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.