Sin, Sensitivity, and Scrupulosity

‘Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ – St Paul (2 Cor, 3:17)

In the last two articles we highlighted how sensitivity is part of the human condition and that sin is the greatness evil and one that we should be continuously on our guard against.  So if we are to recognise this reality about sin and maintain, rather than numb, our sensitivity, how can we stop ourselves slipping into inordinate fear about sin or into scrupulosity? How can we stop ourselves being continuously on edge after we have recognised these realities? Well, to do so, we first need to understand the relationship between love and fear and know what we are realistically aiming at.

‘Perfect love casteth out fear.’ (I John 4:18)

This quote from the Bible is often paraphrased in slogans such as ‘fxxk fear, rise love’, or ‘love trumps fear’.  These, often crass, slogans are usually promoted by those on the left side of the political fringe and while they are deluded in their overall programmes, i.e., a communist utopia without God and His Church where everyone gets on just splendidly, they are right in recognising that love does overcome and push out fear. However, there is only a certain type of fear, and not all fear, that is pushed out by love. As explained by St. Bernard, the fear that St. John is talking about being cast out is servile fear, i.e., the fear a slave has for his master who can punish him.  Servile fear is cast out by love but fear is not totally cast out. Servile fear is replaced with filial fear, i.e., a fear of displeasing a person we know loves us dearly. As St. Bernard (‘On Loving God’) explains:

‘Love is a good and pleasant law; it is not only easy to bear, but it makes the laws of slaves and hirelings tolerable; not destroying but completing them; as the Lord saith: ‘I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil’ (Matt. 5:17). It tempers the fear of the slave, it regulates the desires of the hireling, it mitigates the severity of each. Love is never without fear, but it is godly fear. Love is never without desire, but it is lawful desire. So love perfects the law of service by infusing devotion; it perfects the law of wages by restraining covetousness. Devotion mixed with fear does not destroy it, but purges it. Then the burden of fear which was intolerable while it was only servile, becomes tolerable; and the fear itself remains ever pure and filial. For though we read: ‘Perfect love casteth out fear’ (I John 4:18), we understand by that the suffering which is never absent from servile fear, the cause being put for the effect, as often elsewhere.’

Now, scrupulosity often develops when we have gained some insight into the awfulness of sin and we have started trying to overcome the stains we see on our soul. We have developed a certain fear of sin and how it offends God. An article such as the previous one on this website about the horror of sin can almost overwhelm a sensitive soul, particularly when we have been struggling for years to overcome certain sins and have begun to realise that God asks for nothing less than perfection to enter Heaven. What a shock to the mind this can be when we realise the height of the mountain we have to scale! What are we to do about this challenge that lies before us? Are we to dismiss these ideas about sin and perfection as old fables used as means to subjugate the ignorant and poor as it is claimed today? Maybe we can readjust our thinking about sin and claim that it is really not as bad as all those Catholic saints from times past made it out to be? Or perhaps we can dismiss all those notions of being perfect to enter Heaven and see God as a more lenient, ‘compassionate’ God than the nasty and harsh God our grandparents were told about? Maybe we can convince ourselves that no one believes in that ‘Catholic guilt’ stuff anymore so why should I? Or perhaps to overcome our scruples about our sinfulness and lack of perfection we can take the route of Martin Luther who was suffering from scruples around the time of his revolt:

‘His biographers tell us that at this time his terrible fear as to the remission of his sins increased his bodily sufferings…After long efforts to save himself by his own strength, Luther suddenly caught at the contrary extreme, an occurrence by no means rare in such cases. Excessive austerity was followed by slothfulness; exaggerated, passionate, penitential fervour ended in his abandonment of every means of amendment and sanctification. With the passionate violence of his character, he took refuge in the truth of faith, that Jesus Christ by His death on the cross has won for us salvation. It was not sufficient for him to despair of attaining salvation by his own strength, but he went still further. He altogether rejected man’s co-operation in the work of salvation, as if he would say to God: ‘Since I cannot do all, since I am unable to attain my ideal, I will do nothing at all, not even that which is in my power!’

               Sad and insane conclusion, to which scruples not unfrequently bring a soul weary of fruitless combats, and conscious at last of her own impotence to carry out her vain theories of perfection!’ – p. 340 (‘The Way of Interior Peace’ – Fr De Lehen, 1888) (1)

God, in His mercy, gave Luther some insight into the horror that sin is.  Through the Holy Ghost He has done this with many people who went on to be great saints. He gave them clear insights into the hideousness of sin, revealing these horrors most clearly to His own Mother as St. Jean Vianney explains, ‘As a watchmaker with his glasses distinguishes the most minute wheels of a watch, so we, with the light of the Holy Ghost, distinguish all the details of our poor life. Then the smallest imperfections appear very great, the least sins inspire us with horror. That is the reason why the most Holy Virgin never sinned. The Holy Ghost made her understand the hideousness of sin…Those who have the Holy Spirit cannot endure themselves, so well do they know their poor misery.’ (‘The Little Catechism of the Cure of Ars’). Luther was given the grace to see the extent of his misery and have insights into what sin is. It also appears that he was beginning to get insights into how futile his efforts were as these efforts relied more on himself than God. At this stage, saints threw themselves into the loving arms of our Heavenly Father, pleaded with Our Lady for her help, and with holy resignation, said ‘Thy will be done, not mine’ or ‘Thou must increase and I must decrease’. St. Francis de Sales who suffered severe scruples early in his life, which were a result of recognising the extent of his own misery, did not despair and turn his back on the truth but rather turned even more to God and focused on His infinite love for us, his weak and wretched creatures. He wrote one of the most beautiful treatise on the love of God and became one of the great saints and doctors of the Church. Luther did not follow the example of the saints or St. Francis de Sales.  He did not humble himself and recognise his misery in the light of God’s infinite goodness. He did not submit his will to God’s will. He did not turn towards the loving and Sacred Heart of Our Lord but rather he turned towards the devil to try to help him out of his despair.  He started to exert his own wicked will and the devil used his naturally strong character for his own diabolical schemes. Luther became the spark for the revolution that tore Christendom apart and which allowed the devil and his minions to gain more and more power over nations and souls. Luther – an example of the sad and wretched use of the talents God had given a man and an example of how not to respond to scruples.

Today, there is a battle to maintain our natural sensitivity in a world which either numbs or distracts it from those things our soul and body truly crave – eternal health, peace and happiness. The Holy Ghost continuously works on our sensitive nature, gently calling us to Him. He shines His light on the poor misery of our lives. In His mercy, He reveals our fallen state and the fallen state of humanity to us.  For some, on seeing this, it seems like an almost easy transition to accept His loving call and, while still recognizing the need for constant co-operation with the love and graces He bestows on them, they joyfully abandon themselves into the care of His loving kindness. For others, the thought of their sinfulness almost overwhelms them with scruples. The depth of their misery seems too much, the mountain of perfection appears too steep and high. Truth seems to impose itself on them rather than to gently call. Despair and a rejection of the truth creep in. “Where is the ‘spirit of liberty’ that St. Paul preaches about?”, they cry. “What about the truth making me free?  All I see is my own misery and how far I am from the perfection of the saints. This feels more like chains than freedom!…”. Darkness and bitterness begin to creep in, Luther’s path seems to call to them…Yet, this is no time to despair. It is a moment of grace. It is a time to recognize how useless we are and how much we need God’s love and grace. A slight taste of what seems like mad scruples to worldly eyes may actually be the start of a great conversion and the beginning of the journey to sanctity and Heaven. It may be a time to meditate and really think about where we currently are at and where we are headed. Perhaps it is a time to reflect on the words in ‘The Imitation’:

‘No man deserves the consolation of heaven unless he persistently arouses himself to holy contrition. If you desire true sorrow of heart, seek the privacy of your cell and shut out the uproar of the world.’

‘It is a wonder that any man who considers and meditates on his exiled state and the many dangers to his soul, can ever be perfectly happy in this life. Lighthearted and heedless of our defects, we do not feel the real sorrows of our souls, but often indulge in empty laughter when we have good reason to weep. No liberty is true and no joy is genuine unless it is founded in the fear of the Lord and a good conscience.’

 ‘The sins and vices in which we are so entangled that we can rarely apply ourselves to the contemplation of heaven are matters for just sorrow and inner remorse.’ – ‘The Imitation’ – Book One, Chapter 20 – ‘The Love of Solitude and Silence’

When Luther contemplated his sinfulness he allowed servile fear and the whisperings of the devil to get the better of him. He may have had some servile fear of God but eventually his conscience became blind and corrupted. Eventually, he tried to escape reality and create his own. He imagined he found freedom but it was only a false liberty built on a non-filial fear of God and a bad conscience, which only ensnared him more in chains. Poor delusional soul! We cannot escape reality. We can either accept it or reject it. It can be accepted out of love, with filial fear being part of this perfect love, or it can be rejected because we will not cast out servile fear by turning our hearts towards Him who is Love Himself. In this rejection, we deny both the goodness of Our Heavenly Father and our childlike dependency on Him.

The saints provide us with examples of how to recognise our sinfulness and wretchedness without being overwhelmed by these.  A small dose of scruples may be the result of this recognition and, in the main, it is better to have some scruples or be too sensitive than be unscrupulous and devoid of sensitivity (2). Many saints, like St. Francis de Sales, went through this trial of scruples until their hearts inflamed with love casteth out servile fear and replaced it with filial fear and a purer love of God. Saints cast their eyes down on their own wretchedness and acknowledged this reality. Yet, what elevated them to the status of saints was the turning of their eyes upwards toward Our Heavenly Father, Truth and Love Himself, to ask for the strength, love and grace they needed to overcome their sinfulness. Today, worldly eyes will see any talk of guilt or sin as scrupulous.  However, having a holy horror of sin and having a sensitive conscience is not the same as scrupulosity. It is a sign of an ordered and healthy mind and possibly the first signs of true conversion. This is a blessing while a seared or numbed conscience is a curse as Monsignor Vaughan (‘Life After Death’, 1907) explains:

‘Just as the hands of the pianist acquire a greater delicacy of touch by practice, and just as the ear of the blind, who more than others are constantly depending upon that organ, becomes sensitive to sound, so conscience when obeyed, listened to, and regularly consulted acquires an extraordinary delicacy. So on the contrary, if its dictates are despised and disregarded, its influence grows weaker and weaker, till at last its voice is almost entirely drowned, amid the roar and bustle of the world, and its vanities, dissipations, and pleasures.

A sound though ever so loud, if habitually disregarded, will after a time hardly awaken a slumbering man. I have known the firing of a gun on board a ship fail at last to arouse a sleeping officer, though his berth was close by. In a somewhat similar manner a man, by continually closing his heart to the clear, ringing voice of his inward monitor, may render it by slow degrees almost inaudible. His state then becomes very hopeless and very awful.’

‘We must hope for the best and do our best.’ - St. Charles Borromeo

So, let us recognise the reality of our sensitivity and what it tells us about sin and our own sinfulness.  Let us develop a holy horror of sin and discipline our minds and our bodies to react in the right way toward sin. Let us not listen to the world, the flesh, or the devil when it tries to tell us what scrupulosity is. The devil tells us subtle and clever lies about scruples to make us fall into either laxity and presumption or into depression and despair.  Let us not listen to him or his followers. Let us follow the example of St. Francis de Sales rather than Martin Luther and let us focus more on the love of God than our own misery (3). Let us not be startled at our own miserable condition in this life and let us recognise how, while God wills us to co-operate in our sanctification and we must do our best, it is His hands, not our own, that will do the heavy lifting. Here is where our hope and confidence lies – in God’s omnipotence and His infinite love. So let us have courage and follow the spiritual advice of St Terese of Lisieux as outlined by Fr Eugene Boylan (‘Difficulties in Mental Prayer’, 1943):

‘The perfect picture that St. Teresa of Lisieux has drawn of the spiritual life will help to give us courage. She sees it as a stairway to be climbed, at the top of which God is waiting, looking down in Fatherly love at His child’s efforts to surmount the first step. The child, who represents ourselves, fails to manage to climb even the first step; it can only keep on lifting up its tiny little foot. Sooner or later God takes pity on it, and comes down and sweeps the child right up to the top in His arms; but – and St. Teresa insists on this as much as she insists on God’s loving kindness – we must keep on lifting up our foot. The soul must never be discouraged by the fruitlessness of its repeated efforts. It seems to be a law of the spiritual life that, since all progress ultimately depends on God, He lets us first learn our complete helplessness by long and weary efforts that come to naught. But we have His word: ‘I Myself will come and save you!’

Let us, unlike the world today, recognise our nothingness. Alongside this, and more importantly, let us, unlike Luther, recognise God’s infinite loving goodness. We must be like little children and, despite our feebleness, continue to try to climb the steps ahead of us,. We must work on being patient and trusting. He will come to help us in His own good time, once He has taught us the lessons He needs us to learn. In the meantime, let us continuously call on Him and His Blessed Mother and throw ourselves and our nothingness into their most loving arms. There we will find all the strength we need to be lifted up and transformed into the saints who He wills us to be.

God bless you in your efforts,

References/Footnotes:

1. An excellent book for those trying to understand and overcome scruples. Available here: https://archive.org/details/wayofinteriorpea00lehe
2. In a book on the life of St. Thomas More (‘Sir Thomas More (Blessed Thomas More)’ by Henri Bremond, published 1920), it outlines a delightful children’s story about a scrupulous donkey and an unscrupulous wolf which was passed on to St. Thomas More. St. Thomas was known to share this story with his family and friends. The author of his life, Henri Bremond, outlines how St. Thomas, by narrating this story, ‘wants to show in the main it is better to be too sensitive than not sensitive enough.’  The book is available here – https://archive.org/details/cu31924027960800/mode/2up?view=theater and the story is on pages 126 to 129.
3. Here is some wise advice about how to develop St. Paul’s ‘spirit of liberty’ from a devout bishop, Mgr. Gay, in his book, ‘Elevations upon the Life and Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (quoted in ‘Christ in His Mysteries’ by Abbott Marmion (1939)). This is particularly relevant to those scrupulous souls who rightfully acknowledge their nothingness but become a bit too self-obsessed about it and look too frequently down at themselves rather than up at God:

‘…The great secret for leading this free, pure and already almost superhuman Christian life is not so much to consider the vanity of the world, the fragility and baseness of this present life, our own personal misery and passions, all those evils into which, without the help of grace, we should so easily fall, and out faults and sins, which we ought, however, to hate and deplore: (all that is useful, all that is indispensable; everyone who is wise will remember and think of it at certain hours; but it is not always the hour for thinking of it, and it is not, at all events, what is the most efficacious for us). What is most efficacious, here as everywhere, the most decisive, the most triumphant, is, as far as one can, and habitually, to look upwards; it is to consider God and Jesus; the perfections of God, His rights, His attributes, His appeals, His provocations, His patient waiting, His designs, His promises; the mysteries of Jesus and the divine graces flowing from what He said, did, ordained and suffered. It is ever to remember that He is personally, the point of departure and the Chief of the Christian life; that the great virtue of baptism is to incorporate us in Him, to give us His life, to make us of His race, and to pour forth His Spirit within us, that is to say a light and a strength whereby we are enabled, and so remain, not only to avoid sin, as St. John expressly says, but moreover to judge all things, to discern our way and to follow it, and ascending from light to light, from liberty to liberty, to reach the inward state of him who said: ‘I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me.’’ – quoted, p. 30-31

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The Right Reaction to Sin

‘Death Comes to the Dinner Table‘ by Giovanni Martinelli

In the last blog, we established that having a sensitive nature is not a problem. It is how our sensitive nature responds to certain stimuli that may or may not be a problem. Judging whether or not our sensitive nature is reacting in the right way can be helped by assessing whether or not our reaction is aligned with the feelings of Our Lord.  Following on from this, this article examines the contrast between our reaction and Our Lord’s reaction to that most disturbing of horrors – sin.

