𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞? On Perfection of Life by St. Bonaventure: romanseraphicbooks.com/product/on-perfection-of-life/ romanseraphicbooks.com/
Make a habit of turning off the music or podcasts when in the car, at the gym, etc. Practice mental prayer more often instead of distracting yourself. Something I definitely need to work on myself.
Unfortunately it is very rare that a gym will not have music. So dumb. Everyone has their own in ear music and those of us that can't stand the constant infernal din have to listen to it anyway. I'm in the industry and it's one thing about it that drives me bonkers. People are insane.
I fell from the spiritual life in 2018 because of spiritual dryness. I was at mass (N.O., because there aren't any TLM's in my area). I was just present and not mindful. I stopped praying and eventually went back to the emptiness of the world. COVID hit, and God called me back, Deo Gratia!
The dryness will come again. It was a constant companion of most of the Saints. Christ wants to proof you, to turn you from the gift (the spiritual consolations) to the giver, because our self-love can only be fully given up, when we seek God even in adversity.
Excellent discussion. I had to look up "diffidence" as it is a word that has almost lost its meaning. It is the opposite of "confidence", among other things. I have "given up" recently for a month or so. Going back to confession and Mass tonight. Knowing what to do is not the same as doing it. "Contemplation is possible when your heart is no longer full of you." Reminds me of Mother Teresa saying, "God cannot fill something that is already full."
Would you say it’s in the same vain of blaspheming the Holy Spirit as believing in no hope and backsliding in faith? It seems like a lack of patience knowing that in this life we are still gonna struggle and sin and break, but once we move on Jesus really puts us back together permanently. That’s the thought that gives me hope when I feel personal pain grieving me that Jesus will fix this once and for all once we are out of this life.
@@DivineKnight_115Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. When God tells you truth, yet in your heart you create what you believe is morally better than that truth.
The theological concept you are describing is actually terms "Acedia". St. Thomas Aquinas defines acedia as “sorrow about spiritual good.” In other words, it is a laziness and sadness that rises up in the human heart when they recognize their responsibility to become a saint.
You have to love the idea of life is COMBAT. You have to love the idea that life is a STRUGGLE. That life is a CONSTANT BATTLE. You have to love the idea of everything in life going your way, getting “set in your ways”, as BAD & DEADENING. You have to a “life terminator”. JUST KEEP GOING.
So Agree! I think the most work is done by merely showing up everyday in mental prayer and rendering yourself useless. You just have to get it done, whether you're busy, distracted, or in the throws of life's most difficult moments or progresses. You will see your heart and mind changed and God will uproot that which is most displeasing to Him and make you a more effective servant. Only by God's grace, has He allowed me to come to Him every day for the past three years in mental prayer for 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes longer. This is all outside of the other prayers that should be said daily; Morning/Night prayers, Angelus @ 6/12/6, and a Rosary. If you do these things, everyday whether you want to or not, whether you have time or don't, (because trust me there is always time!) with or without consolation from the Holy Ghost, and with all of the distracting and improper thoughts, you will have no other heart or mind but to serve God. Deo Gratias! For the Lord hath done great things in me and all for His Glory.
So well put!! God would never ask us to do something impossible, so committed daily Mental Prayer is definitely on God's radar for all of us. Gradually keep increasing the amount of time until you have a Holy Hour or more. But at least begin and be committed with the help of God's grace.
Treat Sunday as a full holy day. Sun up to sun down. That’s God’s and family’s day. Holy Rosary , pray the Mass, Vespers, Benediction. Good meals with family. It’s worth it. Stop the worry, and anxiety. It’s hard but it’s not as hard as the true Sacrifice by the Lord.
Becoming a Saint is a decition one makes, the path is not easy, we most probably strive, suffer and die while trying, nothing else matters, we need to surrender to God!
Try reading St Faustina’s diary which is a great help for me. Also talk openly about Our Lord Jesus and your faith no matter who is around. Don’t ever hold back when you you have a thought about Him. At first it seems like you’re gonna die of embarrassment talking openly about God in a secular world but you get over it and after awhile you find it encourages others to also share. One last thing, dryness is a suffering Our Lord permits to bring us closer to him. Embrace suffering and tell Jesus you’re ok suffering for him, that you refuse to stop loving him no matter what and lastly pray the rosary every day.
