WEBVTT
00:00:00.261 --> 00:00:14.570
Two cosmic powers, intelligent good and intelligent evil, personified in God and Lucifer, are locked in a life and death struggle for the allegiance of all human beings.
00:00:14.570 --> 00:00:26.469
That struggle becomes tangible, can be tracked and identified only in the multiple details of complex human situations.
00:00:26.469 --> 00:00:37.408
But by the same token, everything tangible, each and every human situation is colored by what is transhuman and eternal.
00:00:37.408 --> 00:00:44.390
So we ask in our title today what is the spiritual battle?
00:00:44.390 --> 00:00:48.682
Let's talk about it on this Catholic Corner.
00:01:17.688 --> 00:01:30.887
Welcome to the Theory to Action Podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.
00:01:30.887 --> 00:01:34.930
Now here's your host, David Kaiser.
00:01:36.203 --> 00:02:03.862
Hello, I am David, and welcome back to the Theory to Action podcast and to this special segment we call the Catholic Corner, where we attempt to pull faith and the supernatural life from the corner of our lives, so to speak, back to the center, to help all of us live a life of virtue, a life of freedom, pursuing excellence and ultimately trying to live a flourishing life.
00:02:03.862 --> 00:02:17.263
And so we're going to turn to our opening quote that we let off with and that question we asked there and in the title of this episode what is the spiritual battle?
00:02:17.263 --> 00:02:22.469
What is this spiritual battle that we are always talking about on this podcast?
00:02:22.469 --> 00:02:32.423
Well, let's read our opening quote again to get the gist of it and how it answers the question directly.
00:02:32.423 --> 00:02:45.588
Two cosmic powers, intelligent good and intelligent evil, personified in God and Lucifer, are locked in a life and death struggle for the allegiance of all human beings.
00:02:45.588 --> 00:03:05.889
That struggle becomes tangible, can be tracked and identified only in the multiple details of complex human situations, but, by the same token, everything tangible, each and every human situation, is colored by what is transhuman and eternal.
00:03:05.889 --> 00:03:11.088
All right, so that is a fascinating paragraph.
00:03:11.088 --> 00:03:13.633
So pull that apart.
00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:37.689
We have powers operating on the spiritual plane, cosmic powers, both God and Lucifer, intelligent good and intelligent evil, and of all the mysteries in our world, the mystery of evil should not be a mystery at all, especially shouldn't be a mystery to us in the 21st century.
00:03:37.689 --> 00:03:41.287
We see evil personified all around us.
00:03:41.287 --> 00:03:45.467
We see hearts motivated by evil almost each and every day.
00:03:45.467 --> 00:03:53.820
If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you will see and hear that evil each and every day.
00:03:53.820 --> 00:03:58.968
But we have two cosmic powers dueling God and Lucifer.
00:03:58.968 --> 00:04:08.051
Now, to be clear, to get our theology right, god is all powerful, omnipotent.
00:04:08.051 --> 00:04:11.081
Lucifer is not.
00:04:11.081 --> 00:04:14.423
Lucifer is a being, he is not God.
00:04:14.423 --> 00:04:23.827
God is more powerful, but God, in his eternal love for us human beings, has given us freedom.
00:04:23.827 --> 00:04:27.454
So let's go back to our quote.
00:04:29.829 --> 00:04:41.482
Two cosmic powers intelligent good and intelligent evil, personified, and God and Lucifer are locked in a life and death struggle for the allegiance of all human beings.
00:04:41.482 --> 00:04:46.817
Locked in a life and death struggle for all human beings.
00:04:46.817 --> 00:04:51.675
And that struggle becomes tangible.
00:04:51.675 --> 00:05:08.492
We see it play out among the zillions of human situations playing out all around the world and, most importantly, these human situations are colored by what is called transhuman and eternal Means.
00:05:08.492 --> 00:05:14.843
It's beyond humanity, not transsexual transhuman beyond humanity and eternal.
00:05:14.843 --> 00:05:22.461
This spiritual war is about human souls and this war is eternal and permanent.