            Societies of today, particularly in Western countries, are immersed in the most atrocious filth and garbage. We have sodomites as leaders of countries and we have just been through a month which takes ‘pride’ in the most scandalous, despicable and disordered of sinful behaviours, a sin which cries to Heaven for vengeance. We are deliberately surrounded by and exposed to talk and news of the most horrific scandals. Due to our innate sensitive nature, if we are not very careful, we gradually become soaked in this filth ourselves. The natural abhorrence towards certain vices, which God has planted in our souls, becomes diminished.  Surrounded by and immersed in the filth, we develop a numbed sensitivity to the horrors we are exposed to until eventually we either fail to react the way we should to these horrors or, due to our tendency toward evil, we start embracing and loving the filth itself. It is like death has arrived at our dinner table and we are not even shocked by his arrival as we are already half dead ourselves. Fr Ripperger highlights this desensitisation when speaking about fornication – ‘Culturally, in the past, fornication was looked down upon as a great moral and societal evil because of all the evil effects to the individual and society, one of which is the general erosion of morality within a society.  As fornication and sexual licence became more pervasive, the society began finding it difficult to judge fornication as morally evil and today it has virtually no evil connotation at all.  What started out as particular individual difficulties with respect to passions has affected, over the long haul, the universal judgement of society about the evil of fornication in general.’ (1). To combat this ‘erosion of morality’ and this societal acceptance of filth, there needs to be a re-educating about what sin really is coupled with a reawakening of the correct response to it. There is an ordered, healthy and sane reaction to sin.  This blog will highlight what this is and how we can cultivate this reaction in ourselves.

What Sin Is

            Sin is rebellious opposition to God’s will. It is either a turning away from God (venial sin) or the complete severing of friendship with God (mortal sin).  It is a ‘destructive, disruptive thing. It un-does, it uncreates.’ – Fr Steuart (2). It is a voluntary rejection of Him Who wills our eternal happiness. It is a rejection of Him who is Truth Himself. It is a prioritising of our self-love over reality and it can thus be described as the embracing of unreality – Fr Leen (3). ‘Every sin is a conscious disordered manifestation of self-centredness.’ – Fr Fahey (4). It a scorning of the Divine Plan for our souls:

‘When we commit sin we inconsiderately prefer a finite good to God, the infinite Good.  If our sin is mortal our minds despise God to that extent that they judge that finite good worthy of being our god, and as such decree it to be the final object of our existence. If our sin is venial our minds scorn the friendship of God to the extent we gratify our self-love…Sin is a revolt, an act of the basest contempt and the vilest ingratitude towards the God of infinite majesty and goodness; an act which renews the cause of the death of Jesus Christ…From a child of God and an heir to the kingdom of heaven it degrades him into a slave of Satan, and condemns him to the punishment of hell.’ – Fr Geiermann (5). 

            Sin is also a rejection of His infinite love. To capture some of the awfulness of sin vivid comparisons to physical sufferings were often used by wise Catholic priests/writers, such as Fr Gerard (6):

‘Sin is like a disorder and confusion in the moral law. The human spirit is gifted with freedom. The fair and full use of that freedom, however, depends on the way in which it is adjusted to certain fore-ordained laws. The spirit, even as the body, is ruled by a legal system designed for its own goodness and beauty. It may fall in with its laws and act according to their guidance; or it may go against them and do violence to all their directive influence. The latter course is to bring on the leprosy of sin. To turn away from God the everlasting Good and to turn away from Him for the sake of some passing good is to throw order into chaos, to turn health into disease, and, instead of life without end, to produce death without end.’

Or as Fr Leen (3) explains:

‘If we were to multiply that desolation [of the world wars] a thousand fold, and embrace the whole world, and countless numbers of possible worlds and conceive them swept by the same desolation, the picture of horror would be of appalling magnitude. Yet all that falls short – infinitely short – of the evil involved in one mortal sin. Because all that destruction of human work and human life is the ruin of something finite. But mortal sin is ‘the evil of God’, the ruin not of the Divine, but of something that borders on the Infinite…There is something Infinite in the evil of sin. Though committed by a finite creature, once committed it passes out of his control, it affronts God and has a quasi-infinite malice.’

But it is not just mortal sin but all sin that turns us away from Love:

‘Sin is un-love, and it is therefore dead and death-dealing like a corpse.  The least sin is a more devastating agent of dissolution and corruption to the soul of man than every plague in history has been to his body.  The Church does not use exaggeration when she says that no material disaster can be compared in magnitude of evil to the effect of one deliberate venial sin.’ – Fr Steuart (2).

All these descriptions are designed to give us a true understanding of sin and help us to see the horror that it is and the destruction it causes.

Along with the vivid descriptions above, we have Fr Faber’s (7) outline of Our Lord’s hatred and abhorrence of sin, keenly felt and experienced through His Sacred Humanity:

‘As the soul is to the body, so was the sensitiveness and sympathy of our Lord’s Soul to the delicacy and susceptibility of his Body. Even to us, with our common gift of faith, the word sin is a real terror. It expresses a whole world of darkness. It is the negation of all that is bright, hopeful, desirable, or attractive. The possibility of our sinning is a thought to make us tremble. The likelihood of our sinning is our deepest fear; and our actual sin is by far our most real unhappiness. Yet we can scarcely understand the shrinking heavenly-mindedness which caused saints to fade away at the bare mention of the name of sin. Such a fact is an index to us of sublimities of love and of union with God which are to us little better than terms of mystical theology, respectfully believed in, but out of the range, not only of our experience, but of our comprehension also. How far then are we from being able to fathom our Lord’s horror of sin! The uncreated sanctity of his Divine Person had communicated to his Human Soul an unspeakable spotlessness, together with such a tenderness regarding the honour and purity of God as it is impossible for us to picture to ourselves, except in the most inadequate manner. If we might venture to think of disease as an emblem of a thing so holy, we might say that the wretched and unclean world was to our Lord’s shrinking Soul what the meridian beam of the sun would be to a wounded eye. It was something intolerable. It was a spiritual agony, seemingly unendurable for a moment, yet actually endured his whole life long.’

            Now, when we read the descriptions of sin from these Catholic priests above do we really feel what they are trying to tell us about the horror of sin? When we read Fr Faber’s description of Our Lord’s disgust at sin, do we begin to realise how non-reactive and indifferent we are to the sin that surrounds us? Do we really sense what sin actually is? Honest answers to these questions show us that we have become numb to the reality of sin. Our constant exposure to the filth and disorder of the world and our lack of understanding of the infinite goodness of God who is Love Himself has darkened our minds and dampened our natural abhorrence to vice.  Because we don’t understand the toxicity of sin, including venial sin, we start out on the slippery and almost imperceptible downward slope to mortal sin and eternal damnation. ‘It is simply a psychological law that repeated venial sin, committed with all due deliberation, must of necessity lessen in the soul the horror for sin and evil generally. It must deprive it of that delicacy of conscience which is the soul’s greatest safeguard. The removal of these safeguards makes the soul an easy prey to serious moral transgression.’ – Fr Vonier (8). Eventually, if we continue to slide into further sin, our conscience will become seared. A conscience barely reacting to the most heinous of sins severely reduces the chances of recovery from this disease, as Fr Meyer (9) explains,

‘Will they acquire again that delicacy of conscience which they have forfeited? Without a miracle of grace, such a change of heart seems impossible.  And who will dare look for a miracle in favour of those who have made themselves unworthy even of the ordinary aids of grace? It is possible, no doubt, because ‘with God are all things possible.’ But no one, certainly, that is in his sober senses, would stake his own salvation upon it.’

            So, let us be honest and acknowledge that we do not have the right idea or reaction to the horror that sin is. God cannot err nor sin as He is infinite Truth and Goodness. He has created us in His image so that we may know, honour, and love Him and, by doing so, we gain eternal happiness with Him in Heaven. He does not force us to accept His invitation as He has given us free will. We decide on the route we wish to take. By sinning, we scorn this most loving of invitations and, if we die unrepentant, we condemn ourselves to eternal misery. What madness to do so! Yet, this is the madness that many choose. Now, one of the keys for choosing the right path is developing the right understanding and reaction to sin. This involves a healthy dose of education about the reality of sin and the fortification of our minds in this reality which is especially necessary in these times of moral depravity. We must detox our minds from the mires into which they have sunk. We must avoid frivolous relations with sin or light talk of it. The advice of Fr Leen (3) to missionary nuns applies equally to us today, as it is now in our own countries where we are in daily contact with heinous sin:

‘School yourselves never to speak lightly of what is mortal sin, of deeds which imply violation of God’s law. Never speak without horror of disregard for, or violation of, God’s law. That warning is not an idle one. You are going to a foreign country to combat sin; you will be brought up against it daily, and it could easily happen that your feelings could become blunted to the awfulness of sin. That is what happens to us priests if we do not stir up our faith often.

        Even here at home if you read of crimes in the newspapers, murders, sins of pride, perjury, etc., do not think lightly of it. Always remember that these things are mortal sins, and mortal sin is an appalling calamity, no matter by whom it is committed.’

            These efforts to avoid the contamination of sin require mortification of our curiosity, vigilance and perseverance but it is by these efforts that our happiness, even in this life, is increased rather than hindered, as Fr Faber (10) explains:

‘The soul of sadness is self-love. We are sad because we are weary of well-doing and of strict living.  The great secret of our cheerfulness was our anxiety and diligence to avoid venial sins, and our ingenious industry to root them out. We have now become negligent on that very point, and therefore we are sad. If indeed we still try, as much as we did before, to avoid actual venial sins, we have lost the courage to keep ourselves away from many pleasant times and places which we know to be to us occasions of venial sin. We content ourselves with an indistinct self-confidence that we shall not fall; and at once the light of God’s countenance becomes indistinct also, and the fountain of inward joy ceases to flow.’

            Most importantly, we need supernatural grace to give us the strength to combat and understand sin.  A sincere, humble, and well-prepared for confession is where this strength and understanding is to be found. ‘You will find a great alleviation of soul, you will find a great refreshment and above all you will receive that special grace of the Sacrament of Penance – a great strengthening against the evil tendencies in yourself, because you receive some of God’s own horror and aversion for sin and everything leading to it.’ – Fr Leen (3). It is here where Our Lord through His representative, the priest, provides the means for cleansing our souls. But, it is up to us to prepare for this cleansing.  Through the Sacrament of Penance we are offered the graces to die to self and live for God as Fr Leen (11) explains:

‘To live to God we must die to sin, and this death to sin cannot be achieved without its own passion. It was through the Cross that the world was redeemed – it remains that by the Cross and the Cross only, personally borne and endured, each individual enters fully into the redemption and is sanctified.  Self must die in order that God may reign in undisputed sway in us.’

So let us be horrified by the slightest sight and sound of sin. Let us rid our lives of sin and not look back on it with fondness or pleasure but instead remind ourselves how offensive it is to God.  ‘It behoves us to kindle our contrition and repentance as much as we possibly can, so that it may reach even to the very smallest appearance of sin. Thus it was that the Magdalen, when converted, so entirely lost all taste for her past sin and its pleasures, that she never again cast back one thought upon them; and David declared that he hated not only sin itself, but every path and way which led thereto.’ – St Francis de Sales (12). As Fr Geiermann (5) notes, ‘The spirit of compunction (‘the habitual grief of the soul arising from a constant remembrance of our own sinfulness’) prompts us to do violence to ourselves for the kingdom of heaven.’ Our weakness is always something we must keep in mind. And let us remember that, due to the effects of Original Sin, we ‘are more susceptible to occasions of sin than snow is to fire.’ – Fr Scupoli (13). 

This battle against sin is one we all must face and one, where only the strong, wise, humble, and persevering, will be victorious. Let us cultivate the right attitude and reaction to sin. Finally, ‘unless we keep the Christian ideal and the evil of sin vividly before our minds, they will gradually fade away, and, in proportion as they do, will they be replaced by worldly-mindedness and selfishness of heart.’ – Fr Geiermann (5). So let us keep the final goal of sanctity, the Christian ideal, and Heaven in our minds so that we will fly from all occasions of sin. And lest we feel overcome with the extent of our sinfulness and we fear that we are completely lost in the mire let us remember the mercy and goodness of Our Father who lovingly embraces the prodigal son on his return. As we run from sin let us run into the arms of Our Loving Father as:

‘The essence of Christian perfection consists in union with God by charity…In other words, charity is the force uniting man to God, and sin the force drawing him away.’ – Fr Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen

God bless you in your efforts to cultivate the right attitude and reaction to sin and by the grace of God, may this article be of some help in aiding you to do so.

References:

1. Fr Ripperger, C. (2013). Introduction to the Science of Mental Health. Lincoln: Sensus Traditionis Press
2. Fr Steuart, R. H. J. (1934). World Intangible. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
3. Fr Leen, E. (1958). My Last Retreat. Cork: Mercier Press.
4. Fr Fahey, D. (1945). The Mystical Body of Christ and the Reorganisation of Society. Palmdale, California: Christian Book Club of America.
5. Fr Geiermann, P. (1914). The Narrow Way’. New York: Benziger Brothers. Available here: https://archive.org/details/narrowwaybriefcl00geie
6. Fr Gerard, T. J. (1908). The Cords of Adam. Republished by SSPX Press, Kansas.
7. Fr Faber, F. W. (republished, 1955). Bethlehem. Baltimore: John Murphy Co.
8. Fr Vonier, A. (1913). The Human Soul and Its Relation to Other Spirits. London: B. Herder Books. Available here: https://archive.org/details/humansoulitsrela00voni
9. Fr Meyer, R. J. (1906). Science of the Saints. St. Louis: B. Herder Books. Available here: https://archive.org/details/scienceofsaints01meyeuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
10. Fr Faber, F. W. (republished, 1960). Growth in Holiness. London: Thomas Richardson & Son. Available here: https://archive.org/details/GrowthInHoliness/page/n7/mode/2up
11. Fr Leen, E. (1944). In The Likeness of Christ. New York: Sheed & Ward. Available for online borrowing here: https://archive.org/details/inlikenessofchri0000leen/mode/2up
12. St. Francis de Sales, (original 1600’s). The Devout Life. Copy available here: https://www.catholicspiritualdirection.org/devoutlife.pdf
13. Fr Gabriel of St. Margaret Mary (1964). Divine Intimacy. New York: Desclee Co.

The Right Use of Emotion

‘Education, which is worthy of the name, must expand all the human faculties with all their activities and properties…They must be such as will improve the memory, discipline the understanding, refine the feelings, cultivate the taste, form the manners.’
– Fr R J Meyer, ‘Science of the Saints’ (1)

The trials and difficulties of life hit our emotions hard at times. The violent peaks and troughs of our emotions can sometimes leave us feeling like we have just been on a rollercoaster ride.  We can be desperate to find some relief from our unruly passions. There are many ways that we try to ‘refine these feelings’. We may go to a doctor to help us find some way of balancing or controlling our emotions.  Often, we are given drugs that simply numb our sensitivity. For some, this appears to dull their conscience enough to keep them circling around on the rat wheel. For others, these drugs only cause agitation in their bodies, e.g., increased anxiety, with these toxic drugs often numbing them enough so that they can carry out crimes of the most disturbing and violent nature, e.g., homicidal and suicidal acts or tendencies.

At other times, we try to ‘discipline the understanding’ to try to change our emotional reactions.  We may go down the psychotherapeutic or counselling route in our efforts to help us to understand or control our emotions.  Depending on what psychotherapy we go to, the importance of emotions may be overrated, e.g., emotionally focused therapy, or underrated, e.g., rational emotive behaviour therapy. Whatever modern treatment we engage in there is no adequate solution to the problem of these pesky, volatile emotions.  Some short-term relief can be given by professionals who tell people that society and its traditional ‘prejudicies’, e.g., ‘homophobia’, sexism, are the cause of their niggling consciences, thus placating their consciences for a brief period. Yet, most of us realise, even if we only feel it dimly at times, that these modern approaches do not provide us with the solutions we crave, i.e., the peacefulness and happiness the depths of our souls desire. Soon enough, we get sick of being drugged up and numbed and that guilt or anxiety that we taught we could rationalise away soon comes back to haunt us. So, what to do about those emotions which won’t leave us at peace? 

