heart.

The apostolate. An essential part of Catholic life is to spread the faith. Like a living organism, what’s not growing is sick or dying.

Spiritual direction. It’s important in life to have a guide to lead one along the way. It should not be “just anybody.” Normally it should be a priest, since priests are entrusted by the Church with the care of souls. With good reason it could be someone else; the Church has never taken objection of the role of spiritual director that certain mother superiors have assumed in their religious communities, for example. Furthermore, the spiritual director should be wise, well educated, and holy. Be picky about your spiritual director. And one should be completely open, hiding nothing, from a spiritual director, lest he err in his diagnosis. Open, with huge humility, and you will see the devil flee.

Spiritual direction is especially crucial at certain times in life: when discerning one’s vocation in life, when undergoing very hard trials, when contending with the dark night of the senses or of the soul, when discerning spirits, when experiencing extraordinary phenomena of the spiritual life, or when contending with special temptations or habits of sin that are hard to uproot, for example.

2. What are some ways we can form plans for the spiritual life? Let’s get one put together right away!

Not all spirits come from God. St. John tells us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”[30]

The Church is a long time expert in discerning spirits. It is a special charism or gift that God pours out on the soul, always of course subject to the discernment of the authority of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. But even this authority looks to and hopes for light from the particular gifts the Holy Spirit bestows on individuals.

The gift of discernment of spirits is acquired by prayer, study, personal experience with souls and analysis of obstacles in one’s own spiritual life.

“Spirit” here refers to the preponderance and dispositions of a soul accompanied with some sort of interior movement, and not to a divine or an angelic personhood.

The signs of God’s Spirit appear both in the intellect and the will. In the intellect, one finds truth, gravity and seriousness, light for discernment, docility, discretion and the thought of humble things. In the will, God’s spirit shows peace, humility, confidence of God with distrust of oneself, availability to God’s will, rectitude of intention, patience, abnegation, sincerity, detachment and interior freedom.

The spirits that come from the Devil also appear in both superior faculties. In the intellect the Devil bears such wicked children as falsehood, vain curiosity and superficiality, darkness, anguish, obstinacy of judgment, indiscretion (vanity, gossip, imprudence…) and pride and vanity. In the will he produces worry, pride or false humility, despair, discouragement, disobedience, twisted goals, impatience, impulsive or unreasonable reaction or rebellion, hypocrisy, and attachment to worldly things.

The spirit of the world inspires both good and bad things. The good things that spring from man himself and from his world are these: freedom and spontaneity, reasonable cause and course of action, the government of feelings by thought, and tenacity in prayer. The evil things that spring from the flesh and the world are violence, superficiality or passions as causes of action, the government of thoughts by feelings, and the abandonment of prayer.

Some spirits don’t give clear signs, like these: the movement to reconsider a choice of state of life just after having made one with due deliberation, unusual or strong aspirations or longings, desire for extraordinary things (“the madness of the saints”) in the exercise of virtue, the wish to do extreme or extraordinary exterior penances, sensible spiritual consolations, continuous and uninterrupted spiritual consolations or delights, tears, or great spiritual favors (visions, revelations, wounds, etc.). All of these things can come from heaven or hell.

It is never wise to be one’s own doctor, but to have a wise, holy, spiritually tested person do the service of discerning spirits.

1. Have you ever had the experience of having to discern God’s will in an important aspect of life? What were some of the challenges, and how did you overcome them?

2. In what ways can the devil appear to us as an “angel of light”,[31] leading us astray from God by deception?

These are graces (“gratis data”) which are exceed all our natural powers, as are all graces; these, in addition, exceed any merit we could have ever attained. They are given to help one’s neighbor, and they may or may not actually help the one who receives them. For example, receiving a vision doesn’t necessarily make one holy. They are not rewards, for certain, and are of a miraculous nature. Let us consider only some of them.

Faith. It is not considered here as the theological virtue or habit. It is an eminent excess or explosion of faith, with miraculous illumination of the intellect, a profound conviction and certainty with regard to something privately revealed.[32] This is the faith that literally can move mountains.[33]

Healing. The miraculous power to restore bodily health. In our own area several miracles are being investigated regarding Father Solanus Casey, renown for his gift to heal. It gives both the good of health, and the good of the glory of God.