00:05:22.461 --> 00:05:28.882
And that is the paradox, that is the spiritual battle that is playing out each and every day.
00:05:28.882 --> 00:05:49.494
It's playing out before our very eyes, on the streets, in big cities and in rural towns and the countryside and in the ghetto In the United States and Russia and Beijing and the Gaza Strip and a thousand other hell holes all around the world.
00:05:49.494 --> 00:05:57.858
Human beings interacting on the spiritual plane in an ultimate battle of good versus evil, god versus Lucifer.
00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:03.620
And if you're a Christian, how do you know this spiritual war really is taking place?
00:06:03.620 --> 00:06:07.435
We can't see it and hear it.
00:06:07.435 --> 00:06:15.346
If we're keeping with our Socratic method that we learned earlier, we should ask these questions, should we not?
00:06:15.346 --> 00:06:18.694
Nope, the questions are good.
00:06:18.694 --> 00:06:20.874
Good questions are even better.
00:06:21.709 --> 00:06:29.264
And one good question to ask is did Jesus Christ reference this spiritual battle at all?
00:06:29.264 --> 00:06:31.154
Well, in fact, he did.
00:06:31.154 --> 00:06:35.658
He referenced his main opponent in this spiritual battle by name.
00:06:35.658 --> 00:06:42.766
Actually, you might remember, upon the return of the 70 that Jesus had sent out two by two.
00:06:42.766 --> 00:06:57.115
In the Holy Gospel, according to St Luke, he says there in Luke 1017, the 70 returned with joy saying Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
00:06:57.115 --> 00:07:00.976
And he said to them I saw Satan fall like heaven.
00:07:00.976 --> 00:07:13.512
I'm sorry, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, and then I'm sure you could have heard a pin drop after that answer fell upon the ears of the 70.
00:07:13.512 --> 00:07:28.994
The joy of their faces can just be imagined being wiped away very quickly after our Lord makes one of those usual statements, like he always does Whoa, what's he talking about?
00:07:28.994 --> 00:07:45.752
Christ would go on with the teaching in Luke 1019, telling them Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
00:07:45.752 --> 00:07:51.761
And then he issues a word of caution in Luke 1020.
00:07:51.761 --> 00:08:00.175
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
00:08:00.175 --> 00:08:05.192
Whoa again, don't rejoice.
00:08:05.192 --> 00:08:11.718
Just as if our Lord is saying there's no need to be happy about this subject.
00:08:11.718 --> 00:08:18.298
Caution and don't be happy, for these are very serious matters.
00:08:18.298 --> 00:08:34.153
This is just one small reference to the spiritual battle that our Lord references, but exorcism is the formal title of what the 70 were performing as they went two by two into the countryside.
00:08:36.950 --> 00:08:39.498
People often miss another short reference from our Lord.
00:08:39.498 --> 00:08:41.815
They often skip over this one.
00:08:41.815 --> 00:08:46.097
This time it happens earlier in the Holy Gospel according to Luke.
00:08:46.097 --> 00:08:57.105
In Luke 949, we hear our Lord issuing a gentle rebuke to his apostles, saying Are we read?
00:08:57.105 --> 00:09:04.794
John answered Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.
00:09:04.794 --> 00:09:13.461
But Jesus said to them Do not forbid him, for he that is not against you is for you.
00:09:13.461 --> 00:09:17.475
Gentle rebuke noted.
00:09:17.475 --> 00:09:19.812
Our Lord has spoken.
00:09:19.812 --> 00:09:24.217
And there's another reference to this spiritual battle.
00:09:24.217 --> 00:09:27.716
And there are many, many more that we could uncover.
00:09:30.149 --> 00:09:48.244
But it has been quite odd over the last 25 to 35 years to hear so many people nowadays discount this spiritual battle taking place all day and all around the world, as if they're saying there's nothing to see here.
00:09:48.244 --> 00:10:02.928
We don't believe it, to which many of us are thinking whoa, how can you not miss what is happening all around us each and every day?
