Spiritual Strength

The Church endorses Thomism/Scholasticism St. Thomas endorses Aristotle  Porphyry made an introduction to help study Aristotle

(take from Fr. Lehodey "The Ways of Mental Prayer") Prayer (requires Attention and Devotion) 1. Vocal Prayer 2. Mental Prayer     a. Active Prayer (Affective)     b. Passive Prayer (Prayer of Simplicity) Purgative - Meditation Illuminative - Affective Prayer Unitive - Prayer of Simplicity Elements of Success 1. Adopt that which suits our degree of progress (meditation, affective, or simplicity) 2. Choose a subject suitable to your needs 3. Beginners should plan the subject of their meditation (think of the subject before sleep and waking up) 4. Determined Will Causes of Failure 1. Distractions     a. levity     b. passions     c. employment     d. weakness 2. Want of devotion and resolution  3. Illusions 4. Bodily indispositions Remedies to Distraction 1. Humble yourself 2. Gently bring your mind back 3. Not examining distractions 3 Rocks to be Avoided in Transitioning from one form of prayer to another 1. Deciding for ourselves by a fixed determination (to remain in a former

  Luther All of Luthers’s teaching is clearly the result of his personal experience.   He was impulsive, sentimental, hypersensitive, full of nervous energy, tormented by scruples, used crude language, and was prone to sudden breakdowns and moments of acute sadness. The primary objection of Luther wasn’t abuses in the Church, it was replacing the Authority of the Church with private interpretations of Scripture. Luther Quotes: “Reason is directly opposed to faith.” “Logic is nowhere necessary in theology.’ “Let the will take the place of reason.” Luther, by his own opinion, eliminated 7 books out of the Old Testament, calling them "apocryphal." Luther called the letter of St. James an “epistle of straw.” Luther on the letter to the Hebrews said one would find, “bits of wood, hay, and straw.” Luther on Revelation said “there are many things objectionable in this book…it bears upon it no marks of an apostolic or prophetic character…I feel an aversion to it, and to me this is su