Thought for the Day – 5 April– The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)
“None shall be crowned who has not fought well.” 2 Tim 2: 5
XL: … Of the Time to be Given to the Exercise
of Each Virtue and Of the Signs of Progress (Part Two)
“And the greater the alacrity and joyfulness of spirit which accompanies these acts, the greater may be our hope that we have derived protit from this exercise.
We must beware, however, of assuming, as a certainty, that we have acquired any virtue, or entirely subdued any one passion, even though, after a long time and after many struggles, we may have ceased to feel its motions within us.
For here too, the arts and devices of Satan and our own deceitful nature, may find place, since that which is really vice seems to our lurking pride, to be virtue.
Besides, if we look to the perfection to which God calls us, we shall hardly persuade ourselves, however great the progress we have made in the way of holiness, that we have even crossed its threshold!
Return, therefore, to your first exercises, as a young soldier and a newborn babe but just beginning to struggle, as if you had hitherto done nothing.
And remember to attend rather to advancement in holiness, than to an examination of your progress; for the Lord God, the true and only Searcher of our hearts, gives this knowledge to some and withholds it from others, according as He sees that it will lead to pride or to humility and, as a loving Father, He removes a danger from one, while to another, He offers an opportunity of increase in holiness.
Therefore, although the soul does not perceive its progress, let it continue these exercises; for they shall be seen when it will please the Lord, for the soul’s greater good, to make it known to it.”
Dom Lorenzo Scupoli
AnaStpaul 