Thought for the Day – 6 May – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)
“None shall be crowned who has not fought well.” 2 Tim 2: 5
Final Remarks on Prayer and the Combat
LIX: … Concerning Sensible Devotion and Dryness
(Part Two)
“And if, from confusion of mind, you can neither pray nor meditate as usual, yet, you must persist in those exercises with as little anxiety as possible, supplying for the defects of the mind, the affection of the will.
Employ vocal prayer, conversing both with yourself and your Saviour. Such a practice will have surprising effects and, it will afford you great consolation in your anxiety. …
Call to mind the pious sentiments with which God inspired Sara, the wife of Tobias, in her affliction and say with her in spirit and in word –
“My God, all who serve Thee know that if they are visited with trials of affliction in this life, they will be rewarded;,if oppressed with suffering they shall be delivered, if punished by Thy justice, they hope in mercy. For Thou delightest not in seeing us perish, Thou sendest a calm after storms and joy after mourning.
O God of Israel, be Thy Name forever blessed.” (Tob III)
Remember too, thy Christ in the Garden and on the Cross abandoned by Him, Whose Only beloved Son He was – carry your cross with Him and say from the bottom of your heart:
“Not my will but Thine be done.”
Thus, by uniting patience with prayer, in the voluntary immolation of self to God, you will become truly devout.
For, as I have said, true devotion consists in an eager and unswerving
will to follow Christ and to bear the cross at whatever time, in whatever way He shall decide and, it consists too, in loving God because He is worthy of our love and even in forfeiting the sweetness of God for the sake of God!
Dom Lorenzo Scupoli
AnaStpaul 