I’ve Lost My Peace – Struggles in the Spiritual Life with Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.

Fr. Timothy Gallagher and Kris McGregor continue a 20-part series on the various Struggles in the Spiritual Life.  This episode explores spiritual discouragement and the enemy’s “war against the peace” people experience in it.

You can pick up a copy of the book here:

An excerpt from the book:

When people love the Lord, Ignatius says, and rejoice in the peace this brings, the enemy may attempt to undermine that peace by troubling them. Elsewhere, Ignatius describes this spiritual disturbance as the enemy’s “war against the peace” these people experience. Note that the enemy does not, at this point, tempt Paul to anything sinful. He seeks rather to diminish and even eliminate Paul’s peace, replacing it with trouble of heart. Again, there is no shame in experiencing this or similar tactics of the enemy. It is simply what happens when we live the spiritual life in a fallen but redeemed and loved world. As with Julie, Paul will not be harmed if he is aware of, identifies, and rejects the enemy’s spiritual desolation.

Obviously, if Paul — or any one of us — does not identify and reject this tactic of the enemy, it will cause harm. What, then, of Paul’s questions? Is his disturbance a sign that he is doing something wrong? That he is trying too hard? Trying too little? That he is regressing? The answer to all these questions appears to be no. In Paul’s journal, we see no sign of regression — quite the contrary. Most probably, precisely because Paul is progressing so well, the enemy induces this “disturbance of soul” and “war against peace” in an attempt to hinder his progress. How does Paul and how do we reject such disturbance from the enemy? As already said, the first need is to make no changes, to relinquish nothing of the spiritual program we have in place.

Gallagher O.M.V, Fr. Timothy ; Gallagher O.M.V, Fr. Timothy. Struggles in the Spiritual Life: Their Nature and Their Remedies (p. 36). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.

To find more episodes from this series, visit the Struggles in the Spiritual Life Podcast

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 desolation that 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.