Jeremiah 23:16 I resolve to repent of this and fast from hearing... I have a library full of brand new books recommended by holy Fathers on this channel but for FOMO don't read and apply and just keep tuning in to SF... I seem holy to others but know full well i am being slothful. Thank you for this and i thank our Mother of Good Success/Sorrows for hearing my prayers and answering me with this admonition 🔥❤️🔥 VIVA CRISTO REY
This talk really opened my eyes. I have gone through this and am probably to some extent in it now. I just don't want to admit it to myself because it fills me with shame and self loathing. Yet, resting silently in the Lord and gazing at Him in the Blessed Sacrament is the only way I feel at peace. I'm also learning so much from the comments, and they really help, so I thank all of you. Diffidence, finally a word I can relate to and understand. I lovr Our Lord so much, but often I am my own worst enemy. This talk really helps me and all the comments and suggestions do too. I am thankful.
Father! You made me aware of what I’m doing. After much praying, Spiritual reading, attending weekday Mass as well as Sundays and Holidays, participating in Eucharistic Adoration etc etc, over many years 7:39 , I succumbed to serious sin, could not wrest myself free, didn’t want to even, all the while crying because of my abandoning Jesus, I cried to Blessed Mother and made my way back to confession. But since, altho going thru the motions with those Spiritual practices, including learning and wanting to live in the Divine Will, I feel diffidence. I ask for prayers and Will Daily try to truly empty myself of me to allow God in. Thank you for this talk. God bless you.
Brother, i was, and still am, in a sense, dealing with the same problem, but i feel that i am getting better. The key is, until you change your will, there's nothing much that he can do, but god will always be there, willing to listen to you. What i did and i recommend you do as well is, i prayed to god, giving him permission, and asking him to change my will, since i couldn't do it myself. And since then, things started moving in line again. The key is, change your will, and if you can't do it, ask Jesus to do it, and he will do it.
Thank you Friar. I've been struggling with this for a while and end up feeling like I'm not cut out for any state in life. Good friends and a spiritual director help out a lot
same with me and i m so tired of myself, I have forgotten what is like to be happy. fear from hell is what is keeping me alive, otherwise, I would kill myself a long time ago.
@@ALPHONSO_NANOOKkeep giving it all to Jesus & Mary as a willed act of love and it will turn to complete generous abandoment to the Divine Will. Fiat, God is all, we are dust. But He loves us and suffered every ine of our sins and sorrows.
Amen! Thank you Father! The key words as you mentioned, are keeping God the Focus of our life and everything else will be as God our Holy Abba Father Yahweh intended, God's Will not ours..
@@cheeseymanish To paraphrase from Light and Peace (highly recommended reading) in regards to penance: "They performed extreme penances because they were Saints. They were not Saints because they performed extreme penances."
@@cheeseymanish Yes, that is likely and certainly what is written about many of them. But that isn’t at all the point. The obstacles I mentioned often lead us ordinary folk, i.e. NOT saints (yet), to fall into the sin of diffidence.
It's as if God shone a light on the part of me that thought the exact words of "maybe my purpose is to "just" lead other people to Christ and to be an instrument for their holiness while I have no particular "greater" purpose, myself?" It's been a temptation which I've rejected, but it still creeps up on me incessantly, which inspires fear and shame. Thanks for the video and may God bless you abundantly!
Thanks For for the talk on this subject. It is something I struggle with all the time! Enjoyed reading all the comments also. Its good to see iam not alone.Act as IF I Am then I shall become.
yep, can say this is me NOW and the past, just about everything he described, ie commenting on "Sensus Fidelium" YT ch, but still working at trying to be holy.....
“Knowing the problems in the Church which substitutes the faith” Ouch 😣 I feel personally attacked (sarcasm). But in all seriousness no amount of knowledge will replace prayer.
Knowing and broadcasting all the bad stuff in the Church doesn’t make you holy. Reading a book on weightlifting doesn’t make you stronger. Watching soccer doesn’t make you a player. Owning a surfboard doesn’t make you a surfer. The Church is in need of saints, not activists nor reformers.
I'm somewhat guilty of this, but I recognized it and are now "doing" more than knowing. BTW this mirrors non spiritual life. If you spend all your time gathering knowledge and not doing, you will only get frustrated, hopeless and weaken yourself.
I'm not falling away from Catholicism, but I feel like I'm not a good of a Catholic as I should be. I live in a large and mostly corrupt urban area, and I am hardening my heart toward the lawlessness and graft, lawbreaking and murder. Most crimes are committed by minorities (96% of the murders) and I am prepared to do violence to anyone that wants to hurt my family. Am I wrong for not loving the sinners as Jesus wants us to?