Miracles. The gift of working miracles, causing things to occur by faith and by a word or action, includes the gift of healing. Many lives of the saints were adorned with this special gift.

Prophecy. One manifests a special gift of knowledge about something or about a future event. The recipient of this supernatural gift doesn’t necessarily understand all that he has seen, as we find for example in Emmerich’s The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It requires the discernment of spirits, for sometimes this gift may come from the wiles of Satan and even be false. There are three kinds: by predestination one’s prophecy causes something to occur; by foreknowledge or prescience one sees what will happen, what is happening elsewhere, or even what has happened; or condemnation when a punishment is inflicted.[34]

The direction of souls, and the discernment of spirits. This is the faculty to distinguish true prophets from false, evil spirits from good, God’s inspirations from the Devil’s deceptions, and movements of grace from movements of nature. The Gift of the Holy Spirit called Counsel allows one to share in the supernatural power to do such things, and this gift is a specific form of prophecy. It takes a miraculous form, and hence is distinguished from the Gift.

Gift of tounges. Ordinarily it is the capacity to speak another language without having ever studied it, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles after Pentecost,[35] or in the lives of great saints, as when St. Francis Xavier preached the Gospel to Chinese fishermen in fluent Chinese. Sometimes the speaker is understood by all who hear him when he is speaking a language the audience, or members of it, do not know.

Visions. This is when one sees something extraordinary, as an apparition of Mary or one of the saints, a soul in purgatory pleading for help, or when one is shown the terrible torments of hell. They can be corporal, spiritual or intellectual, depending on the nature of the object seen.

Locutions. When one hears voices that are real and proceed from supernatural causes. They, too, can be corporal, when an actual voice is heard, or intellectual when the mind is particularly illumined with certain words.

Hierognosis. The power to recognize a holy thing, such as a rosary that is blessed, distinguishing it from a non-blessed object; or even a possessed or cursed thing from an ordinary one.

Stigma. This is a miraculous participation in the wounds of Jesus Christ. Sometimes they can be experienced interiorly without any exterior affliction, but normally blood flows from the places of Jesus’ wounds.

Gift of tears. This and the sweating of blood are miraculous, and not the natural phenomena that could be described by the same words. It is an effusion moved by the Holy Spirit manifesting the powerful interior dispositions proper of the saints.

Absolute fasting. There are some saints, such as Blessed Angela de Folgno, St. Catherine of Siena and others who completely abstained from food, or lived off of only the Eucharist for their bodily nourishment.

Vigil or ecstatic sleep. Some souls went for huge amounts of time in prayer in complete prayer, either awake or asleep. St. Anselm had visions while he slept. St. Ignatius of Loyola had a vision that lasted a week, and the entire time it was as if he were in a coma, but God was revealing to him many things.

Agility. The capacity to change places without traveling between them. In fact, this is one of the qualities of the glorified body after the resurrection from the dead.

Bilocation. Some saints, as St. Joseph Cupertino, were able to be in more than one place at once.

Supernatural perfume. The omnipresence of a beautiful scent, for example of roses, around someone.

1. Is it wise to pretend to have one of these extraordinary gifts but not really have it?

2. If your next door neighbor tells you that someone in Wisconsin is having regular visions, and invites you to go and see this person on the day and hour when they have such a regular vision, what would you do, and why?

There is only one topic today under the heading of apologetics, and it focuses on the New Age Movement.

New Age. The spiritual threat of new age has recently been addressed by the Vatican, in a document entitled, Jesus Christ The Bearer of The Water of Life: A Christian reflection on the “New Age.”[36] It is a sort of neo-paganism, which deifies the earth, has some sort of angel spirituality, and it reduces God to being contained in the Universe instead of transcending it and different from it. It sprang up from 18^th and 19^th century movements of the occult, of spiritism, of freemasonry and theosophy. The influence of contemporary ecology movements cannot be stressed enough. Keywords fill this spiritual movement, such as “energy,” “spiritual guides,” “centering,” “yoga,” “self,” “ascending to higher spheres,” the “cosmos,” “astrology,” the “god within,” and the “enlightened knowledge” of those who, according to New Agers, “really know” the mysteries of man, god and the universe.