‘Every theory which discredits the true nature of man or denies the need of a Divine Remedy is only intensifying the disease which it attempts to cure.  The psychopathic messes into which many tumble are due either to a want of a knowledge of human nature or to a want of a genuine religion.’ – Bishop Fulton Sheen (‘Peace of Soul’) (2)

Before we set out to answer this question, we must ground ourselves in reality. Various therapists and professionals will have different theories on emotion based on their beliefs about reality. In the rationalist world of today, professionals will try to come up with theories about emotion without recourse to the faith and, therefore, without an understanding of the reality of what man is, i.e., a body and soul created by God, destined for either eternal happiness or eternal misery. Without this understanding they fail to see the part that emotions play in this journey. As they do not have a clear understanding themselves of man’s ultimate destiny they only confuse their clients more and more. As Bishop Fulton Sheen notes, they only intensify the disease that they are seeking to cure. So, if the solution to getting a handle on our emotions is not to be found amidst the various branches of modern psychotherapy, where, then, can we receive the education we must desperately need to help us to find peace?

‘[Rationalists] see the world around them swayed by emotional propaganda – they have learned from tradition that youth is sentimental – and they conclude that the best thing they can do is to fortify the minds of young people against emotion. My own experience as a teacher tells an opposite tale. For every one pupil who needs to be guarded from a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from the slumber of cold vulgarity. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defence against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes. For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is not infallible protection against a soft head.’ – C S Lewis (‘The Abolition of Man’) (3)

There is no getting away from emotions. C S Lewis was right in outlining how the right defence against false sentiments is to ‘not to fortify the minds of young people against emotion’ but to ‘inculcate just sentiments’ into starving souls. In giving man both a body and a soul, God gave man a sensitive nature. Thus, we are bound by this sensitive nature. Today, like the times of C S Lewis, people are being swayed and manipulated by emotional propaganda. Yet, the solution remains the same – the inculcation or cultivation of just sentiments rather than the rejection or misunderstanding of sentiment and man’s sensitivity. 

In Defence of Sensitivity

Some of us have a more sensitive nature than others.  This is obvious from experience. Now, whether or not someone is more or less sensitive has no merit, in and of itself. Merit is bestowed based on how we use the gifts that God has given us.  Yet, in this rationalist and materialist age where normality is largely seen as clustering around the average results on some psychometric test developed by rationalist atheists and where any display of strong emotion is often ridiculed or scorned, there is a need to defend man’s innate sensitivity. The reason for this scorning of our sensitive nature appears to be due to the erratic and irrational behaviour we constantly see around us today. It also stems from our own frustrated inability to get a handle on our sensitive nature.  As a result, there is a temptation to mock our sensitive nature or try to rid ourselves of it. However, to control our sensitivity, the solution is not to reject sensitivity or crush it into oblivion. Instead, we must try to properly understand it and the part it plays in helping us toward peace and happiness.

Sensitive Men 

From a philosophical point of view, there appears to be a strong relationship between intellectual ability and sensitivity. For example, speaking of St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest Doctor of the Church, Jacques Maritain notes that ‘his flesh…was the delicate and sensitive flesh which Aristotle says is peculiar to those endowed with great power of intellect’ and ‘he was so sensitive that the least bodily hurt gave him exquisite pain.’ (4). St. Thomas is an example of a sensitive man who used his sensitivity to give glory and honour to God.  However, the greatest example of how we should view sensitivity is given to us by God Himself. By being clothed in our human flesh when God became man Our Lord gives us insight into how we should view sensitivity. When He took on our sensitive nature, His sensitivity was far greater than that of any man, as Fr Faber, in his excellent book, ‘Bethlehem’ (5) explains: ‘He chose such a temperament of Body as should be able to endure the floods of glory he would pour into it. He chose one whose extreme sensitiveness might almost aid, rather than impede, the delicate operations of his magnificent Soul. He chose one whose beautiful texture caused it to be hereafter such an instrument of suffering as has never existed elsewhere amid all the immense capabilities of created life.’ AND ‘The tenderness of his Sacred Heart was perfect, in the fullest sense of the word. No one had ever been gifted with affections like his. There has never been a sensitiveness which could be thought of alongside of his. In their strength, in their depth, in their fidelity, in their delicacy, never had human affections been so divinely impassioned.’ These facts about one of the greatest saints and, more importantly, God Himself should help us to see that sensitivity, in and of itself, should not be scorned or ridiculed. While none of us are born with a sensitivity as sensitive as Our Lord’s and only some of us approach the sensitivity of St. Thomas, all of us are born with the ability to feel and experience sensations. So, what use should we make of our sensitivity? 

‘When God’s grace, which is always given in answer to prayer, imparts the power to bring home to oneself what Jesus felt, what thoughts traversed His mind, what emotions stirred His soul – in a word, when it is given one to realise in some measure how He humanly reacted to all the circumstances of His life, then one begins to walk with assured step on the road that leads to holiness.’ – Fr Edward Leen (‘In The Likeness of Christ’) (6)

Above, Fr Edward Leen gives us a short description of what effects contemplation on the sensations and emotions Our Lord experienced while in this world should have on us.  Fr Leen continues: ‘Strong in His resolve to tread the path marked out for Him by Divine Providence, He did not use His life, His energies or His talents to minister to His own satisfaction, or to gratify His egoism. Though his sensitive nature was wounded through and through by hostility, unkindness, ingratitude, and want of understanding, He allowed nothing that He suffered from others to modify in the least the perfection of His attitude towards them.  At all times He bore Himself with the same calm, unchanging, unbroken, undeviating fortitude.  He wasted no valuable time in repining or in self-pity; He wasted no energy in rebellion against circumstances; and He did not passively acquiesce to the inevitable with a gesture of indifference or despair. The whole attention of His great Soul was concentrated on the doing of the task that the occasion offered, never once reflecting on what it should mean to Himself in the eyes of men, satisfied that He, in the doing of it, should be approved of in the sight of God.’ (my emphasis). While we will never experience or feel, to the same extent, the pain inflicted on the gentle and sensitive Body of Our Lord, our sensitive nature will inevitably be wounded in this life. Unlike Him, we will, at times, respond to this wounding of our sensitive nature with self-pity and despair.  Due to Original Sin, our sensitive nature will rebel against the dictates of reason and faith. We can then start to begin to curse the feebleness and disobedience of our rebellious body.  We want to be rid of all emotion and sensation and we can often drown ourselves in drink or drugs to try to do so. At other times, we may try to combat life in a stoic way pretending that we are above and unaffected by the sways of emotion. Alternatively, we can contemplate Him Who, while not having any rebellious or disordered emotions, still felt the stirring of emotions within His soul.

‘The hearts of Jesus and Mary and Joseph were not insensible to any legitimate human feeling or emotion.’ – Fr Leen (‘In The Likeness of Christ’)

Just like Our Lord, the example of the Holy Family teaches us that the Christian life is not about ridding oneself of one’s feelings. The Catholic Faith teaches us to contemplate on and pray about the joys and sorrows of Our Lady and St. Joseph. These devotions give us a better understanding of the Christian way and the Life of Our Lord. While under the care of St. Joseph and Our Lady, Our Lord felt many emotions, Our Lord felt joy, Our Lord cried, Our Lord shivered, Our Lord suffered. When He had grown to Manhood, emotions, felt through His exquisitely sensitive Heart and Body, did not cease. He became intimately involved in the suffering of man and suffered out of love for us. In a world which often promotes the idea of stoic detachment from our own or our neighbour’s suffering Our Lord’s example shows how running away from suffering in this life is not an option. He took on our sensitive nature, not so we could escape from the suffering our sensitive nature inevitably causes us in this life, but so we would know how to use this sensitivity in the right way.

‘[The Church] does not deny emotions, any more than it denies hunger; the Church only asks that, when a man sits at table, he shall not eat like a pig.’ – Bishop Fulton Sheen (‘Peace of Soul’)

Christ does not expect us to be emotionless or stoic. His life in this world is proof of this. However, He does ask us, through His perfect example, to strive to do the will of God. To do this, He asks us to order our passions accordingly so we do not eat like pigs.  He tells us not to allow our unruly passions to make us beastlike. He also shows us that we should not stoically pretend that we are purely spiritual beings who are immune from the sensations we experience in this life. We are men and we cannot escape this reality. Our Lord solely asks us to be virtuous men who strive manfully to do the will of God. He shows us how to do so. He leads the way in showing us how to use our sensitive nature. This nature God has given us can be an ally in helping us to imitate Him or we can use our sensitivity while working toward our own demise. As the great theologian of the 20^th century, Garrigou-Lagrange, notes: ‘Whereas in the souls of saints, of missioners, and of martyrs, a perfectly ordered passion is a power that manifests and serves the love of God and neighbour; in the soul of a criminal, it manifests and serves unbridled self-love.’ (7)

Conclusion:

‘St Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections in which every object is accorded that kind and degree of love which is appropriate to it. Aristotle says that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought.’ – C S Lewis (‘The Abolition of Man’)

‘Just as it is better that man should both will good and do it in his external act; so also does it belong to the perfection of moral good, that man should be moved unto good, not only in respect of his will, but also in respect of his sensitive appetite; according to Ps. 83:3: “My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God”: where by “heart” we are to understand the intellectual appetite, and by “flesh” the sensitive appetite.’ – St Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, FS, Q24, Art. 3, A[3]) (8)

Trying to numb our emotions, following the false stoic way, allowing our passions to have complete free reign over us, or using our sensitive nature to do bad are not the answers.  Our emotions must be directed by us so that eventually they can aid rather than hinder us in our quest for peace and happiness. As St. Augustine and Aristotle note, we must train our emotions to react in the right way. Following on from this, St Thomas notes that it is good and a sign of perfection if our emotions help us do good.  It is a sign that we are beginning to imitate Christ, Who made perfect use of His sensitive nature in carrying out the will of God. It is a sign of entry into the illuminative way as described by Archbishop Goodier: ‘One learns to see things as God sees them, to feel about things as God feels about them, and to judge life accordingly.’ (9) (my emphasis)

Where Emotional Satisfaction is Found

‘When we go to Holy Communion, we feel something extraordinary, a well-being which runs through the whole body from head to foot. What is this well-being? It is our Lord, who imparts himself to every part of our body, making it thrill with joy. We are compelled to say, like St. John, It is the Lord! Those who feel nothing at all are much to be pitied! When you have had the happiness of receiving the good God, you feel for some time a gladness, a balm in your heart…Pure souls are always like that; and this union is their strength and happiness.’ – St. John Vianney (10) (my emphasis)

While our emotions are rebellious at times and not always under our control, through prayer and penance and ultimately by the grace of God, we can gain much mastery over them (7). It is through the Faith, the Sacraments, and especially the Holy Eucharist, where the good God imparts the most joy to those souls who have devoutly prepared themselves for Him. How sad it is for those who do not know or feel this! By giving us His body and blood as our strength and happiness He gives us strength so our emotions begin to serve us as allies, rather than opponents, in our efforts to do good. This is the right use of emotion. It is the Catholic response. It is the only response that gives true joy to mind, body, and soul and it is the only one that will give us the strength to carry the crosses life brings without trying to numb ourselves to or run from the pain of it all.    

Finally, may God grant us the grace to be able to gain mastery over our rebellious nature and, for the fight we put up, may our sensitive nature be rewarded with eternal balm in our hearts .

God bless

Footnotes and references:

1. Fr Meyer, R. J. (1906). Science of the Saints. St. Louis: B. Herder Books. Available here: https://archive.org/details/scienceofsaints01meyeuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
2. Bishop Sheen, F. S. (1949). Peace of Soul. New York: Whittlesey House. Preview available here: https://archive.org/details/peaceofsoul0000shee/mode/2up
3. Available here: https://archive.org/details/TheAbolitionOfMan_229/mode/2up
4. Maritain, J. (1947). St Thomas Aquinas. London: The Catholic Book Club.
5. Fr Faber, F. (published, 1955). Bethlehem. Baltimore: John Murphy Co.
6. Extended quote: ‘When God’s grace, which is always given in answer to prayer, imparts the power to bring home to oneself what Jesus felt, what thoughts traversed His mind, what emotions stirred His soul – in a word, when it is given one to realise in some measure how He humanly reacted to all the circumstances of His life, then one begins to walk with assured step on the road that leads to holiness.  This study reveals a wonderful similarity and a still more striking dissimilarity between Him and ourselves.  We discover with delight that He was affected by things much in the same way as we ourselves are. He was hurt by misunderstanding; He was wounded by insult; he delighted in candour and innocence; He was revolted by hypocrisy; He was won by straightforwardness and simplicity; He hated lying and irreverence; He was fearless in the vindication of truth; His heart was deeply touched by those who showed faith and confidence in Him, and finally, He gave Himself without reserve to those who yielded Him their loyalty and their affection.  But just as it dawns on us that in many things our experiences are very like what His must have been, and we discover, too, a profound contrast Him and us.  There is a marked difference presented between the perfection of the manner in which He controlled the stirring of His feelings and guided their expression, and the imperfection and weakness exhibited by us at each moment in the direction of our thoughts, our feelings and our activities, i.e. in the direction of our whole internal and external life. We see that His life was perfectly human and still humanly perfect: and we are obliged to confess that all the movements of our being, feelings, emotions, judgements, speech, attitude of mind and body, though bearing the stamp of humanity, are far short of the human perfection discernible in everything pertaining to the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord.  The realisation of this contrast causes in us a pain and a sorrow which partakes more of the nature of love than grief…The study of Him excites in us the desire to become like Him as Man. And then when our life and our acts bear a resemblance to those of Jesus, God comes and pours His Divinity into our souls in abundance, lavishes on them the gifts of His Grace, and gradually breaking down the barriers that exist between creature and Creator, initiates souls into the happiness that accompanies union with the Divinity.  Great happiness results from this union, even in the imperfect mode of it that belongs to the condition of our state of exile on earth.  This is the whole theory of sanctity.’ – Fr Edward Leen (‘In the Likeness of Christ’), p. 197-199.  (This book is an excellent source for coming to know Our Lord’s Humanity). Available to borrow here: https://archive.org/details/inlikenessofchri0000leen/mode/2up
7. In Volume 1 of the ‘Three Ages of the Interior Life’, Garrigou-Lagrange offers an excellent outline of the means of gaining mastery over our disobedient. This includes spiritual reading, spiritual direction, prayer, mortification and the Sacraments. See here: https://archive.org/details/threeagesofinter0001garr/mode/2up
8. Summa Theologica available at: http://summa-theologiae.org/question/14303.htm
9. Archbishop Goodier (1938). An Introduction to the Study of Ascetical and Mystical Theology. London: Burns & Oates. Available to borrow here: https://archive.org/details/introductiontost0000good_s5s0
10. Convert, A. H (1923). ‘Eucharistic Meditations – Extracts from the Writings and Instructions of St. John Vianney’

Note: The article above is mainly a defence of sensitivity as sensitivity is often misunderstood or abused today. However, an excerpt is posted below from the book, ‘Cords of Adam’ by Fr Thomas J. Gerard (published: 1908), so it is understood that sentiment and sensitivity to emotion can serve as an aid or a hindrance to true devotion and happiness. Fr Gerard makes many similar points to the ones made above about the emotional nature of man but it also outlines the dangers associated with sentiment which are worth being aware. We may taste the sweetness of the Lord (Psalms 33:9) at times, especially after Holy Communion as St. John Vianney notes, but lest this serve as a means to ensnare us in spiritual pride the following piece is worth taking onboard :

 ‘The abuse of emotion in religion has been stigmatised as sentimentalism. But the abuse of this abuse may easily lead to another equally great mistake, namely, that of undervaluing the use of emotion in religion. Man is a rational animal and much more. He is also a volitional and emotional animal. Since human nature then is as it is, the emotions must ever have their proper place assigned to them in the life of devotion.’ – p. 60

‘There is a middle way between a cold passionless religion and a religion which is all sighs and ejaculations. The correct measure of sentiment is the measure in which it leads to right action and conduct.