Protect yourself and your family! Pray for sinners. It's sin that is not to be tolerated. Pray also that you and your family can find a safer place to live.
When he says that those giving to this temptation have already decided that they're "not going to make it" does that mean they've resigned to being damned or to not reaching higher sanctity?
@@leaf842 🙈 yes. I had to listen to it again. Gnosticism makes more sense, although I can see the connection of some form of narcissistic traits when talking about diffidence. Thank you for the correction!
𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞?
On Perfection of Life by St. Bonaventure: romanseraphicbooks.com/product/on-perfection-of-life/
romanseraphicbooks.com/
Is diffidence the same thing as Acedia ? If not, how are they different ?
Make a habit of turning off the music or podcasts when in the car, at the gym, etc. Practice mental prayer more often instead of distracting yourself. Something I definitely need to work on myself.
Praise Jesus! thank you .
Unfortunately it is very rare that a gym will not have music. So dumb. Everyone has their own in ear music and those of us that can't stand the constant infernal din have to listen to it anyway. I'm in the industry and it's one thing about it that drives me bonkers. People are insane.
I fell from the spiritual life in 2018 because of spiritual dryness. I was at mass (N.O., because there aren't any TLM's in my area). I was just present and not mindful. I stopped praying and eventually went back to the emptiness of the world. COVID hit, and God called me back, Deo Gratia!
The dryness will come again. It was a constant companion of most of the Saints. Christ wants to proof you, to turn you from the gift (the spiritual consolations) to the giver, because our self-love can only be fully given up, when we seek God even in adversity.
Excellent discussion. I had to look up "diffidence" as it is a word that has almost lost its meaning. It is the opposite of "confidence", among other things. I have "given up" recently for a month or so. Going back to confession and Mass tonight. Knowing what to do is not the same as doing it. "Contemplation is possible when your heart is no longer full of you." Reminds me of Mother Teresa saying, "God cannot fill something that is already full."
Would you say it’s in the same vain of blaspheming the Holy Spirit as believing in no hope and backsliding in faith? It seems like a lack of patience knowing that in this life we are still gonna struggle and sin and break, but once we move on Jesus really puts us back together permanently. That’s the thought that gives me hope when I feel personal pain grieving me that Jesus will fix this once and for all once we are out of this life.
@@DivineKnight_115 The Surrender Prayer:
Jesus, I surrender myself to Thee.. Please take care of everything. 🛐
@@DivineKnight_115Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. When God tells you truth, yet in your heart you create what you believe is morally better than that truth.
The theological concept you are describing is actually terms "Acedia". St. Thomas Aquinas defines acedia as “sorrow about spiritual good.” In other words, it is a laziness and sadness that rises up in the human heart when they recognize their responsibility to become a saint.
Acedia, ushered in by the mid-day devil. Spiritual sloth is rampant. 🙏always from the ❤
Wow, I needed to hear exactly this today. God is good.
you clearly haven't thought about that last part very much
You have to love the idea of life is COMBAT. You have to love the idea that life is a STRUGGLE. That life is a CONSTANT BATTLE. You have to love the idea of everything in life going your way, getting “set in your ways”, as BAD & DEADENING. You have to a “life terminator”. JUST KEEP GOING.
Oh its tiring alright. Even in my sleep i get tempted and attacked
So Agree! I think the most work is done by merely showing up everyday in mental prayer and rendering yourself useless. You just have to get it done, whether you're busy, distracted, or in the throws of life's most difficult moments or progresses. You will see your heart and mind changed and God will uproot that which is most displeasing to Him and make you a more effective servant. Only by God's grace, has He allowed me to come to Him every day for the past three years in mental prayer for 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes longer. This is all outside of the other prayers that should be said daily; Morning/Night prayers, Angelus @ 6/12/6, and a Rosary. If you do these things, everyday whether you want to or not, whether you have time or don't, (because trust me there is always time!) with or without consolation from the Holy Ghost, and with all of the distracting and improper thoughts, you will have no other heart or mind but to serve God. Deo Gratias! For the Lord hath done great things in me and all for His Glory.
So well put!! God would never ask us to do something impossible, so committed daily Mental Prayer is definitely on God's radar for all of us. Gradually keep increasing the amount of time until you have a Holy Hour or more. But at least begin and be committed with the help of God's grace.