00:10:02.928 --> 00:10:18.466
It's as if we are solar systems apart in viewing reality, in our worldview, that important concept we talked about earlier.
00:10:18.466 --> 00:10:26.738
This is an important part of seeing the world clearly and Developing, informing your worldview.
00:10:26.738 --> 00:10:29.844
That is the answer to this question.
00:10:29.844 --> 00:10:32.649
Is there a spiritual war taking place all around us?
00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:38.966
Absolutely there is Now in reference to our previous quote we started the podcast with.
00:10:41.196 --> 00:10:50.033
That comes to us from a great book, a book that I read early on in my faith journey, way back in 1996.
00:10:50.033 --> 00:11:06.687
Its title is the Jesuits by Malachi Martin, and because we have our first Jesuit Pope in Pope Francis, I want to read this book again to reacquaint myself with the original Jesuits and and most especially to its founder, ignatius de Loyola.
00:11:06.687 --> 00:11:20.047
We'll talk about Ignatius and his biography a little bit later on, not in this podcast, but later on in our, in our theme, in our series.
00:11:20.047 --> 00:11:23.340
Now, who or what are the Jesuits?
00:11:23.340 --> 00:11:27.489
Well, the formal title is they are the Society of Jesus.
00:11:27.489 --> 00:11:30.975
They are a religious order of clerics.
00:11:30.975 --> 00:11:47.683
They are headquartered in Rome, they were founded in 1540 by Ignatius de Loyola and six of his companions, and these six companions Composed what is called the original Jesuits.
00:11:47.683 --> 00:11:58.706
They were approved by Pope Paul III and they are now engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in some 112 nations.
00:11:58.706 --> 00:12:07.201
They are known worldwide for their education, their research and their cultural pursuits.
00:12:07.201 --> 00:12:20.626
They also conduct very good retreats, or they did, and this book does a wonderful job of explaining the original, the original Jesuit education.
00:12:20.626 --> 00:12:29.563
They have since fallen away from their mandate and that would take another 15 podcast essentially to explain that.
00:12:29.563 --> 00:12:33.224
And the book does a great job of explaining it.
00:12:33.224 --> 00:12:38.644
So if you're interested in going down that rabbit trail, you can certainly do that with this book.
00:12:38.644 --> 00:12:40.788
I would highly recommend it.
00:12:40.788 --> 00:12:41.818
It's a very good book.
00:12:41.818 --> 00:12:46.475
It helped me to understand why certain things were the way they were.
00:12:47.881 --> 00:13:09.832
But I was very curious as I began reading again this book and putting myself in Ignatius' shoes as he looked it out upon the world in 1540, and he probably was asking himself what is going on.
00:13:09.832 --> 00:13:23.003
You will remember and you will recall from your history books that in the middle of the sixteenth century Christendom all of Europe was in a total upheaval.
00:13:23.003 --> 00:13:34.014
The Protestant revolt had happened, happened with Martin Luther in 1517, with the nailing of the 95th Eesus in the Wittenberg Church in Germany.
00:13:34.014 --> 00:13:39.159
But Loyola wasn't too concerned about that.
00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.817
He was more concerned about the worldwide church.
00:13:41.817 --> 00:13:54.878
Yes, there was an upheaval in Europe, but he was asking for bigger answers to what is going on, certainly wasn't asking for sports scores either.
00:13:54.878 --> 00:14:15.519
He was asking the big spiritual battle question, the really deep question, with many implications, of what's really going on, what's going on beneath the surface that we in the church, the Catholic Church, have not began to understand at all.
00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:19.779
How can we put that into a very real sense?
00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:22.855
With that, let's pick up the book in chapter 7.
00:14:22.855 --> 00:14:26.374
In a very real sense.
00:14:26.453 --> 00:14:36.182
By the time Ignatius de Loyola began the detailed work of forming his Society of Jesus, he had already asked that same question what's going on?
00:14:36.182 --> 00:14:41.639
He had already seen and heard everything our imaginary reporter would have seen and heard.