            There is a tendency in this northern climate of ours to undervalue the use of emotion in religion. I question very much whether that prayer in the Missal is often used, the prayer for the gift of tears. Simpering in an Englishman or an American would probably be accounted to him as softness if not something worse. Still there is that in most men which in an Italian is represented by tears. There is some tremulant emotion, however slight, a kind of wincing at the thought of sin committed, a feeling of horror at the thought of having offended God. Well, this feeling, wincing or tremulant emotion is valuable and to be encouraged just in so far as it tends to real purpose of amendment; and in so far as it does not it must be reckoned as worthless.  The absence of feeling in those who are living the spiritual life seriously has been considered a recognised phase in the process of spiritual development. It is a trial intended to test the firmness of the will. The will that can go in spite of the absence of all sensible devotion may content itself that it is fairly well flourishing in spiritual growth. Indeed so valuable is this test that it is spoken of as a ‘dark night,’ and at the same time a ‘night more lovely than the dawn,’ a light guiding me ‘more surely than the noon-day sun.’ This absence, however, derives its value from the contrast to the presence. The presence of emotion, therefore, is to be valued as providing a breathing time against the coming absence. The absence is to be valued as providing a test of the efficacious firmness of the will. There may be souls who are habitually dry. But they are not normal cases. The constant absence of all emotion may be a sign of carelessness and want of interest in the spiritual life, although not necessarily so. It is certainly, however, a sign that the conscience needs examination.  If the result of examination shows that the ordinary means are being taken to promote interest in spiritual matters, then the dryness may be considered as an exercise in will-power; but if it shows that these means are not being taken, then the dryness must be considered as a sign of danger.

            Opposed to the occasional and constant absence of emotion is the constant presence of it. This equally affords a reason for self-examination. The value of the constant presence is more easily weighed than the value of the constant absence. It has an art and a music and a literature all to itself. These are almost entirely devoid of any solid intellectual characteristic. They affect rather loud clashing colour, sensual emasculated tone and senseless incoherent ejaculation. The life of Our Lord is read greedily in the visions of the saints, whilst that in the gospels is found dry and uninteresting. Not that he descriptions of St. Gertrude and Blessed Margaret Mary and Sister Catherine Emmerich do not give us wondrous insights into the spirit of the life of Christ, but that the soul which interests itself in nothing but sensible devotion misses the whole of that spirit and contents itself with the letter through which the spirit is meant to be conveyed. The altogether emotional devotion has its own peculiar sins too. These are the secret sins of spiritual pride and self-righteousness and the one predominant open sin of talking of the faults of others.

            The remedy for all these vagaries is a return to the standard of the gospel. Christ will be served as He wishes and not as we wish. He has given us affections and emotions to help us in that service. His one business on earth is to do the will of His Heavenly Father, to save souls by the undoing and by the hindrance of sin. In so far then as emotion and affection draw us nearer to Him and keep us away from sin, they are being rightly used. In so far as they are made an end or a pleasure in themselves they are being used wrongly. To love Christ because of his obvious kindness and gentleness is good in its way, but not precisely what He wants. What He desires is practical sympathy which will do and live for His cause, the salvation of souls.  The women who met Him on His way to crucifixion had a gift of tears, but not exactly the gift of tears which He preferred. ‘Weep not for Me,’ He said, ‘but for yourselves and your children: not for My sufferings, but for your sins which cause them.’

            So also was it when Our Lady found Him in the temple. The mother and father had sought the Child sorrowing. Their affection, however, although of the purest and best, needed to be directed to a higher service than their natural satisfaction. ‘Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ How much more direction than does affection need which in comparison is so gross and carnal? The true test of right cultivation is the fruit which the emotions bring forth. ‘Not every one that saith to Me Lord, Lord, shall enter in to the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ – p. 62-5

Self-Esteem: What Modern Psychology Tells Us, What a Man With Some Common Sense Tells Us, and What The Catholic Faith Tells Us

‘The time will soon come when a modern philosopher who returns to common sense will be hailed as one of the most original thinkers of all time’ – Bishop Fulton Sheen (‘God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy’, published 1930) (1)

Modern psychology and Self-Esteem:

The primary focus of psychology and psychotherapy today is on increasing people’s self-esteem and helping them feel good about themselves.  Rather than try to figure out the truth about ourselves, psychologists and psychotherapists focus on superficial remedies that try to make people feel better about themselves. They focus on ‘reframing’ negative thinking and removing cognitive distortions. In previous articles I touched on some of the ways psychotherapists try to correct negative self-beliefs.  Psychotherapeutic and psychological approaches today mainly involve a rejection of reality, particularly the reality of sin, and the flattering of their clients. This is an absolute cocktail for disaster.

A Man with Some Common Sense and Self-Esteem:

Thankfully, not all psychologists have bought in to the idea that high self-esteem is the end goal of therapy.  One psychologist that has spoken more clearly and more sanely on self-esteem than his deluded colleagues is professor Jordan Peterson.  In this 4-minute clip on self-esteem (2) he rightly highlights how our opinions of ourselves must be based on an accurate view of ourselves.  In broadcasting his ideas, he is thrown a bit of common sense into the psychological field which had been slowly draining itself of any common sense that it was clinging onto over the last fifty years. For this, he has gained a massive following, especially amongst young men, who need to hear someone tell them firmly to tidy their room and be better than they currently are.  He has been a springboard for many men to face the reality about their lives and get themselves together rather than sit around complaining about the injustices and suffering of their lives.  He tells people that ‘if you confront the world forthrightly, if you speak the truth and you expose yourself courageously to those things that you’re afraid of that your life will improve.’

Peterson’s words and work resonate with those who know that they are not all that they could or should be. His ideas resonate with those who are sick of being told that they are ‘good enough’ or who dislike being pampered by flatterers who tell them all sort of sweet and nice things about themselves when reality and their conscience tell them these things are far from the truth. The reaction to professor Peterson’s work has shown that there is a longing for the truth in people’s minds and souls. Some people have seen through the superficiality of modern therapy that attempts to make you think more positively while ignoring reality. They desire the truth even if it hurts.  

Towards the Truth…

To those who love the truth, professor Peterson’s work can act like a stepping stone away from the nonsense of modern psychological approaches and towards the truth about ourselves. People are not put off by Peterson’s insights into human failings. Rather, they know that he is saying many things that are true and this appeals to them.  In another video (3) critiquing those who glorify high self-esteem, he asks the question ‘what makes you think you should high self-esteem? And he answers, half in jest, ‘Maybe you are a miserable little worm? God only knows.’ And it is here, in this question, ‘maybe you are miserable little worm?’, that professor Peterson steps closer, than he probably even realises, to the Catholic and true understanding of self-esteem.

 The Catholic Faith and Self-Esteem:  

I have written elsewhere about the need for the Catholic Faith to be presented in all its splendour and glory to appeal to young people. It can then appeal to those generous souls who desire to be told the truth rather than ‘sweet little lies’ to placate and comfort them.  It needs to be presented truthfully indicating to people what they are and showing them what they should be. Over the last 60 years, largely due to the changes implemented at the Vatican II council, the Catholic faith is not presented in all its glorious truth to people. Church men of the post-Vatican II/conciliar/Novus Ordo church now flatter man and tell him he is ‘good enough’ or ‘not too bad’.  They have gotten with the times. In the excellent book, ‘The Burden of Belief’ (4), written in the 1930s, what effect this attempted softening of the faith has is clearly described:

‘Is it not characteristic of this development that the tendency today, largely encouraged by official piety, is to make the yoke easier to bear, to soften things down, grant dispensations, blunt the sharp edges? It is what is called meeting people half-way.  The Christian life must be made possible with a minimum of effort; it must be offered ‘with every modern comfort at moderate prices,’ and on no account must anyone be frightened off. In the endeavour to make it attractive, it has been dulcified with a bone-softening sweetness and given a sentimental appeal which is not so much child-like as childish…A tame, pretty-pretty, unadventurous Christianity such as this, which is diseased at the core, and lives on a lie, is its own speedy avenger, inasmuch as it destroys itself, it perishes of its own anaemia, it condemns itself to a continuous process of degeneration. It no longer produces men and women, but caricatures or actors…bona fide for all I care. It makes not appeal whatever to the best that is in us, to those magnanimous impulses that ask to be seized in a firm, bold grip and exploited for great and noble ends. It only appeals to our petty, cowardly, mendacious instincts for shuffling and playing for safety – and these fortunately are suicidal. It flowers in illusions, which life soon explodes, and a good thing too.’

Jordan Peterson has attempted to explode some of the illusions of modern psychology ‘and a good thing too‘. While the conciliar/Novus Ordo church ‘perishes of its own anaemia’ and ‘it condemns itself to a continuous process of degeneration’, men, like professor Peterson, sound more like Catholic leaders, than the bishops and pope that we have today.  Catholic leaders used to tell man what he really was. Today, the truth about the Catholic Faith has been dulcified by leaders in the post-Vatican II church ‘with a bone-softening sweetness’. It has become a religion for humanitarians and ‘in the eyes of the humanitarian, God is very much like the man whose sole office it would be to throw food to flocks of irresponsible fowls; to feed and to fatten is all that man is expected to do.’ (Fr Anscar Vonier, 1913) (5). Man is exalted and told to fatten up on the pleasures of this life.  God is told to buzz off and to stop making us feel bad about ourselves.  Previously the Catholic Church, particularly through her saints, told man what he really is. The language that they use makes professor Peterson’s words sound sweet in comparison.  Here are just a few examples from some of the Church’s greatest saints:

St Louis Marie de Montfort: ‘By nature, we are prouder than peacocks, more wedded to the earth than are the toads, fouler than goats, more odious than serpents, more gluttonous than pigs, fiercer than tigers, more slothful than tortoises, more feeble than reeds, and more fickle than weathercocks.’ (From: ‘True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin’, early 1700s) (6)

St. Bernard: “Remember what you were -corrupted seed; what you are – a body destined for decay; what you will be -food for worms.” (quoted in ‘True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin’)

St. Bonaventure, speaking to a nun about true humility and the spirit of poverty: ‘The Highest God became as the least of all, and the immense God became a little creature, yet a filthy worm, a mere handmaid of Christ, ‘exalts and magnifies herself’ (Psalms 9:18)…Reflect then, whence you come and take it to heart that you are the slime of the earth.  You have wallowed in sin, and are an exile from the happy kingdom of Heaven.’ ‘It is a great, a heinous crime that a vile and contemptible worm, for whom the God of Majesty and Lord of All became poor, should desire to be rich.’ (From: ‘Holiness of Life’) (7).  

This language from these saints, who were all known for and wrote about their deep love of God and their neighbour, is far from the self-esteem promoting language of modern psychologists. One psychologist, Jordan Peterson, who maintains some level of common sense and sanity amidst the madness of his discipline, criticises his fellow psychologists’ theories and rejects their obsession with self-esteem.  But it is the Catholic Church, through her saints, that provides the proper response to self-esteem. In her wisdom she advises us to crush the snake that is self-esteem altogether. The saints point out what we really are so we can rid ourselves of this snake. Other Catholic writers and priests only emphasise this point further. ‘Whoever desires to honour the divine Majesty must rid himself of self-esteem and the desire of the esteem of others.’ (‘The Spiritual Combat’ by Fr Scupoli, written in 1589) (8). This ridding ourselves of self-esteem is painful. It is a battle and it involves taking up a cross. ‘Death and ill-health and accident and grief cannot be banished by any human formula, and the weaknesses attendant on human nature, sloth and self-indulgence, envy and hatred, can be eradicated only be each man taking up his cross and conquering himself.’ (Fr  M C D’Arcy, ‘Mirage and Truth’ (1935) (9).

While the words that the saints and wise Catholic priests speak are hard for man, especially modern man, to hear, they are most necessary today. The truth about ourselves must be faced. To a certain extent, this is something that professor Peterson captures. However, it appears he fails to realise that the truth has been spoken more clearly, more accurately, and more strongly by those who have come before him. To his credit, he is an exception to the flattering tongues that psychologists and psychotherapists have.  You will not hear the language of the saints or the Catholic Church in psychological services today. You will likely never meet a psychologist who questions the self-esteem craze and even when they, like professor Peterson do, they still fail to understand man is and what he needs. 

‘Clearly, a proper estimate of ourselves is necessarily a low estimate. Hence St Bernard rightly defines humility, as ‘a virtue which, giving a man a correct knowledge of self, makes him appear despicable in his own eyes’. – Fr R. J. Meyer (‘Science of the Saints’, 1902) (10)

The solutions to that gnawing conscience of yours, no matter how dimly you feel it, are not to be found in psychotherapists who do not understand what humility truly is. They do not give man a correct knowledge of self. Yet, many people fall into the charlatan’s web, which is psychotherapy, after making various attempts to overcome their misery and escape this correct knowledge of self, as Bishop Fulton Sheen (1949) (11) saw happening in his time, ‘They find that they are cloyed with what they thought would satisfy; they try to make up for each new disillusionment with a new attachment; they try to exorcise the old disgusts and shames with febrile new excitements…They are a burden to themselves, a bore to their friends, disgusted but never satiated, made more hungry but never satisfied; in the end they pay charlatans handsome fees to be told that there is no sin and that their sense of guilt is due to a father complex. But their moral cancer remains, even then; they feel it gnawing at their hearts.’ The world cannot satisfy the yearnings of the soul nor can it be satisfied by those who try to boost your self-esteem by telling you not to worry about sin or that you are ‘good enough’ as you are.  The road to happiness is built on truth and it is the Catholic Faith and her saints who show us this road and how to built these truthful foundations. 

‘The faithful desire to grow in the knowledge of God, to learn to serve and to love him better; they crave too, for self-knowledge that, by its light, they may humiliate and correct themselves, and so grow in virtue and in love.’ – ‘The Ideal of the Fervant Soul’ – Fr Auguste Saudreau (1927) (12)

‘The knowledge of God elevates the soul; knowledge of self keeps it humble. The former raises the soul to contemplate something of the depths of the divine perfections, the latter lowers it to the abyss of its own nothingness and sin.’ – ‘Spiritual Maxims’ – Fr Grou (1780s, republished in 1870’s) (13)

The Catholic faith does not ignore the reality of the miserable wretch that is man in our fallen state. However, in doing so, she also holds out the sublime reality of what man can and should be, i.e., a saint.  ‘The true knowledge of self is the source of humility, modesty, patience, and diffidence in self; and these are the conditions of true confidence in God. He only who does not build upon his own strength directs his glance straight to God. As upright humility, or the knowledge of the truth that God is all and the creature nothing, serves as a foundation to every virtue; so this humble and correct idea of ourselves makes the blooming of all virtues in our soul possible, and brings us into just relations with God, with men, and with salvation.’ ‘The Way of Interior Peace’ – Fr Von Lehen (1889) (14). 

In conclusion, let us ignore those who shout about the need for ‘high self-esteem’ Let us come to really know ourselves as we truly are. Let us avoid those who subtly deceive us and, as St Bernard once said to his wayward nephew, Robert, ‘Gird yourself, cast off your seducers, shut your eyes to flatterers, search your own heart’. (15).And having thrown the idol of self-esteem into the rubbish heap where it belongs, let us raise our hearts to God to know our real worth as ‘it is more to us to know what his Creator thinks of him, than to know what he is worth himself.’ (Fr Faber) (16).

May God bless us in our efforts to see through the flattery of the world and so come to true knowledge of ourselves.  And lest we wallow in our own misery, may God then turn our eyes toward Him who is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Himself and guide us, His children, safely to Him.  

References:

1. Bishop Sheen, F. S. (1930). God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. Available here: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.89276
2. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKoTa6omipE
3. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f3qyNNtpQk
4. Coudenhove, I. F. (1934) The Burden of Belief. London: Sheed & Ward
5. Fr Vonier, A. (1913). The Human Soul and Its Relation to Other Spirits. London: B. Herder Books. Available here: https://archive.org/details/humansoulitsrela00voni
6. St. Louis Marie de Montfort (early 1700s). True Devotion to The Blessed Virgin. Available here: http://catholicapologetics.info/library/onlinelibrary/trued.htm
7. St. Bonaventure (edition published in 1923). Holiness of Life. London: B. Herder Books. Available here: http://www.catholicapologetics.info/library/onlinelibrary/holiness.pdf
8. Fr Scupoli (original 1589). The Spiritual Combat. Available here: https://archive.org/details/spiritualcombat02scupgoog
9. Fr D’Arcy, M. C. (1935). Mirage and Truth. London: The Centenary Press.
10. Fr Meyer, R. J. (1906). Science of the Saints. St. Louis: B. Herder Books. Available here: https://archive.org/details/scienceofsaints01meyeuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
11. Bishop Sheen, F. S. (1949). Peace of Soul. New York: Whittlesey House. Preview available here: https://archive.org/details/peaceofsoul0000shee/mode/2up
12. Fr Saudreau, A. (1927). The Ideal of the Fervant Soul, translated by Frances M. Bidwell. London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne
13. Fr Grou (original 1780s). Spiritual Maxims. Available here: https://archive.org/details/spiritualmaximso00grou/page/n1/mode/2up
14. Fr Von Lehen (1889). The Way of Interior Peace. Available here: https://archive.org/details/wayofinteriorpea00lehe
15. Fr James, B. S. (1953) St Bernard of Clairvaux – As Seen Through His Selected Letters. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co. Preview available here: https://archive.org/details/stbernardofclair00bern/mode/2up
16. Fr Faber, F. (published, 1955). Bethlehem. Baltimore: John Murphy Co.