Treat Sunday as a full holy day. Sun up to sun down. That’s God’s and family’s day. Holy Rosary , pray the Mass, Vespers, Benediction. Good meals with family. It’s worth it. Stop the worry, and anxiety. It’s hard but it’s not as hard as the true Sacrifice by the Lord.
Becoming a Saint is a decition one makes, the path is not easy, we most probably strive, suffer and die while trying, nothing else matters, we need to surrender to God!
3 Aves for the priest 🌹🌹🌹🙏🏻 and for Steve & Sensus Fidelium 🌹🌹🌹🙏🏻✝️
Try reading St Faustina’s diary which is a great help for me. Also talk openly about Our Lord Jesus and your faith no matter who is around. Don’t ever hold back when you you have a thought about Him. At first it seems like you’re gonna die of embarrassment talking openly about God in a secular world but you get over it and after awhile you find it encourages others to also share. One last thing, dryness is a suffering Our Lord permits to bring us closer to him. Embrace suffering and tell Jesus you’re ok suffering for him, that you refuse to stop loving him no matter what and lastly pray the rosary every day.
That book is heretical nonsense. It will harm your faith.
Jeremiah 23:16
I resolve to repent of this and fast from hearing... I have a library full of brand new books recommended by holy Fathers on this channel but for FOMO don't read and apply and just keep tuning in to SF... I seem holy to others but know full well i am being slothful. Thank you for this and i thank our Mother of Good Success/Sorrows for hearing my prayers and answering me with this admonition 🔥❤️🔥 VIVA CRISTO REY
I believe this is so prevalent with Christian social media influencers
This talk really opened my eyes. I have gone through this and am probably to some extent in it now. I just don't want to admit it to myself because it fills me with shame and self loathing. Yet, resting silently in the Lord and gazing at Him in the Blessed Sacrament is the only way I feel at peace. I'm also learning so much from the comments, and they really help, so I thank all of you. Diffidence, finally a word I can relate to and understand. I lovr Our Lord so much, but often I am my own worst enemy. This talk really helps me and all the comments and suggestions do too. I am thankful.
Father! You made me aware of what I’m doing. After much praying, Spiritual reading, attending weekday Mass as well as Sundays and Holidays, participating in Eucharistic Adoration etc etc, over many years 7:39 , I succumbed to serious sin, could not wrest myself free, didn’t want to even, all the while crying because of my abandoning Jesus, I cried to Blessed Mother and made my way back to confession. But since, altho going thru the motions with those Spiritual practices, including learning and wanting to live in the Divine Will, I feel diffidence. I ask for prayers and Will Daily try to truly empty myself of me to allow God in. Thank you for this talk. God bless you.
Brother, i was, and still am, in a sense, dealing with the same problem, but i feel that i am getting better. The key is, until you change your will, there's nothing much that he can do, but god will always be there, willing to listen to you. What i did and i recommend you do as well is, i prayed to god, giving him permission, and asking him to change my will, since i couldn't do it myself. And since then, things started moving in line again. The key is, change your will, and if you can't do it, ask Jesus to do it, and he will do it.
Much needed sermon!
Thank you ever so much for this beautiful spiritual sharing. God bless you always.
Thank you Friar. I've been struggling with this for a while and end up feeling like I'm not cut out for any state in life. Good friends and a spiritual director help out a lot
Where does one find good friends and a spiritual director?
same with me and i m so tired of myself, I have forgotten what is like to be happy. fear from hell is what is keeping me alive, otherwise, I would kill myself a long time ago.
@@ALPHONSO_NANOOKkeep giving it all to Jesus & Mary as a willed act of love and it will turn to complete generous abandoment to the Divine Will. Fiat, God is all, we are dust. But He loves us and suffered every ine of our sins and sorrows.
@@Thoughtworld1984 my good friends are a bunch of old ladies who show up to Mass early to pray the rosary. They are great friends
@@therealfragmental
Amen👍
This is a really important thing to talk about since it's so common. Thank you
I did not know what this was, or how it was in life. thank you
That sounded like Fr. Gregory Pines...🤔🙏🙏🙏 It was great 👍😃 Thank you!
Not even close.
@@peace-and-quiet 🤔🙃
Philippians 3:13-16 is very helpful.
Amen! Thank you Father! The key words as you mentioned, are keeping God the Focus of our life and everything else will be as God our Holy Abba Father Yahweh intended, God's Will not ours..
Sober words... thank you
This hits home.