00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:53.480
He understood both the fascination of his contemporaries with the powerful adventures, discoveries and new freedoms and the very mixed feelings that came with all of that.
00:14:53.480 --> 00:15:07.543
He's referencing all the different discoveries in the 16th century the advent of the printing press, bigger ships to travel far greater distances on the ocean.
00:15:07.543 --> 00:15:09.434
Going back to the book.
00:15:09.434 --> 00:15:17.938
But what interested him, however, was not a mere repertorial description of the new happenings and new reactions to them.
00:15:17.938 --> 00:15:21.919
His mind was not transfixed by science or new discoveries.
00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:28.581
He did not see a new theology of humanism leading to a new age of man on the horizon.
00:15:28.581 --> 00:15:36.892
Nor was he preoccupied with the never ending war between the Christian world and the Turkish Empire.
00:15:36.892 --> 00:15:38.952
Little stop here.
00:15:38.952 --> 00:16:04.193
If we put ourselves in Ignatius shoes, you will know from your history books that war was going on since the 7th century, when the Muslim Empire, the Muslim religion, expanded beyond its normal borders in Saudi Arabia and drifted out, taking land at a furious pace all around the Mediterranean.
00:16:04.193 --> 00:16:05.974
Back to the book.
00:16:05.974 --> 00:16:13.886
So he was not occupied with the never-ending war between the Christian war and the Turkish Empire.
00:16:14.208 --> 00:16:28.366
While most people were just preparing to measure themselves against the widening backdrop of newness, ignatius was already thinking in universalist terms and about the condition of man's entire cosmos.
00:16:28.366 --> 00:16:31.586
And here's where it gets good For him.
00:16:31.586 --> 00:16:47.990
Everything traced back to that single element common throughout the vast sea of change, that single element that in its essence never changed the cosmic war between God and Lucifer, just as it had been in every age before his.
00:16:47.990 --> 00:16:51.638
That war was still being waged everywhere and daily.
00:16:51.638 --> 00:17:04.717
It permeated every event, every element of turmoil, of expansion, and it concerned just one thing the eternal salvation of each and every human being.
00:17:04.717 --> 00:17:19.153
Through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ and by the founding of the Roman Catholic Church, god had made it possible for each man and woman to make godly choices in life and by those choices to attain heaven after death.
00:17:19.153 --> 00:17:34.248
In that cosmic and constant war, christ was the leader of God's campaign, and Christ's personal, visible representative among men was the Roman Pope, lucifer's aims in the war.
00:17:34.248 --> 00:17:45.414
The aim of Satan as the adversary, was to ensure that as many human beings as possible missed that eternal afterlife goal.
00:17:48.285 --> 00:18:00.496
Never more clear has there been an articulation of what the spiritual battle was that is taking place all around us than by the founder of the Jesuits, ignatius De Loyola.
00:18:00.496 --> 00:18:06.787
And to make it very clear, let's go back to the book, because there's some fantastic writing here.
00:18:06.787 --> 00:18:21.036
Unless you admit that this cosmic war was all that really mattered for Ignatius, it was far more important and real than the Christian Turk war, for example.
00:18:21.036 --> 00:18:27.527
You've had, no, you would have no chance to understand how Ignatius succeeded in his venture.
00:18:27.527 --> 00:18:35.808
He read not only his contemporary history, but he also knew what of the past and what had been playing for the future.
00:18:35.808 --> 00:18:44.057
In light of that paradigm, that war was what was really going on and what really mattered.
00:18:44.057 --> 00:18:56.897
And it was his understanding of that war that gave him his hearty independence from the prevailing and piecemeal reactions of his generation to the earth shaking changes in their world.
00:18:56.897 --> 00:19:07.413
In turn, it was that independence of mine that enabled him to fashion his Ignatius mold for his order and for its individual members.
00:19:07.413 --> 00:19:11.413
Not that his view of the warfare itself was innovative.