Truth and Freedom Therapy – A Therapy or An Apostolate?

‘Therapy’: ‘Treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.’ (Oxford Dictionary)

This website and the service provided is dedicated to helping people to relieve or heal their disorders. This is partly achieved by pointing out the flaws and errors in other therapies, particularly those provided by psychologists and psychiatrists today. It highlights how psychological and psychiatric theories are built on sand and shows how their disciplines and the vast majority of these professionals are detached from reality. These professionals can not relieve or heal disorders as they do not understand what order is. In essence, they cannot give what they do not have. Various blogs on this website have attempted to show this.

Truth and freedom therapy offers an alternative therapy to these flawed and dangerous approaches. It is a therapy that is grounded in reality. Yet, the more I have reflected on the work I do and the blogs I post the more I realise ‘therapy’ does not quite capture what this service offers nor does it capture the focus or end goal of this service.  

This service is based on the reality that we have immortal souls that are destined for either eternal happiness or eternal damnation. This reality cannot be ignored or minimised. Truth and freedom therapy tries to offer people information that will help them to save their souls and attain eternal happiness.  It tries to draw people away from the errors of the world which attempt to deceive people into believing that this life is all we have. It points out the delusions of those who believe that a loving relationship with God is not essential for true happiness. It guides people toward God, His Divine Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and His Blessed Mother.  It attempts to point out how sanctity and sanity are intimately intertwined. It highlights how happiness and holiness cannot be separated. It tries to give some guidance on how to sanctify ourselves.  Essentially, it is pointing to the practice of the one true faith, i.e. the Catholic faith, as the means to sanctify ourselves. This is the means of maintaining peace of soul and mind as we traverse through this valley of tears. And, more importantly, it is the only means of attaining eternal happiness for eternity. So, while this service may qualify as a therapy given the definition above, at its core it really is an apostolate. Its end goal is to bring people closer to the truth so that by accepting and following Truth Himself one can be truly free.

Given the emphasis and focus of this service it appears insincere and slightly deceptive in calling this service a therapy when really, at its core, it is an apostolate. I have engaged in an attempt over the last two years to draw people away from the errors of psychology and psychiatry toward the truth of the Catholic Faith. It has been designed in a way to draw people to Truth Himself. In this process, He has drawn myself closer to Him and He has helped me to realise that the solution to the difficulties of this life is much simpler and more straightforward than some of my long-winded blogs have made them out to me.  It is essentially loving Him who is Love Himself.  This is the royal path to true liberty.  Yet, this liberty is not the freedom that the world understands or promotes.  This path is rejected by the world as the world knows that this path involves captivity.  As Fr Faber explains in his excellent book on the interior life, ‘Growth in Holiness’: ‘Grace is the opposite of nature; nature everywhere cries liberty, grace cries captivity.’ God calls us gently to this captivity by revealing to us how much He loves us. He leaves it in our hands whether to accept His invitation to love Him in return. ‘It is true that love may lead to surrender of its freedom, indeed this is usually the goal of great love, nevertheless it is a free surrender, or it is of no worth.’– Archbishop Goodier (‘An Introduction to the Study of Ascetical and Mystical Theology’).  In our world today, especially with the draconian measures being used against us in this manufactured ‘pandemic’, many people are crying for ‘liberty’.  On this website, I have continuously emphasised the spirit of liberty. I have realised that on this website and, most certainly, in the world the graceful cry for captivity is rarely heard. Those who do cry for captivity go against the world’s maxims. They are the ones who are swimming against the current of false ‘liberty’, i.e. licence to do what you want.  These souls are given the graces and strength to keep swimming by their submissive and obedient adherence to Truth and Love Himself. Yet, in all this effort, these are the ones who are really free – ‘Liberty of spirit consists in exemption from cares, from remorse, from attachments; and captivity is the only road to this royal liberty.’ – Fr Faber (‘Growth in Holiness’) (See footnote).

‘To know and serve God is the only freedom’ – Don Sarda y Salvany (‘Liberalism Is A Sin’)

So, the end goal of truth and freedom therapy (or really this Catholic apostolate) is helping people to become captive to the good God so that they can be truly free.  There is no other route to true liberty. While tyrannical governments restrict natural liberties more and more today, they can never stop us from knowing, loving and serving God.  God gives everyone sufficient grace so that they can choose to serve Him. It is a voluntary choice to do otherwise. How sad for those who choose worldly illusions of ‘freedom’ over true freedom! ‘[Sinners] prefer to be ‘free’; that is, they prefer not to be obliged to free themselves from some slavery.’ – Archbishop Goodier.  How sad it is for those who abuse the gifts God has given them! – ‘How can one be free who is separated from the Most High? What harder or more miserable captivity is there than for the soul to have escaped from the hand of its Creator? How happy are they who find themselves laden with the strong fetters and chains of the gifts of God’s mercy, so that they are unable to gain the power to set themselves free…O free will, thou are the slave of thine own freedom, unless thou be pierced through with the fear and love of Him who created thee!’ (St. Teresa of Avila). 

Sin has produced the disordered times we find ourselves in. The enemies of Christ hold the reigns of worldly power and the conciliar church led by pope Francis are aiding the devil. Yet, the Catholic Faith still remains the shining light of faith, hope, and charity, in a world where these virtues are forgotten about or distorted. These complicated times call for a return to simplicity and Tradition if we are to remain captive to Our Lord and free. The Latin Mass, the Sacraments, Our Lady and the Rosary are key here. The anxiety, the depression, the fear that many of us are experiencing in these dark times can only be lifted by the light of faith and a more childlike trust in the goodness and love of our Heavenly Father who knows our needs before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:8).  No therapies can do what a deep, sincere, devoted, and voluntary captivity to Love Himself can do. And the vast majority of therapies today only confuse people more or wrap them further in chains.

So, with this in mind, I am changing the focus of this service/website. It will be focused on apostolate work rather than therapeutic work. I will not be providing counselling or therapy sessions. Rather, I will write occasional blogs, focused on guiding people toward Catholic books, literature, and devotions that will help them develop their spiritual life. I will encourage people to get to the Sacraments wherever they can and find good traditional Catholic priests for guidance and spiritual direction. I, as a layman, might be able to provide some good reading material and some general advice but I cannot provide what good priests can and neither can any other psychological professional. We cannot fill the void left by Catholic priests, bishops and popes abandoning the flock to the wolves of the world since the Vatican II council. I have given my critique of modern psychology, psychiatry, and other therapeutic approaches over the last two years to show that these professionals are doing far more damage than any good in their attempts to fill this void. I invite readers to assess these claims for themselves. Instead of looking for answers to the problems of life from deluded and disordered psychological professionals it is far safer and surer to return to the truth and the simplicity, beauty and majesty of the Catholic Faith. Hopefully, you will see through the illusionary promises of happiness that the world and its slaves offer and by doing so, you will then become captive to the truth.

‘No man can serve two masters’ – Matthew 6:24

The great English martyr, St. Thomas More, served the right Master. He was captivated by Our Lord and His religion. St. Thomas described this life as a prison and we who traverse it as prisoners. He composed a prayer longing to be released from this prison and to attain Heaven where he would be free to love God for all eternity: ‘Give me, good Lord, a longing to be with Thee, not for the avoiding of the calamities of this wretched world; nor so much for the avoiding of the pains of purgatory, nor of the pains of hell neither, nor so much for the attaining of the joys of heaven in respect of mine own commodity, as even for a very love of Thee.’ (‘Sir Thomas More (The Blessed Thomas More)’ by Henri Bremond – p. 146). In his glorious martyrdom, in which he loyally remained captive to Our Lord, his prayer was fulfilled and he was released from this prison. We now have recourse to him so we too may have strength and faith like his to remain loyal captives to Our Lord.

Finally, I will leave you with three quotes from three books I highly recommend, ‘Self Abandonment to Divine Providence’ by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, ‘The Imitation of Christ’, ‘How to Be Happy, How to Be Holy’ by Fr Paul O’Sullivan (available through TAN books) which emphasise the way to true freedom and give advice on how to conduct ourselves in this life to attain this freedom.  May they inspire you to a holier and happier life. 

St. Thomas More, pray for us

‘Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence’ by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

‘God assures to the souls who are faithful to him a glorious victory over the powers of the world and of hell’:

‘All these monsters [Lucifer and his slaves] come into the world only to exercise the courage of the children of God, and when these have learned enough, God rewards them with the pleasure of killing the monster, and calls new athletes to the arena.  And so this life is a continual spectacle which is the joy of heaven, the training of the saints on earth and the confusion of hell.

Thus, all that is opposed to God’s order does but result in making it more adorable.  All who freely serve iniquity become the slaves of justice, and the divine action builds the Heaven Jerusalem with the ruins of Babylon.’ – p. 160

‘The Imitation’: Book 3, Chapter 38:

On How to Govern Ourselves and on Having Recourse to God in Danger:

‘Christ: My child, strive diligently for perfect interior freedom and self-mastery in every place, in every action and occupation, so that you be not the slave of anything, but that all things be under your control.

          You must be lord and ruler over your actions, never a bondsman or a mercenary. You must be a free person – similar to a righteous Hebrew – one who is transferred to the rank and the liberty of the children of God. Children of God stand above present things; they contemplate those that are eternal.

           They look upon transient things with the left eye; with the right eye they look at heavenly things. They do not allow temporal things to attract them, nor do they cling to them; instead they make those earthly things serve the end and purpose for which God made and ordained them. For the Divine Artist did not leave anything in all His creatures but what is orderly and governed by laws.’

‘How to Be Happy, How to Be Holy’ – Fr Paul O’Sullivan

‘If we only thought of Heaven, it would console us in our bitterest sorrows. This is what St. Paul means when he says: ‘What are the sorrows and tribulations of this life in comparison with the glory that awaits us?’

            We act like prisoners and slaves content with their miserable lot, who do not long for and sigh for their freedom. We are content with this vale of tears, this poor life with all its miseries, pains, and sorrows.

            The happiness of Heaven should be our aim. It is perfect, complete, absolute. There we shall have no pains, no sorrow, nothing but infinite, immense, complete and perfect happiness. There all our desires shall be satisfied. Our joy will be full.

            Mother of God, help us to understand what Heaven is.’ – p. 167

Footnote:

Extended passage from Fr Faber on this ‘spirit of captivity’ which he describes as one of the weapons to combat the rebellious human spirit found in all of us:

‘The first [weapon] must be what ascetical writers often call the spirit of captivity. Grace is the opposite of nature; nature everywhere cries liberty, grace cries captivity; and without a resolute good will to take ourselves captive, we shall never beat down the human spirit. The spirit of captivity consists, as an eminent mystical writer tells us, sometimes in submission to a written rule, parcelling out our daily actions so far as our state of life will allow, sometimes in subjection to our director, even against our own judgment, and without feints or wiles, sometimes in conformity to the law of Providence, especially where it thwarts and mortifies our natural liveliness and inclinations, and sometimes also in submission to that attraction of the Holy Spirit which is to many of us like a special revelation. There is also a captivity to frequently recurring, though not daily or obligatory, practices of devotion, a captivity to interior recollection with all its difficulties, trials, and repressions of natural activity; and all mortification is itself but a shape of captivity.’ – p. 190-1

Schizophrenia – What is a Catholic to Make of It?

‘The world holds us to be fools, let us hold it to be mad.’– St. Francis de Sales, ‘The Devout Life’

The vast majority of people today are disconnected from reality.  The vast majority of people are living in their own subjective fantasies disconnected from the truth about existence.  However, in the crazy times we live in Western society, it is the ones who are most insane who are the ones guiding others. For example, the highest number of atheists are to be found in the disciplines of psychiatry and psychology (1). These are the professionals who are appointed as mental health advisors and given the care of the psychologically disturbed. The fact that Joe Biden has recently installed ‘Rachel’ Levine, a dreadfully sick man who seems to believe that he is a woman, to one of the most senior health roles in the USA, only confirms that the world is mad as St. Francis de Sales says. Now, this insane system is set up very well and very cleverly. It has developed gradually over hundreds of years. People have become so brainwashed that anyone who questions the diabolical nature of these current times and provides an outline of the cause and true solution so that we can return to a more sane society will be dismissed as mad, fanatical, delusional, psychotic, schizophrenic, or at the very least, a fool.  Now, this is nothing to marvel at. It has always happened to people who have spoken the truth and it happened to Truth Himself (although the pseudo-scientific terms of psychiatry where not yet then invented by the Jewish mob). To illustrate how some people who speak the truth are dismissed as madmen let us look at how psychiatry uses the terms ‘psychotic’ and ‘schizophrenic’ to ridicule and reject these men and the truth they speak.

Defining ‘Schizophrenia’: 

                                         The World Health Organisation outlines five symptoms for the diagnosis of schizophrenia: hallucinations (hearing, seeing, or feeling things that are not there), delusions (fixed false beliefs or suspicions not shared by others in the person’s culture and that are firmly held even when there is evidence to the contrary), abnormal behaviour (disorganised behaviour such as wandering aimlessly, mumbling or laughing to self, strange appearance, self-neglect or appearing unkempt), disorganised speech (incoherent or irrelevant speech); and/or disturbances of emotion (marked apathy or disconnect between reported emotion and what is observed such as facial expression or body language).  Now, the last three symptoms are often caused by the drugs people are put on to treat ‘schizophrenia’ or they may be due to experiencing a severely traumatic episode such as sexual abuse or they may be a result of excessive alcohol or drug consumption: ‘Many lose their reason by indulgence in strong drinks, and end their days in a madhouse. By surfeiting many have perished (Ecclus. Xxxvii. 34).’ (‘The Catechism Explained’ – Spirago-Clarke). These explanations for these symptoms are far more reasonable explanations than any vague and unscientific theories about dopamine imbalances, which are put forward by psychiatrists. Further, it is the hallucinations and delusions that are the main criteria for the diagnosis of psychosis or schizophrenia and psychiatry has become the decider of when someone is or is not experiencing hallucinations or delusions. Psychiatrists have the power to decide whether someone is or is not in touch with reality and if someone does not agree with their assessment the State gives them power to detain you and to force you to accept treatment.  Therefore, psychiatrists need to be in touch with reality themselves, otherwise how they can assess whether someone else is?  So, let us look at Catholic teachings from men who were truly in touch with reality and assess how a Catholic would respond to these ‘symptoms’ versus how a typical psychiatrist would respond to them:

Global Conspiracy Theories:

                                           Many people have spoken out against the danger and evil of secret societies that seek to spark revolution and disorder across the world.  Speaking about secret societies and their revolutionary aims, Pope St. Pius X said, ‘Revolution is inspired by Satan himself. Its object is to destroy from top to bottom the edifice of Christianity, and to reconstruct on its ruins, the social order of Paganism.’  Pope Leo XIII warned about the perversity of Freemasonry: ‘To wish to destroy the religion and the Church which God Himself has established, and whose perpetuity He insures by His protection, and to bring back after a lapse of eighteen centuries the manners and customs of the pagans, is signal folly and audacious impiety…In this insane and wicked endeavour we may almost see the implacable hatred and spirit of revenge with which Satan himself is inflamed against Jesus Christ.’ (my emphasis). Long before the conciliar/Novus Ordo church became friends with the world these two great shepherds warned the faithful about the dangers in their midst and the secret, evil attempts of men to destroy Christian civilization.  Pope Leo XIII asked his bishops to ‘tear away the mask of Freemasonry’ and expose it for what it is, while highlighting the devious ploys that they use to ensnare souls in their traps: ‘Generally no one is accustomed to obey crafty and clever men so submissively as those whose soul is weakened and broken down by the domination of the passions, there have been in the sect of the Freemasons some who have plainly determined and purposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the multitude should be satiated with a boundless licence of vice, as when this had been done, it would easily come under their power and authority for any acts of daring.’ Here, Pope Leo XIII only repeats what Freemasons have said themselves, as outlined by Fr Delaporte in his excellent book, ‘The Devil: Does He Exist and What Does He Do?’:  “‘Our final end,’ wrote one of the high dignitaries of that gloomy empire, in 1819, ‘our final end is that of Voltaire and the French Revolution, the annihilation of Catholicity, and even of the Christian idea, forever.’  This then, is their object.  Another will give a sketch of the proceedings; ‘It is decided in our councils that we want no more Christians. Let us make no martyrs, but make vice popular amongst the masses. Let them breathe it through the five senses.  Make hearts vicious, and you will have no more Catholics!’ If that be not diabolical language, what is?’” An obedient and humble Catholic would see that these statements come from authoritative sources and conclude that secret societies have been at work for centuries in attempts to overthrow Christ as King in society.  Now, how would psychiatrists interpret these types of ‘conspiracy theorists’ (as that is what they would call them) today? They would most likely cite them as delusional and paranoid.  These statements would clearly tick the box for ‘fixed false beliefs or suspicions not shared by others in the person’s culture and that are firmly held even when there is evidence to the contrary’. (Psychiatrists would, of course, provide the contrary evidence, i.e. what the majority think and/or their own authority as State sanctioned reality makers). (2)

Being Monitored and Influenced By Beings We Cannot See:

                                               We are surrounded by invisible spirits who influence us for better or worse.  On rare occasions they manifest themselves clearly to our senses. This is most notable in the lives of the saints. Other times, we have some vague sense of their influence. Sometimes if one’s mind is exhausted, one has been through trauma or one lets one’s imagination wander far then one can experience hallucinations. The Catholic Church has always acknowledged this (3). However, the influence of the spiritual world cannot be dismissed. Certain truths must be and have been acknowledged by various men, such as the truth that one can either use the influence and help of one’s guardian angel to obtain eternal salvation or one can use the influence and power of the demons in this life which will ultimately lead to one’s demise if these chains are not broke before you die.  As Fr Vonier in ‘The Human Soul and Its Relations with Other Spirits’ outlines, ‘[Man] may ignore forever, and tender ineffectual, the Angelic partnership; but the day he is resolved to turn it to good account, he will find it to be a mine of hidden moral wealth.  Man may make evil use of the Angelic partnership, as he does of the World in which he lives.’  The angelic and demonic influences are real influences. They can influence our thoughts and our feelings and this may sometimes lead to a sense that one’s thoughts are not one’s own. Some people seem to experience this influence more than others, while others, particularly the saints, saw these spirits with their own eyes. Refusing to give way to the psychiatrist’s more ‘scientific’ or ‘rational’ point will likely get you labelled as hallucinating or at the very least, delusional. 

In addition, people experiencing what is termed ‘psychosis’ or ‘schizophrenia’ often experience the sensation of being constantly watched or under surveillance. Now, in our world today, where there are human forces watching our moves, through CCTV cameras or the monitoring of our social media activity, this is not such a ‘paranoid’ belief. But what if behind it all these people are beginning to realise that they are being watched, but not just by human eyes? Fr Meyer, in ‘Science of the Saints’ clearly outlines this reality: ‘The evil one is wont to study, what kind of conscience each soul has; whether delicate or obtuse.  If he finds it to be delicate, he endeavours to make it more delicate still, in order that, having brought it to a state of extreme anxiety, he may the more easily put it to confusion and flight.  For instance, if he knows that a soul consents to no sin, mortal or venial, nay that it cannot so much as endure the shadow of sin, he does his best to make it judge that there is sin where there is no sin. The obtuse soul or conscience, on the contrary, he strives to make still more obtuse, so that, if before it made light of venial sins, it may now care little for mortal sins also, and daily fear them less.’ An obedient and humble Catholic would see that these conclusions about the angelic and demonic world come from authoritative sources in the form of books approved by the Catholic Church when its leaders were still interested in feeding the flock with truth and protecting it from error. He would conclude that we are continually being monitored by demonic powers. He would acknowledge that our weaknesses are being continuously studied by them and fresh attacks launched.  He would know that this is the reality of the spiritual battle in life and this battle has a major effect on our psychological state. This would be nothing new or surprising to a Catholic and the person reporting these beliefs to him would be seen as perfectly sane. But what is the most likely outcome if you try to explain all this to a psychiatrist today? They may nod their head and even smile to establish a ‘therapeutic relationship’ but behind the smiling they are likely labelling you as hallucinating and delusional.  You have probably told them enough to make them conclude that you are ‘hearing, seeing, or feeling things that are not there’. (4)

Conclusion:

                                                    Psychiatry may prove a valuable role in people’s life for helping them to suffer meekly and humbly and thus prove a source of good for some people’s sanctification as God, in His infinite goodness, can draw good out of evil. However, apart from this benefit, psychiatry is not a Catholic’s friend.  It is a pseudoscience which has produced terrible fruits and one established and dominated by enemies of Christ (1).  A Catholic who knows his faith and a typical psychiatrist have very different understandings of reality and what sanity or insanity looks like. Either one or the other is in touch with reality. Both cannot be.  The influence of truly Catholic leaders such as popes, bishops, priests and theologians for deciding what order and sanity looks like has decreased, the influence of psychiatrists in deciding these things has increased. There are attempts to wed the Catholic Faith and psychiatry but it is like trying to wed water and oil. They have different frameworks for understanding what sanity is and what order looks like.  Psychiatry is disconnected from the reality of this life, the Catholic Faith is wedded to it. Psychiatry is an ally of Freemasonry in its attempt to establishe a new non-Catholic world order (5). The shepherds of the Church have now allowed the wolf of psychiatry into its fold and allied themselves with this toxic unscientific nonsense (6). Now some of these shepherds even use psychiatric labels to tar people who speak the truth, such as the attacks on Archbishop Vigano (7) and those ‘rigid’ and ‘insecure’ traditional Catholics (8) who adhere to the teachings of such great popes as Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X. 

It is not a new tactic to use psychiatry as a way of discrediting people who speak the truth. The Russians did this to the writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who exposed the Gulags and the horrors of the Communist regime, labelling him as ‘schizophrenic’. However, it is a new thing for Catholic bishops to use psychiatric labelling to dismiss faithful Catholics who are only repeating what previous popes have said and done. Catholics who know that the devil is at work in secret societies throughout the world are considered paranoid, foolish, mad or dismissed as ‘conspiracy theorists’ by the world and their supposed shepherds.

Now, some people end up in the snares of psychiatry because they genuinely have lost touch with reality. This is admitted and has been seen while working on psychiatric wards by this author.  However, it is the ones who are in charge of these wards who are likely to be the most insane. People, whether some or many, have been caught up in the snares of psychiatry because they have remained in touch with reality while psychiatry and psychiatrists have lost touch with it.  These people may get labelled with ‘schizophrenia’ thus discrediting anything they have to say in the eyes of the world.  Leo XIII, Pope St. Pius X, Fr Delaporte, Fr Vonier, Fr Meyer, and countless other Catholic popes, bishops, priests, theologians, and laymen, who shared their views would likely be seen as having, at least, some symptoms of ‘schizophrenia’ and ordered to a psychiatrist to have treatment for their ‘conspiratorial’ and ‘paranoid’ views.  

Psychiatry holds the worldly power today and chooses who to deem mad and who to deem sane. It is dominated by atheists and other enemies of Christ who reject or do not know the Truth (1). The effects of the disordered society we currently live in will be felt more or less by us all, depending on the weight of the cross the good God wills to put on our shoulders. Disorder brings suffering but if this suffering is accepted with meekness and humility it can turn towards our sanctification.  The evil of psychiatry can be turned to the good of our souls.  So, if you find yourself or your family member in the hooks of psychiatry for simply being Catholic or adhering to the insights of the writers mentioned above, well, to paraphrase St. Francis de Sales, ‘Psychiatry holds us to be fools, let us hold it to be mad.’ 

God bless you in your efforts to live and speak the truth 

Footnotes:

(1) For psychology professors see: Gross, M. & Simmons, S. (2009) ‘The Religiosity of American College and University Professors’, Sociology of Religion, 70(2), pgs. 101-129.  Available at: https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article-abstract/70/2/101/1637811?redirectedFrom=fulltext

For psychiatrists, see:  Psychiatrists Are The Least Religious Of All Physicians — ScienceDaily

(2) This would be especially true if the person was experiencing common effects, such as facial tics, extreme physical restlessness and agitation, from the drugs that they were put on, and one was unable to articulate themselves clearly.  One ends up looking mad and what they are saying would sound mad to the vast majority of psychiatrists.

(3) A brief glance at the Summa Theologica on the remedies for sorrow (see here: Summa Theologiae FS Q[38] Of The Remedies Of Sorrow Or Pain (summa-theologiae.org)) where St Thomas shows the benefits of a pleasurable activity, crying, sympathy from friends, sleep and baths, highlights how Catholic teaching never ignored or neglected the influence the body had on the mind.  He certainly provides far better answers to the problem of interior sorrow than the quackery of psychiatry.

(4) If you happen to be going through a rough time, can’t articulate yourself well, and have taken some of the toxic drugs that they recommend, it is very likely that you will end up with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.  If you don’t comply there is always the chance you will be put on a compulsory treatment order and perhaps given involuntary electroshock which was still common practice when I worked on a psychiatric ward in New Zealand in 2017.

(5) For just one example, see: Freemasonry and psychiatry in Poland – Tadeusz Nasierowski, Jonathan Britmann, 2012 (sagepub.com)

(6) See article on this website, ‘The Theory of Evolution and Mental Health’, for more on this

(7) See: Archbishop close to Pope suggests Archbishop Viganò suffers from a delusional mental illness | News | LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)                                         

(8) See: Pope Francis on the young who like Latin Mass: ‘Why so much rigidity?’ | News | Lifesitenews

(9) See other articles on this website, ‘False Shepherds’ and ‘The Nutters Running the Nuthouse’

Impostor Syndrome

‘Take away from my conscience the mask of vain, pitiful excuses which prevents me from seeing myself as You see me and know me, as I really am in Your eyes.’ – Fr Gabriel, ‘The Divine Intimacy’

There is a condition called ‘impostor syndrome’ which appears to be becoming more and more popular in the psychotherapeutic and psychological fields today. It appears in many of the most read and most popular online psychological and medical journals, e.g. Psychology Today, Medical News Today, while it also makes its appearance in popular newspapers and news magazines, such as The Independent and Time magazine.  There are twos video on YouTube on impostor syndrome which have attracted the attention of 2.4 million and 3 million people so far. There are also numerous people making their own videos on this condition. These articles and videos on impostor syndrome advocate for the reality of this condition and provide tips about what to do about it (1).  The following article will examine exactly what this ‘impostor syndrome’ is and what treatments are proposed to solve it. Then, having exposed the problems with these proposed treatments, which mainly promote ‘vain, pitiful excuses’, it will look at the real solution to these problems.

What Is Impostor Syndrome?

According to the research on these experiences, impostor syndrome is mainly characterised by doubting your own abilities, skills, and talents, and a persistent fear that you will be exposed as a ‘fraud’. This anxiety and fear was initially identified amongst ‘high-achieving’ women, i.e. women of above average intelligence that had worldly success in academia.  Subsequent studies suggested it was prevalent amongst ‘high-achieving’ men as well. The people that mainly experience impostor syndrome are those who are driven to be the best that they can be in whatever discipline they take on. They agree with such statements as ‘Oftentimes, I downplay my achievements because they are just very average’, ‘I tend to work hard towards one goal and, once I have reached it, I consider it normal and set a new goal for myself’, ‘Even if people praise me and my skills, I don’t think I am as competent or accomplished as they think I am’, ‘I believe that there’s always room for improvement and that stagnation equals decline’ and  ‘I think you should always prepare presentations/meetings thoroughly.’ (2) By this, one can see that they are driven to keep succeeding in whatever task or role they undertake.  Yet, when they have achieved what to the world looks like success, they very often remain unsatisfied with themselves and see themselves as frauds or impostors.  Modern psychology describes this as negative thinking and encourages the reframing of this critical thinking to more positive thoughts, such as ‘I know I can do this’, ‘learning to accept and believe compliments’ or ‘learning how to be your own person.’  Now, no doubt, there is some merit in this approach, especially for those who are naturally self-deprecating or those of a melancholic temperament. Encouragement is necessary for us at times. However, this approach only touches the surface and fails to address the underlying reasons for this sense of not being all that one can or should be or why this experience is so prevalent today. Modern sociological explanations for these thoughts and feelings often focus on ‘internalised sexism/misogyny/racism’.  These are put forward as the reasons why people do not feel good enough despite success in the world. However even with the huge growth of modern psychological treatments where positive thinking has been repeatedly emphasised over the last 40 years and the growth of all sorts of pride and liberation movements, these feelings and thoughts of being a fraud or an impostor appear to be only on the increase. So what is going on?

‘Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

Now, there usually comes a time in a person’s life where they realise how futile and vain their efforts are and how even their achievements and the praise they receive for them do not give any lasting interior satisfaction. It comes with a sense of one’s insignificance. You can be told over and over again how good you are, how good your life is, and how brilliant your achievements are but yet not believe it. It is the lament of Solomon in chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes:  “I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity” and “And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun.”  These experiences are most keenly felt in the experience of a mid-life crisis where even the best of one’s achievements appear vain, futile, and of no real value. This can sometimes send people into despair. More praise for external achievements is only seen as flattery and often leads to ‘vexation of mind’. During these periods there is a sense that there is something internal niggling at us that tells us we are not all that we should or can be. Modern psychology diagnoses this as ‘impostor syndrome’ and proposes the solutions. However, copious amounts of positive thinking and sociological explanations about ‘internalised inferiority’ have still not helped to alleviate this sense of being a fraud.  So, what are we missing?

Trying To Escape From That Which We Cannot:

‘Let us regard all ideas of what we ought to do simply as an interesting psychological survival: let us step right out of all that and start doing what we like. Let us decide for ourselves what man is to be and make him into that: not on any ground of imagined value, but because we want him to be such. Having mastered our environment, let us now master ourselves and choose our own destiny.’ – C.S. Lewis, ‘The Abolition of Man’, p. 32

‘The ultimate springs of human action are no longer, for them, something given. They have surrendered – like electricity: it is the function of the Conditioners to control, not to obey them. They know how to produce conscience and decide what kind of conscience they will produce. They themselves are outside, above…The final victory has been won. Human nature has been conquered.’ – C.S. Lewis, ‘The Abolition of Man’, p. 37

C.S. Lewis, over 75 years, gave an insight into the thoughts of those who sought to escape that which we cannot escape, i.e. reality.  Today, modern psychological and sociological theories, and practices deriving from these, are attempting to make man happy and to put him at peace, as they attempted in Lewis’ time. Yet, like those in Lewis’ era, in their attempts to do so, they have floated off away from reality. They are trying to build this happiness and peace on false foundations and escape from something which they cannot escape from, i.e. the natural law and conscience. Lewis, in the quote above, outlines how, during his lifetime, there were ongoing attempts by Conditioners, i.e. psychologists, philosophers, sociologists and those who saw themselves as ‘enlightened and progressive reformers’, to escape from the natural law and the pressure this put on our consciences.  These attempts have only been sped up by the ‘Conditioners’ in our times as modern psychological and sociological theories explain away or ‘produce’ conscience while they imagine themselves to have overcome this last hurdle of human nature. ‘Man is now free to be happy and at peace!’ they pronounce. Yet, misery, despair, and angst are only growing in our societies despite all their efforts. The beast of conscience has not succumbed to their desperate methods.  The laments of Solomon are heard across the world even amongst those who are deemed successful in the world’s eyes.  So, if modern psychological and sociological theories have failed to produce peace in men’s minds and hearts, if they have failed to shake off from many this feeling of being an impostor, where does the real solution lie? 