New Age has nothing to do with Catholicism, and is very damaging for the spiritual life of the Catholic for it’s huge catalogue of errors. The cited pontifical document goes more into detail than we can here. The Church’s response to New Age is analogous to her response to Gnosticism in the early centuries. The cosmic knowledge negates divine revelation; the immanence of their god negates the transcendence of the True God; their many christs negate the one Christ, the Mediator of Salvation and the High Priest; the one universal being negates the individuality and dignity of the human person; the meditation on self negates the prayer with and to God;

Furthermore, many practices related to New Age, especially the ones related to sexual perversion, contrast with Catholicism not only at the level of faith, but also at the level of Catholic practice, discipline and morality.

The “Creation Spirituality” of Fr. Matthew Fox is an eminent example of New Age Spirituality, as are many of the writings of Thomas Merton.

(I include some foreign language references, as a bibliography I have used in assembling this summary)

Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life, Tan Books: Rockford, IL, 1947

Gamarra, Saturnino, Teología espiritual, 3ª ed., Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, Madrid, 2000, pp. 306

Antonio Royo Marín, Teología de la perfección cristiana, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, Madrid, 2001, pp. 978.

Charles Hugo Doyle, Guidance in Spiritual Direction, Roger A. McCaffrey Publishing, Ridgefield, CT, reprint from 1956, p. 157.

Thomas a’Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, international bestseller available in a plethora of translations.

Next Topic, Suggested Reading. (Catholic Mission to Catholics: Pastoral Theology)

Vatican II: Apostolicam Actuositatem (Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People), 9-14

The entire prayer of St. Teresa of Avila, cited in part in the introductory prayer of this unit. It’s beauty in Spanish is simply as unique as it is exquisite.

[1] St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Vivo sin vivir en mí, found published at http://www.motivaciones.org/ctosevivosinvivirenmi.htm, 2/7/05.

[2] Metaphysics is a serious philosophical discipline which studies being qua being, including the treatises of act and potency, the one, the true, the good, the beautiful, and much more. These superficial and often occult-ridden sections of bookstores bearing the same name do not do justice to the science.

[3] Cf. CCC 2684, 2693.

[4] CCC 89; cf. Jn 8:31-32.

[5] The best study I know of on this ever written is St. Thomas Aquinas, De Malo (On Evil), Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 986.

[6] CCC 88.

[7] CCC 1997.

[8] CCC 1996

[9] John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, March 25, 1987, 21.

[10] CCC 1434.

[11] Fr. Garrigiou-Lagrange, Three Ages (cf. bibliography below), p. 157.

[12] 1 Jn 4:16.

[13] Three Ages, p. 154. Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIaIIae, 184, 1.

[14] Boethius, De institutione arithmetica, I, 20.

[15] Mk 1:15.

[16] Cf. St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul.

[17] Charles Hugo Doyle, Guidance in Spiritual Direction, Roger A. McCaffrey Publishing, Ridgefield, CT, reprint from 1956, p. 157.

[18] Ibid, p. 267.

[19] Gal 2:20.

[20] Rev 12:7-8.

[21] Is 11

[22] CCC 2558-2865.

[23] Royo Marin, p. 657.

[24] CCC 2761-2854.

[25] I found online an example of one saint’s life plan. See: http://www.bosconet.aust.com/austral/ozlas1019.htm.

[26] Thomas A’Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 1, 11, 5.

[27] Rom 12:21.

[28] Cf. Job 34:8.

[29] Prov. 13:20.

[30] 1 Jn 4:1-3

[31] The expression comes from the rules for the discernment of spirits in St. Ignatius of Loyola’s (the founder of the Jesuits) Spiritual Exercises.

[32] St. Thomas Aquinas I-II, 3, 4 ad 2.

[33] Cf. Mt 17:19, 1 Cor 13:2).

[34] Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, S. Th., II-II, qq. 171-174.

[35] Cf. Acts 1-2.

[36] Available online at the vatican web site, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html