00:19:12.404 --> 00:19:20.890
His idea of the battle between God and Lucifer as the supreme reality in human life was the very old and authentically Christian teaching.
00:19:20.890 --> 00:19:31.476
According to each individual human being, it's the cherished objective of those two agents external to him, god and Lucifer.
00:19:31.476 --> 00:19:42.915
Fundamental to Ignatius' spirituality was the dogmatic belief that while alive in this world, no one can escape the constant attention of both God and Lucifer.
00:19:42.915 --> 00:20:07.875
Old as that belief was, however, it was being swamped in a single generation by the new fascination men and women found in the here and now, in an ever more exciting temporal life, in the rush to fit into that life, to adapt to it and to change with it, and above all, in the humanistic cry of the Renaissance that man is the measure of all things.
00:20:07.875 --> 00:20:17.666
For Ignatius, the very cry, that very cry pointed to his shift in the current campaign of the constant war.
00:20:17.666 --> 00:20:24.836
It was Lucifer's latest ploy, his modern version of I will not serve.
00:20:27.805 --> 00:20:55.349
For traditional Catholics and Christians, this describes the worldview of the spiritual war that has been playing out since the dawn of time, in fact so much that the Catholic Church has given us a prayer to start our day with this worldview in mind, and it starts with the affirmation I will serve, opposed to Lucifer's I will not serve.
00:20:55.349 --> 00:20:58.777
I will serve Christ as his soldier.
00:20:58.777 --> 00:21:34.499
And then this traditional morning offering prayer comes to us in many prayer books, but it says this oh my Jesus, through the immaculate heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, my works, my joys and my sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your sacred heart and union with the holy sacrifice of the mass throughout the world and reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all my family, friends and relatives and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father.
00:21:34.499 --> 00:21:36.406
Amen.
00:21:36.406 --> 00:21:45.415
That prayer has been echoed off the lips down through the centuries for many folks believing in this spiritual battle.
00:21:47.865 --> 00:21:56.160
Let's go back to the Jesuits in this book and the founder Ignatius Dei-loyal and how he viewed this war.
00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:20.356
The war Ignatius saw was the war against Lucifer, chief of the fallen angels who roamed through the human environment seeking to destroy whether by the homicide of war, by the destruction of religious culture or by the degradation of poverty and justice and suffering, the image of God and the grace of Christ in the souls of men and women everywhere.
00:22:20.356 --> 00:22:33.635
As Lucifer's war against Christ and his grace and salvation was universal, so the war against Lucifer and his followers had to be correspondingly universal.
00:22:33.635 --> 00:22:39.135
So Christ needs soldiers in that fight.
00:22:40.826 --> 00:22:45.817
So in today's Catholic Corner we have answered the question what is the spiritual war we talk about all the time?
00:22:45.817 --> 00:23:36.520
And we will close with a wonderful daily meditation for every Christian to consider Remember Christian soul that you have this day and every day of your life for God to glorify, for Jesus to imitate the angels and saints, to invoke a soul to save a body, to mortify sins, to expiate virtues, to acquire hell, to avoid heaven, to gain eternity, to prepare for time, to profit by neighbors, to edify the world, to despise devils, to combat passions, to subdue death, perhaps to suffer and judgment to undergo.
00:23:36.520 --> 00:23:41.625
What a wonderful meditation for every Christian to consider.
00:23:41.625 --> 00:23:49.505
So, as always, team Mojo, as we close, let's keep fighting the good fight in the spiritual battle.
00:23:49.505 --> 00:23:59.944
And a little a PS here to the whole country Please pray for the defeat of issue one in the state of Ohio this Tuesday.
00:23:59.944 --> 00:24:12.904
It would be a major victory if we were to defeat Ohio issue one, because it's a major battle in this spiritual war.
00:24:46.596 --> 00:24:47.837
Thank you for joining us.
00:24:47.837 --> 00:24:51.201
We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.
00:24:51.201 --> 00:25:00.376
Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.
00:25:00.376 --> 00:25:04.210
Until next time, keep getting your Mojo on.