‘We do not want to be like the rest of men.  We spend our days in seeking distinction, for we will not admit that the commonplace is the gate of eternal happiness.  We go here and go there, we do this and do that, in order that we may talk about it, and be talked about… We live and hope and love as if there were no God, as if were alone, as if we had no hope save in what we achieve for ourselves… We are too busy arranging for our happiness to listen to Him, whereas He has already made all the arrangements necessary for our happiness.’ – Fr Eugene Boylan, ‘This Tremendous Lover’

Feelings of being a fraud or not being all that you should be are often our conscience speaking to us to let us know how miserable and wretched we really are.  One may have been given huge amounts of praise from the world, one may have gained numerous degrees and distinctions, and one may have impressed colleagues and friends with displays of one’s skills and abilities, (‘We go here and go there, we do this and do that, in order that we may talk about it, and be talked about’) but one still can feel empty or sense one’s life really is a failure or think that one is really a fraud.  How many people of worldly success, such as actors in Hollywood, have been hooked on drugs and died miserable deaths, despite what looked like lives of success to worldly eyes?  How many people are ‘too busy arranging for our happiness to listen to Him’? Modern psychology would not even ask this question. It would likely say that these poor high-achieving souls suffered from ‘impostor syndrome’. If it is a woman or a person of a racial minority that experiences this sense of being a fraud, then modern sociological theories put it down to ‘internalised sexism’ or ‘internalised racism’.  Modern psychology and sociology work hard at explaining away the pangs of conscience that sting us.  They refuse to acknowledge what man really is, i.e. a body and a soul, and as the Book of Proverbs says, ‘Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good.’  What is most dangerous is that these modern theories suffocate and ridicule the true fix to these feelings of being an impostor, i.e. addressing what your conscience is indicating to you.  There are moments of grace in life where people who have achieved a lot of worldly success realise the futility and vanity of all that they have done.  These are moments of interior humiliation. There comes a realisation that our achievements are nothing in the grand scheme of things.  It can be a time to be humbled. It can be a time to really start examining what success in life really means or if we really are as good as the people around us tell us we are.  Instead of flattering ourselves or others flattering us the real solution lies in humbling ourselves to the dust and acknowledging that the worldly success we have had in life is often nothing but vanity and show.  There are moments when God breaks through despite our frantic search for distinction from the world and the busyness of our lives. These gentle moments of grace, if responded to with good will and a contrite and humble heart, can lead us toward peace of soul and they can help us to realise that ‘He has already made all the arrangements necessary for our happiness.’ 

‘Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.’ (Matthew 5:48)

The reality of whether we are a success in this life can only be measured by how we measure up to the truth.  We all desire happiness. As St. Augustine says, ‘All men agree in desiring the last end, which is happiness’.  He defines happiness as ‘joy in truth’.  The more we come to know and love the truth, the more perfectly we follow the path of truth, the happier we are and will become.  Now, there are times in every man’s life where he has a strong indication that the road he is on is not the right one. These feelings become apparent for many despite the trappings of worldly praise and success. He begins to sense that he is far from the road that leads to perfection. The anxiety this causes in us is at the root of the worldwide and prevalent phenomenon of ‘impostor syndrome’.  However, it may not be considered a disease or a syndrome. It may be called a grace in many cases. It is blessing to begin to realise the futility and vanity of worldly success and praise.  These are the moments that we realise that we are not good enough and become aware of our own misery and nothingness.  We can choose either to be humbled by these experiences and really examine our lives in light of the truth or we can explain them away as ‘negative thinking’ or ‘internalised prejudice’.  We can reach for the nearest psychologists, therapists, or sociologists to placate our concerns and tell us we are ‘good enough’. Or, alternatively, we can listen to Truth Himself as He speaks to us in those moments of distress and near despair who reaffirms to us that we are unworthy, misery, nothingness (3), but Who then reminds us that through His infinite Love and our generous co-operation in returning this love He will make us all that we can and should be. 

Finding One’s True Self:

The world flatters us, the truth does not.  Truth tells us to be careful not to be deceived by flattery and those false prophets dressed in the clothing of sheep.  He tells us that we must be better than we currently are and that we need to curb our evil inclinations through discipline and vigilance. As Fr Edward Leen (‘Why the Cross?’) says, ‘The religion of Christ does impose restraints, but what it restrains is not human nature as such, but human nature that is tempted to be faithless to its true self.  It curbs only those instincts which menace ruin to human personality; as a consequence, it remains essentially a law not of self-repression, but of self-expression.’

With a bit of effort, we can then shake off any feelings of false shame and the notions of being a fraud or an impostor as we begin to live the life we were created to live, i.e. a life that is centred on knowing, loving, and honouring God.  We can then be and express our true selves. This is the ultimate solution to the problem of the impostor syndrome.

‘To put myself consciously in acquiescence and harmony with all that I apprehend as the good and the true, carries me (in that inner region of my being which is my true self) beyond the limitations of goodness and truth as I apprehend them conditioned by sense and by mind, to the very essence of God Himself in Whom all goodness under all its manifold aspects is one and absolute and infinite.’ – Fr R.H.J. Steuart, ‘World Intangible’

Dear reader, what has been written above is an attempt to guide you and others away from the false and dangerous snares that the world wishes to entangle people in when the inevitable interior difficulties we experience in life appear. This article gives an indication as to where the real solution to feelings or thoughts of being false to our true self lies.  It points towards Goodness, Mercy, and Love Himself. Now, the devout Catholic life is the way to this true life (4). It is the way of harmonising ourselves with all that is good and true. It is where your true self is to be found. This is the way that leads to peace and happiness. This is the message that this article, wishes to impart. Perhaps, this will then incite you to explore further articles on this website which hope to encourage you on this path.  At least, it is hoped that the blogs written here in 2020 will spur you on to investigate the claims of the Catholic Faith further. 

Ultimately, faith is a gift from God so, as this is my last article of 2020, I hope and pray that you will be blessed with this gift and that you will enjoy a truly happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.  

God bless

Footnotes:

1. There are doubts over whether this condition meets objective criteria to truly classify it as a psychological condition, with it even failing to make the list of the Diagnostic Statistic Manual, which has at least over 200 various diagnoses and includes such questionable disorders as ‘binge eating disorder’, i.e. gluttony, and ‘disruptive mood dysregulation disorder’, i.e. throwing temper tantrums. However, it is definitely true that people are experiencing anxiety about being seen as a fraud and impostor and this is why it is worth investigating.  
2. Taken from: http://impostorsyndrometest.com. Note: the thoughts and attitudes towards oneself displayed as symptomatic of impostor syndrome cross over with many of the traits of conscientious people, i.e. those who are sensitive to the dictates of their conscience. This gives more evidence to the points made in this article that this ‘impostor syndrome’ is used as a way of explaining away the niggling of one’s conscience.
3. The following are some of the words Our Lord uses towards Sister Josefa Mendenez in the private revelations she experienced, as outlined in the book, ‘The Way of Divine Love’. They are written here to give an understanding of how Our Lord speaks to those He loves: ‘My one desire is to reveal to souls the love, the mercy and the pardon of My Heart, and I have chosen you to do it for Me, wretched as you undoubtedly are. But do not be anxious, I love you, and your misery is the very reason of My love. I want you for Myself, and because you are so miserable I have worked miracles to guard you carefully…Yes, I love all souls, but with very special affection those who are the most weak and little.’ – p. 424. ‘Gaze well and long on this Heart. It is the Sanctuary of the miserable, hence yours, for who is more miserable than you? Look deep down into My Heart. It is the Crucible in which the most defiled are purified, and afterwards inflamed with love. Come, draw near this Furnace, cast your miseries and sins into it; have confidence and believe in Me who am your Saviour.  Once more fix your eyes attentively on My Heart. It is a Fountain of Living Water. Throw yourself into its depths and appease your thirst.’ – p. 432. It is the love of God and us returning this love with our whole being that will make us our true selves, i.e. the saints God wills us to be.
4. Note: this is not the false expression of the Catholic Faith offered by the Novus Ordo and its adherent today but rather the Faith expressed so supremely by the Traditional Latin Mass/the true Mass (see: Getting Closer to the Truth – Protestant Services or the Novus Ordo? – Truth and Freedom Therapy (TFT)) and lived by countless canonised saints previous to the Vatican II revolution in the Church (see: Sanctity & Sanity (1/2) – Truth and Freedom Therapy (TFT))

Freeing Yourself From Chains

‘They that trust in Him, shall understand the truth.’ – Wisdom 3:9

The current lock downs, restrictions, and mask wearing are causing much suffering and anguish. This is being seen in the increased prevalence of suicides, anxiety, psychological and emotional issues.  People are on edge as they try to adjust to what the global leaders are calling the ‘new normal’.  Disorder, anxiety, and confusion reign.  The chains of restrictions are becoming tighter and they are slowly suffocating people (in both a metaphorical and actual sense with the forcing of masks on people). These restrictions are trying to suffocate and extinguish the natural enjoyments people have, such as visiting loved ones, healthy social interaction, hobby restrictions, etc. People are beginning to be fed up with all of these restrictions, especially as Christmas approaches. They earnestly desire to get back to ‘normal’ life. Eventually, the pressure of these abnormal conditions may prove so much that they may just take that vaccine that they were very skeptical about in the first place.

There are others, a minority, who will refuse the vaccine and push back against the government enforcement of it.  Most of these will be basing this stance on the erroneous principles that have brought us to where we are currently at in the first place, i.e. liberalism. They will shout and push for ‘freedom’ without really understanding what freedom is.  In the last article, it was highlighted how this desire for freedom amongst many is really a desire for licence to continue in their ‘normal’ sinful life.  At a societal level, it appears clear that the lessons that the good God is trying to teach us are not being learnt.  Yet, at a personal level, even amidst the madness, chaos, and disorder around us, we still have the choice of freedom or chains.  In our clamour to push back against the COVID restrictions and the chains they put around our natural liberties, it appears that many of us are forgetting that the biggest chains we have are those we put around ourselves through sin. This is the major point to remember in these communist times and it is the point again and again emphasised by many spiritual writers. 

Where is our focus?

Trying to fix things around us can feel so much easier and more rewarding than fixing those things within us that we know we need to get a handle on.  As Dom Gerard Chautard, in his classic book, ‘The Soul of the Apostolate’ (1), points out: ‘To live with oneself, within oneself; to desire self-control, and not allow oneself to be dominated by exterior things; to reduce the imagination, the feelings, and even the intelligence and memory to the position of servants of the will and to make this will conform, without ceasing, with the will of God: all this is a program that is less and less welcome to a century of excitement that has seen the birth of a new ideal: the love of action for action’s sake.  Any pretext will serve, if we can only escape this discipline of our faculties: business, family problems, health, good reputation, patriotism, the honour of one’s congregation, and the pretended glory of God, all vie with one another in preventing us from living within ourselves. This sort of frenzy for exterior life finally succeeds in gaining over us an attraction which we can no longer resist.’  This ‘century of excitement’ he talks about was the 19^th century, when there were no TVs, no 24/7 news channels, far fewer disturbances by social justice warriors, and far more people who lived simple countryside lives, detached from worldly affairs.  The frenzy for exterior life has only erupted further since that ‘century of excitement’. The 20^th century and the start of the 21^st century have been filled with people desperate to avoid and distract themselves from themselves. Now, lest people accuse Dom Chautard of encouraging all people to become contemplative hermit monks, ‘The Soul of the Apostolate’ explains how he is far from advocating for passivity and it explains how the interior life fuels the exterior life. He simply speaks about getting one’s priorities right before one embarks on a campaign to sort out the world’s problems. A reminder of this is essential especially in times where people are so eager to fix the current madness around them (2). The current times can exhaust, perplex, and depress us so it is now, more than ever, that we need strong interior lives built on the love of God. As Dom Chautard explains, ‘Only a burning and unchangeable love is capable of filling a whole life with sunlight, for it is love that possesses the secret of gladdening the heart even in the midst of great sorrows and crushing fatigue.’ It is this ‘burning and unchangeable love‘ that will see us through these mad times.

And for those who need a bit more persuading to be convinced that sin causes imprisonment see here a rousing sermon by Fr Chazal, a missionary priest in the Philippines, who highlights how the draconian restrictions and chains that the world and the devil are putting on people today is only a relatively minor reflection of the chains so many people put on themselves by refusing to serve the right Master.

God bless you in your efforts to sanctify yourself and may you find brave priests during these times to help you to do so.

Footnotes:

1.) A free pdf copy of this book is available here: http://www.cmri.org/0-olmc-mission/catholic-books/soul_of_the_apostolate.pdf

2.) There has been an enormous increase in psychological services over the 20^th century as psychological and emotional problems continue to increase as people have drift further and further away from the Faith and the effective solutions to problems of the soul and mind, i.e. the Sacraments and a strong interior life. Please see here for a short outline of this development of psychological services and its connection to the false theory of evolution. Now, there are some people genuinely looking for and longing for the Truth and the truth about themselves. God will guide these generous souls to Him and He will help them to see through the lies and deceits of those who claim to help but are really entangling people in more chains, e.g. the Psychological Society of Ireland and psychiatry, in general. But more often, due to the scars of Original Sin, especially pride, we do not search long or hard enough for the truth about ourselves as we are afraid to admit the extent of our own misery and uselessness. We will distract ourselves often with many activities where we think that we are making a positive impact on the world. If we do go for therapy, most of us will only accept help from those who offer ‘sweet little lies’, while trying to numb the voice of our conscience that tells us that all is not right with the answers that are proposed to us. We can face our conscience and overcome this fear of our own wretchedness by looking at the infinite love and care that God has for us as Fr Chazal briefly touches on in the video above.  Through this, we can acknowledge and bravely face the truth about ourselves and, with our willing co-operation, begin to allow Him to heal us. This is the path to true liberty.

COVID – Truth and Freedom

‘It may be the devil or it may be the Lord. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody‘ – Bob Dylan, ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’

The restrictions enforced on us by nefarious global powers have sparked conversations about civil liberties and have led to protests demanding ‘freedom’. While I usually focus on more personal advice about psychological issues the COVID madness is having such a detrimental effect on people’s minds that it needs to be addressed.  The following article gives the solution to the current situation at both a personal and societal level. It explores why calls for freedom cannot be separated from the Truth and service.

Currently, the enemies of Christ[1] have their teeth in the bones of nations around the world.  Will God pull the bone from the dog’s mouth and discipline this vicious dog with a good whack across the head to alleviate the suffering this dog is causing His unruly children? Or, as His children have deliberately played with this vicious dog, will He allow them to continue to suffer the consequences of their foolishness? Before answering this question let us examine the situation before the COVID madness.

Before the COVID madness, most people had already made their mind up about whether they wanted to know, honour, and love God or not. In Ireland, this was most blatantly obvious in the three most recent Referendums on sodomite ‘marriage’, the murdering of innocent babies, and blasphemy. Before the COVID madness, Irish people had already chosen to become slaves to the devil rather than servants of Our Lord. Now, that the devil and his minions are beginning to show people their true colours in the form of tyrannical rules that stamp on people’s natural liberties and heighten societal disorder some people are demanding their ‘freedom’. Yet, for many, these demands for ‘freedom’ appear to be demands that things return back to the way they were pre-COVID.

Now, God could easily remove the restrictions imposed by COVID in an instant and give people back the natural liberties they demand.  However, so far, He has not, and it does not appear that He will.  And why should He? Why would He give certain liberties to us when He knows that they are likely to be abused? When we look at the following meditation on God’s goodness from St Francis de Sales in ‘The Devout Life’ can any of us honestly say that we have not abused His goodness: ‘God did not bring you into the world because He had any need of you, useless as you are; but solely that He might show forth His Goodness in you, giving you His Grace and Glory. And to this end He gave you understanding that you might know Him, memory that you might think of Him, a will that you might love Him, imagination that you might realise His mercies, sight that you might behold the marvels of His works, speech that you might praise Him, and so on with all your other faculties.’ Have we used what He has given us for His Grace and Glory? Or have we squandered the gifts He has imparted to us? Or, even worse, have we used them to spit in His face and nail Him to the cross? And if God decided to allow these tyrannical restrictions to be lifted what would the vast majority of people do with the restoration of some of their natural liberties? Would they follow what St Francis de Sales says above or would they continue to ignore God and use the gifts He has given them for their own destruction and that of others?

