Introduction - Struggles in the Spiritual Life with Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.
Fr. Timothy Gallagher and Kris McGregor begin a 20-part series on the various Struggles in the Spiritual Life. This episode gives an overview of what is to come and examples from the lives of the saints.
You can pick up a copy of the book here: amzn.to/3iAwFhE
---
An excerpt from the Prologue:
All who walk the spiritual journey undergo, in their individual ways, such struggles. Our spiritual tradition knows these struggles, explains their causes, and supplies their remedies. Such struggles lie within God’s loving providence. Understood and faced well, they will not harm us. They will, on the contrary, lead to growth - the reason for which God permits them.
Struggles are not the heart of the spiritual life. God’s love is - His deep, warm, faithful, and personal love for you. That is the center. That is the source of your joy. Because you know this, you love the spiritual life. And because you love it, you have begun to read this book.
We turn now to a wisdom that will protect this center and guide us into its richness.
----
Gallagher O.M.V, Fr. Timothy ; Gallagher O.M.V, Fr. Timothy. Struggles in the Spiritual Life: Their Nature and Their Remedies (p. 11). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.
From the book’s description: “Here is a powerful, life-changing book that will help you understand and conquer the struggles you face in your spiritual life. It’s a book for those who love the Lord and desire holiness yet often feel adrift or stagnant in their search for spiritual growth.
All of us encounter valleys on our journey with the Lord - those periods of spiritual desolationthat are a painful yet unavoidable feature of our prayer life. Spiritual desolation is as complex as we are, so understanding what is happening and responding to it properly are critical to reaching the heights of holiness.
With warmth and understanding, Fr. Gallagher carefully identifies in this book the various forms of spiritual and nonspiritual desolation and supplies the remedy for each. You’ll learn how to discern whether your struggles derive from medical or psychological conditions or whether those struggles are spiritual and permitted by the Lord for reasons of growth. In each case, you’ll be given the remedy for the struggle. You’ll also learn the forms of spiritual dryness and of the Dark Night - and how to respond to them.
In chapter after chapter, Fr. Gallagher presents a particular struggle as experienced by fictional characters and then provides the advice he gives to those who come to him for spiritual direction about that struggle. You’ll gain confidence as you journey through desolation, and you’ll learn to reject the enemy’s ploys to infect you with a sense of hopelessness.“
---
Background: storyloop.com