Lack of sleep, insomnia, can result in this
Very true. The demands and noise of life, lack of adequate sleep, poor diet, mental stress/burdens, and more, can all lead to diffidence.
@@kfgabriele9852 but the saints ate very little, slept little etc?
@@cheeseymanish To paraphrase from Light and Peace (highly recommended reading) in regards to penance: "They performed extreme penances because they were Saints. They were not Saints because they performed extreme penances."
@@cheeseymanish Yes, that is likely and certainly what is written about many of them. But that isn’t at all the point. The obstacles I mentioned often lead us ordinary folk, i.e. NOT saints (yet), to fall into the sin of diffidence.
@@aresye Well said! 😊
Keeping our focus on God is the First Commandment...
It's as if God shone a light on the part of me that thought the exact words of "maybe my purpose is to "just" lead other people to Christ and to be an instrument for their holiness while I have no particular "greater" purpose, myself?"
It's been a temptation which I've rejected, but it still creeps up on me incessantly, which inspires fear and shame.
Thanks for the video and may God bless you abundantly!
Thanks For for the talk on this subject. It is something I struggle with all the time! Enjoyed reading all the comments also. Its good to see iam not alone.Act as IF I Am then I shall become.
I always understood this to be Acedia.
Father you always have a Great no nonsense reality check talk l! I enjoye your segments! God Bless!
Wow! Thank you! I needed this!
I didn't even know what the word diffidence is. I had to go look it up.
yep, can say this is me NOW and the past, just about everything he described, ie commenting on "Sensus Fidelium" YT ch, but still working at trying to be holy.....
Thanks for this spiritual insight.
Love and blessings.
Thank you
Gotta keep getting back up and battle like Rocky Balboa
Very illuminating father and so well expressed. Thank you.
Yes it can
Trust Jesus, fear nothing.
Go the distance.
PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!
Complacency can also be dangerous
Powerful message, thank you
This blessed me
Wow. I dont even know the word diffidence until this
Thanks!
Never give up never back down. Jesus Christ is all. 🙏🏻👑✝️
“Knowing the problems in the Church which substitutes the faith” Ouch 😣 I feel personally attacked (sarcasm). But in all seriousness no amount of knowledge will replace prayer.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Amen !!!!!!
Knowing and broadcasting all the bad stuff in the Church doesn’t make you holy.
Reading a book on weightlifting doesn’t make you stronger.
Watching soccer doesn’t make you a player.
Owning a surfboard doesn’t make you a surfer.
The Church is in need of saints, not activists nor reformers.
I'm somewhat guilty of this, but I recognized it and are now "doing" more than knowing.
BTW this mirrors non spiritual life. If you spend all your time gathering knowledge and not doing, you will only get frustrated, hopeless and weaken yourself.
Tell God you want truth in your heart, not an outward appearance.
I'm not falling away from Catholicism, but I feel like I'm not a good of a Catholic as I should be. I live in a large and mostly corrupt urban area, and I am hardening my heart toward the lawlessness and graft, lawbreaking and murder. Most crimes are committed by minorities (96% of the murders) and I am prepared to do violence to anyone that wants to hurt my family. Am I wrong for not loving the sinners as Jesus wants us to?
Protect yourself and your family! Pray for sinners. It's sin that is not to be tolerated. Pray also that you and your family can find a safer place to live.
Put on Gods armor (pray-up)
When he says that those giving to this temptation have already decided that they're "not going to make it" does that mean they've resigned to being damned or to not reaching higher sanctity?
🔥
I know.
Terms like INDIFFERENCE or APATHY would be more appropriate!
To me, I understand diffidence as hesitation (in general). This sounds more like apathy. Hmm....
*acedia* is the most accurate term
Diffidence sounds more like depression and discouragement.
Catholic narcissism 🎯
What is? "Diffidence" or this talk?
@@Hammett175 oh. Just quoted what Father said on diffidence. Thought he described it so well.
@@katherinec.1497 I see, thank you.
@@leaf842 I think so too, that's why I was confused...
@@leaf842 🙈 yes. I had to listen to it again. Gnosticism makes more sense, although I can see the connection of some form of narcissistic traits when talking about diffidence. Thank you for the correction!
I don’t know the diffidence betwixt difference and diffidence but I don’t care.
it has been an ambiguous message. i ve learnt anuthing at all. . that s my opinion. SORRY
lol
Thank you! Didn't know what this was. Very good, helpful ,sense🙏🤍❤️📿🕊️✝️🌞