Let us acknowledge that the measures being imposed on people throughout the world are unscientific and unnatural. They contribute to more and more disorder in our societies. Yet, God has allowed them to unfold and allowed His enemies, who have carefully orchestrated this ‘shamdemic’, to dominate mankind. In this sense, the oppressive restrictions are just as God is infinitely just and loves His children dearly.  He orders everything for the greatest possible good. Our enemies and the challenges they cause us serve as a chastisement for our sinfulness. ‘He that spareth the rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth his son corrected him betimes’. (Proverbs 13:24). The draconian measures being imposed on people are a just punishment for our drifting away from God and the Faith.  God permits that the enemies of Christ become our masters as a consequence of refusing to acknowledge Christ as our King and Master.  As Christ has told us, no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). The longer we refuse to acknowledge Christ as Our King and serve Him willingly the longer these enemies of Christ will dominate over us and our nations until chaos and disorder reign supreme.  We are seeing this in the current COVID hysteria. 

The COVID restrictions are a just punishment for the abuse of the gifts God has given us. Now, that some of the freedoms we have, such as freedom to travel, freedom to see our loved ones, freedom to attend Mass, are taken away from us, there is a small but vocal pushback that demands the restoration of these freedoms. But what will the majority of us do if these freedoms are restored? Will we travel to abortion clinics to murder innocent babies? Will we travel to shows or concerts that promote indecency or ridicule God? Will we spread scandal and commit detraction while socialising? Will we continue to abandon our loved ones to care homes where they are drugged up and treated like nuisances? And finally, but most importantly, will we continue to attend religious services that are deeply offensive to God, i.e. any non-Catholic services and the Novus Ordo?[2] Amongst the calls for ‘freedom’, there are also calls for ‘freedom of speech’ from many COVID protestors. If this means demanding freedom for the truth to be known and expressed then this is great but ‘freedom of speech’ as a principle in and of itself is one that no Catholic can support as Catholics should really pray: ‘Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round my lips; incline not my heart to evil words’ (Psalms 140:3-4). Catholics should encourage the publication of truth but we must also demand that the government create laws that suppress error, especially in relation to religious error.  If protestors achieve their demands for ‘freedom of speech’ what then will we do with this supposed ‘freedom of speech’? Will we blaspheme God and His mother? Will we calumniate our neighbour? Will we let our tongue, (‘a fire, a world of iniquity’ – James 3:6) roam where it will? The gifts that God has given us come with responsibility.  This is the responsibility to use our faculties as He wills us to use them, i.e. for His glory and honour. Are we willing to accept this responsibility? Are we willing to support laws, such as laws against blasphemy, that support this responsibility? If not, then why would God take away the chains that are currently being imposed on nations? The scourging we are currently undergoing will cease when we learn the necessary lessons and only God in His infinite wisdom knows when this will be.

Aristotle, with his natural wisdom, said, ‘The least deviation from truth will be multiplied a thousandfold later.’ Christ, with His Divine Wisdom, said, ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’ (John 8:32) and, ‘I am the way, the truth, the life.’ (John 14:6). We have been deviating from the Truth/Christ in Europe for hundreds of years with the most significant deviations happening at the ‘Reformation’, the French Revolution, and Vatican II.  The more we deviate from the truth in our own lives the less free we will be. The same applies to society. Hence, the current disorder we see around us.  It is not that complex really. God designed us to know, honour, and love Him. We must serve Him if we are to be free. Liberty is a consequence of and a reward for noble efforts to serve God. The freedom we innately desire is not going to be achieved through incessant demands for more liberty.  Rather, it is to be won by service. Liberty is to be achieved by crying for the ‘spirit of captivity’ which Fr Faber (‘Growth in Holiness’) highlights as the first method to combat the disordered human spirit that demands liberty at any cost:

‘The first [weapon to combat the human spirit] must be what ascetical writers often call the spirit of captivity. Grace is the opposite of nature; nature everywhere cries liberty, grace cries captivity; and without a resolute good will to take ourselves captive, we shall never beat down the human spirit. The spirit of captivity consists…sometimes in submission to a written rule, parcelling out our daily actions so far as our state of life will allow, sometimes in subjection to our director, even against our own judgment, and without feints or wiles, sometimes in conformity to the law of Providence, especially where it thwarts and mortifies our natural liveliness and inclinations, and sometimes also in submission to that attraction of the Holy Spirit which is to many of us like a special revelation. There is also a captivity to frequently recurring, though not daily or obligatory, practices of devotion, a captivity to interior recollection with all its difficulties, trials, and repressions of natural activity; and all mortification is itself but a shape of captivity.’ Finally, Fr Faber points out that ‘liberty of spirit consists in exemption from cares, from remorse, from attachments; and captivity is the only road to this royal liberty.’ (my emphasis). This is true liberty. It requires hard work and constant vigilance while we traverse through this valley of tears but the aids to keep strong in this journey are many and the ultimate reward of eternal peace and happiness is more than worth the fight.  C. S. Lewis in his book, ‘Screwtape Letters’ gave an excellent description of this battle that is going on for our souls between the devil and his minions and Christ, putting the following words in the mouth of a demon:

‘One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth.  He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself – creatures whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His.  We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons.  We want to suck in, He wants to give out.  We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over.  Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.’

It is our choice who we will serve. God respects our free will. We must make this choice. There are servants of the devil offering false freedom and there is Christ and His Church offering true liberty. Both attempt to captivate us.  One ensnares us and robs us of our individuality and liberty while the Other removes our chains, makes us the person we were born to be, and sets us free.  So, let us offer ourselves to Him who wills our happiness more than we do ourselves. When we and our nations become captive once again to Our Lord and Our Lady only then will we be really free.  This is the one and only solution to the disorder and madness within and around us. May God give you the grace to see this.

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EndNotes:

[1] In YouTube talks about the COVID situation presenters speak about the ‘global elite’, ‘mega rich oligarchs’, ‘globalists’, ‘elitists’ or  as Dave Cullen (a YouTuber speaking out against the restrictions) describes them: ‘nefarious, unaccountable international entities that no one elected who thirst for totalitarian control’. These are all essentially the enemies of Christ. There is a vast web of them around the world with control residing in the hands of those who detest Catholic nations and the Catholic Faith due to it being the One True Faith. For more information on the enemies of Christ please see this piece written in 1890. This Catholic periodical, La Civilta Cattolica, is a Jesuit publication and stretches back to 1850. Unfortunately, today, the Jesuits in the conciliar church are primarily enemies of Christ but one hundred and thirty years ago they were strong defenders of the Faith/Truth and were pointing out who the real enemies of Christ and Catholic nations are. For comparison, see this wretched article by a Jesuit on the COVID situation from 2020 which supports the New World Order. It is also worth checking out E Michael Jones’ piece on COVID-19 and its enforcement in Argentina here.

[2] I have already mentioned the problems with the ‘New Mass’ here (especially in the discussion section) but for more information on the Novus Ordo see here.

The ‘Ignorant’ 19th Century Priest and The ‘Enlightened’ 21st Century Editor

‘…Catholic doctrine tells us that the primary duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas, however sincere they may be, not in theoretical or practical indifferent towards the errors and vices in which we see our brethren plunged, but in zeal for their intellectual and moral improvement as well as for their material well-being.‘ – Pope St. Pius X, ‘Letter of Pope St. Pius X to the French Bishops on the Sillon’

When it comes to psychological or emotional issues, such as depression, the world today likes to pretend it is more knowledgeable, enlightened and cultured than the ignorant fools of yesteryear. It forgets or rejects Catholic doctrine and guidance which provides answers to the perplexing and sorrowful difficulties people experience in this life. For this blog I have decided to imagine how a modern editor of a imaginary popular psychological magazine which offers ‘self-help’ tips might respond to an article on psychological advice offered for publication by a 19th century priest.  Let us imagine that he has just received the following article called ‘Means Against Sadness’, from ‘The Way of Interior Piece’, written by Fr De Lehen and published in English in 1888 (see endnote).  It has been submitted for publication in 2020. Here are the edits and comments I reasonably suspect this editor would make:  

Dear Fr De Lehen,

I appreciate the submission of your article, ‘Means Against Sadness’ to our magazine. You make some very reasonable and helpful points. However, I can not proceed with the publication of this article as it currently stands. It will require quite a substantial amount of editing before it is fit for publication in our magazine.   I have crossed out the words that really will not appeal to our modern readership and replaced them with more appropriate words, which you will find in bold. Please find these edits below:

Means Against Sadness:

‘Here are two rules[MM1]  suggestions that seem to be of the utmost importance here.  The first is that you make use of the natural means offered you by Providence[MM2]  your life circumstances, in order to shake off sadness. Do not overburden yourself with laborious occupation, spare your corporal[MM3]  physical and spiritual[MM4]  psychological strength; reserve for yourself some leisure hours in which to pray[MM5]  meditate, to read, and to enjoy good conversation. Cheer your soul[MM6]  mind with thoughts of eternal[MM7]  happiness, and shake off depression by spiritual and physical diversion taken in the Lord[MM8] .

Comments: [MM1]‘Rules’ is too strong a word; [MM2]Too many religious connotations; [MM3]People don’t use this language anymore;  [MM4]Too religious in its connotations, ‘psychological’ is better;  [MM5]Meditation is popular today, prayer not so much;  [MM6]Too religious; [MM7]Many of our readers don’t believe in life after death so this would put them off;  [MM8]Too religious

           Seek also a discreet and trusty friend[MM9]  counsellor to whom you can pour out your heart. To such a one disclose everything that is not the secret of another[MM10] . Perfect confidence enlarges and enlightens the mind. A sorrow long concealed oppresses the heart. Speak out, and you will discover that you have made the matter over which you are grieving much more serious than it really is. Nothing so quickly dispels gloom as the simplicity and humility with which, at the sacrifice of self-esteem[MM11]  you reveal discouragement and dejection, and seek light and consolation in the holy[MM12]  healthy communication that ought to exist between the children of God you and your counsellor. Confine yourself to those of your acquaintances whose conversation is cheerful and recreative. It is not necessary that your circle should be large, nor must you be too fastidious[MM13] fussy. Be ready to converse with all peaceable and reasonable people. Again, whenever you feel sadness creeping over you, read, work, or take a walk. Change occupation, that weariness may not attack you. In short, do whatever your frame of mind may suggest provided there is nothing sinful in it [MM14] it works. 

Comments: [MM9]There are lots of great professionals out there today and friends are not trained to manage psychological difficulties; [MM10]Detraction is not really a big deal anymore; [MM11] This does not make sense. Pride in oneself is a good thing!; [MM12]Again, too religious!; [MM13]Might be a bit too complex a term for our readers; [MM14]Let’s avoid this type of moralising!

If you feel that, in spite of these helps and rules suggestions, sadness asserts its reign, then follow the second rule suggestion: Endure patiently. Interior desolation carries the soul more speedily forward on the way of pure faith than all exterior exercises could do. [MM15] Challenges in life can help to make our minds stronger in the end. But do not let yourself be held back by it them. Do not indulge in relaxation which will aim at usurping possession of your interior[MM16] . Keep battling and stay focused. One step when in this state is always a giant stride, and is of more value than thousands when the soul is in consolation the mind is more peaceful. Despise your dejection and go on quietly, for this state of soul is more useful, more meritorious to you than gigantic, heroic strength and courage[MM17] , for ‘life isn’t waiting for the storm to pass…it’s learning to dance in the rain.’

Comments: [MM15]Too negative and too many religious connotations – soul and faith are both mentioned;  [MM16]What’s wrong with indulging in relaxation?;  [MM17]Soul mentioned again!

                   O how deceitful is that sensible courage that finds everything easy, undertakes all, suffers everything, and unhesitatingly attributes all to self! Ah, it nourishes self-esteem and confidence! It pleases the world; but to the soul it is a refined person[MM18] . Challenges and trials give us a sense of our weakness and our dependence on each other.  Society is delighted if we are productive, robotic-like workers or joyous consumers. It does not value the interior trials that we go through as only we or those closest to us have a sense of the battles we have to face.

Comments: [MM18]Too negative in the language used and too much focus on the soul. It is better to talk about societal problems and interior struggles as, while we avoid mentioning the soul, this still appeals to our readership. 

                   A soul that, like Christ in the Garden of Olives, is sorrowful unto death, and with her crucified Lord, cries out: ‘My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34) is much more purified, much better fortified in humility than the valiant one who rejoices in peace over the fruits of her virtues.’[MM19]  Let us look to heroes from the past, such as Nelson Mandela who faced many battles but courageously overcame any fears to become the great leader that he was. Keep battling and as Mandela said, ‘The greatest glory in living is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall.’

Comments: [MM19]Christ is too divisive a figure.  Mandela appeals to a bigger audience and he is less divisive. (This is fine just as long as we don’t mention him being the leader of the terrorist Communist group, UmKhonto we Sizwe, (MK) that killed innocent women and children).

So, Fr De Lehen, if you can just change the article to reflect the edits suggested then your article would very likely be suitable for publication.  You will have noted my explanation for the edits above but my overall reason is that many people do not want to know about religion and Christ is an especially divisive figure today. However, they still need advice on how to deal with sadness. Now, no doubt, you have some good common-sense advice to offer, but psychological services have moved on from direct talk about the soul or religion. In these more enlightened times, we understand more about psychological problems than in the 19^th century. Whilst admittedly your times did not have near as many suicides or the levels of addiction to prescription and illegal drugs compared to our own times, I am sure with a bit more reading and reflection you will be able to see the progress we have made in our knowledge about the mind and happiness in the 21^st century. We now have so many progressive psychological services and professionals who help rather than moralise. I can accept your piece as it currently stands. If you can polish it up as I have shown above then it would appeal to our readership which is far more educated, cultured, and enlightened than the credulous and ignorant audience you were writing to.  May the advice I share also help you to see things more clearly as well. 

Sincerely,

Editor of ‘Psychology Matters 2020’ (PhD)

Endnote:

Fr De Lehen’s excellent advice from ‘The Way of Interior Peace’, published in 1888 by Benzinger Brothers (without the ‘progressive’ edits):

Means Against Sadness:

‘Here are two rules that seem to be of the utmost importance here.  The first is that you make use of the natural means offered you by Providence, in order to shake off sadness. Do not overburden yourself with laborious occupation, spare your corporal and spiritual strength; reserve for yourself some leisure hours in which to pray, to read, and to enjoy good conversation. Cheer your soul with thoughts of eternal happiness, and shake off depression by spiritual and physical diversion taken in the Lord.

           Seek also a discreet and trusty friend to whom you can pour out your heart. To such a one disclose everything that is not the secret of another. Perfect confidence enlarges and enlightens the mind. A sorrow long concealed oppresses the heart. Speak out, and you will discover that you have made the matter over which you are grieving much more serious than it really is. Nothing so quickly dispels gloom as the simplicity and humility with which, at the sacrifice of self-esteem you reveal discouragement and dejection, and seek light and consolation in the holy communication that ought to exist between the children of God. Confine yourself to those of your acquaintances whose conversation is cheerful and recreative. It is not necessary that your circle should be large, nor must you be too fastidious. Be ready to converse with all peaceable and reasonable people. Again, whenever you feel sadness creeping over you, read, work, or take a walk. Change occupation, that weariness may not attack you. In short, do whatever your frame of mind may suggest provided there is nothing sinful in it.  If you feel that, in spite of these helps and rules, sadness asserts its reign, then follow the second rule: Endure patiently. Interior desolation carries the soul more speedily forward on the way of pure faith than all exterior exercises could do. But do not let yourself be held back by it. Do not indulge in relaxation which will aim at usurping possession of your interior. One step when in this state is always a giant stride, and is of more value than thousands when the soul is in consolation. Despise your dejection and go on quietly, for this state of soul is more useful, more meritorious to you than gigantic, heroic strength and courage.

                   O how deceitful is that sensible courage that finds everything easy, undertakes all, suffers everything, and unhesitatingly attributes all to self! Ah, it nourishes self-esteem and confidence! It pleases the world; but to the soul it is a refined person.

                  A soul that, like Christ in the Garden of Olives, is sorrowful unto death, and with her crucified Lord, cries out: ‘My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34) is much more purified, much better fortified in humility than the valiant one who rejoices in peace over the fruits of her virtues.’ – p. 250-1