Spiritual Warfare Part I- Personal Holiness

The Catholic laity in today’s society find themselves in a unique time in the age of the Church. We face many obstacles that often derail us from union with God. Today’s society has taken materialism, atheism and progressivism to an extreme, combined it is otherwise known as modernism. This revolutionary mindset possesses the heart and soul of modern man. Those who seek to earn a living, raise a family, live in the world, find it extremely difficult to maintain the “devout life.” The prince of this world throughout history has always made it difficult for man to keep his eyes on God and that is all the more apparent in our time. This prince has now taken his power and control to an unprecedented level and man finds himself all the more lured away from God towards vice and sin. Catholics today know this but few are able to maintain the devout life. We listen to the warning which Saint Francis of Assisi gave to his followers, “..let us beware of the malice and craftiness of Satan, who does not want anyone to turn his mind and heart to God…he wants to blind it through worldly affairs…” (Early Rule of St Francis) The Society of Our Lady of Good Success aims to help solve this challenge, that of living a life of personal holiness and perseverance in prayer.

The Conceptionist Convent in Quito

The Church also finds herself in a unique age where modernism has pervaded its members to paralysis. This should indeed disturb those who seek holiness in God’s Church. “How indescribably grieved is God’s true lover, and every spiritual person, on seeing the ruin and deformity of the Church. How afflicted he is at the daily loss of innumerable souls.” (Denis the Carthusian-Spiritual Works) The Church is crippled by her lack of evangelization and those who should be shepherds often act as wolves. Our Lady of Good Success has warned us about this. Likewise the laity have also become corrupt and often grow lukewarm. Therefore the Society also aims to counter these maladies by encouraging a group of likeminded Catholics who will pray together for the restoration of Holy Mother Church.

The Three Pillars of Restoration.

There are three pillars upon which the laity can build upon to help restore the Church.

1. To promote the restoration of the Church first through the pursuit of holiness by adhering to an established prayer routine, daily meditation and the regular study of right doctrine.
2. To spread the message and devotion to Our Lady of Good Success.
3. To spread devotion of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

“No more sleeping! We’ve slept so long we are dead to the state of grace.”
(St Catherine of Siena T24)

Christ Ecce Homo at Conceptionist Convent in Quito.

Personal Holiness

The great plague that afflicts Catholics in every age including our own is the inability to stay committed to the prayer life, or the lack of perseverance. In order for one to obtain salvation one must attain personal holiness, and one cannot attain holiness without perseverance in prayer and meditation. Mother Mariana de Jesus was a perfect model of perseverance. This is the first goal of the Society, which is to help people attain holiness through perseverance in the spiritual life, starting with prayer and meditation. God the Father spoke to St Catherine of Siena clearly on the importance of perseverance, “anything worthwhile calls for perseverance, and because they do not persevere they never find the object of their desire, never reach the goal toward which they had set out…So perseverance is essential if you want to see your desires realized…The soul cannot but move: If she does not go forward, she turns back.”

Many lay people find it difficult to retain a prayer schedule in their busy lives and thus eventually find themselves lukewarm in their faith. Their desire for prayer is often choked out by worldly affairs. Although the prayer schedule proposed on this blog is not exhaustive, it does aim to provide a foundation for the spiritual life. The Society then seeks to inspire the laity to perseverance through a basic rule of prayer.

“Go constantly forward with true and perfect perseverance, for you know it is not merely setting out but only perseverance that wins the crown.”
(St Catherine Siena T107)