영적 전쟁: 그리스도인의 삶에서 자기 고통 극복하기

### 희망 품기: 영적 전쟁을 통한 자기 고통 극복하기
* ✝ 그리스도는 부활하셨고, 오늘의 묵상은 성 니고데모와 같은 성인들이 편집한 로렌조 스쿠폴리의 고전 텍스트 **'보이지 않는 전쟁'에서 파생된 영적 전쟁의 본질적인 주제**에 초점을 맞추고 있습니다.
* 📖 악마론과 영적 전투에 대한 주제는 모든 그리스도인에게 중요하며, **영적 전쟁을 이해하는 것은 영적 전쟁을 마스터하는 것과는 다르며 투쟁과 실패는 여정의 일부**임을 강조합니다.
* 💔 성 니고데모는 **"자신을 괴롭히는 일을 그만두라"**고 격려하며, 특히 **반복적으로 죄에 빠진 후의 자기 괴롭힘은 무익하고 시간 낭비**라는 점을 강조합니다.
* 🙏 우리는 우리의 죄에 충격을 받는 대신 **자신을 낮추고 약점을 인정**하며 용서와 극복할 힘을 얻기 위해 하나님께로 향해야 합니다.
* 🕊 하나님은 항상 가까이 계셔서 우리의 부르짖음을 듣고 계신다고 안심시키며, **실패에 연연하지 말고 평온을 되찾고 일상을 이어가도록 격려**합니다.
* 💖 성 바울은 **"죄가 많은 곳에 은혜가 넘친다"**는 말을 상기시키며 하나님의 사랑과 자비가 우리의 죄보다 무한히 크다는 점을 강조합니다.
* 🌱 이 조언을 따르고 신뢰로 하나님께 다가감으로써 우리는 **그분의 무한한 선하심을 기리고 영적인 삶에서 지속적인 발전**을 이룰 수 있습니다.
* 📚 마지막으로, 이 묵상은 영적 성장은 **하나님의 사랑의 친절에 대한 겸손과 확신**을 통해 가능하다는 것을 상기시키며 자기 고통을 멈추고 하나님의 은혜를 받아들일 것을 촉구합니다.

스스로를 괴롭히지 말고 영적 여정에서 하나님의 무한한 선하심과 용서를 받아들이세요.

Hey everyone. Christ is risen. Thanks a lot for tuning in. I have a reflection for you today that I'm entitling Stop Torturing Yourself. Stop Torturing Yourself. This reflection comes from the magnificent text called The Unseen Warfare, this classic in demonology that was originally written by Lorenzo Scupoli, and then was edited by St. Emus of the Holy Mountain, and later by St. Theophan the Recluse. This is what it looks like. I hope that you are familiar with this text. It's a classic to be read, especially during the fasting periods. The subject, of course, of demonology is exceedingly important. Spiritual warfare is a central theme, of course, in the life of every Christian, in the scriptures themselves, and in the writings of the church fathers. In fact, it's one of the most popular lecture series at patristicnectar.org, is our series on demonology, six lectures on demonology. So if you would like to dive into that more deeply, I would

recommend that you go there. The title comes, in fact, from the very title Stop Torturing Yourself or A Thousand Falls. Both of those come from the last chapter in the Unseen Warfare, in which St. Nicodemus offers these incredibly encouraging words and important words. After he has spent nearly 300 pages of a very in-depth teaching on how to fight the devils and how to conquer sin and win the spiritual war, it's important to recognize, as I read you these words, that this is the last word of St. Nicodemus, closing the subject of spiritual combat. He decides to end this with an encouragement towards continual hope and continual repentance, and a command which he actually delivers twice in this small chapter to stop torturing yourself. Once he says stop torturing, once he says it's translated stop tormenting yourself. He speaks in this very last word about the continuing struggle. It's not as though if you master the principles of spiritual warfare or if

you illumine your mind as a Christian disciple of Jesus Christ, Our Savior, about spiritual combat. Then you're going to win all the time, and you're going to never have to struggle because you know how it works. Well, knowing spiritual combat and becoming victorious in spiritual combat, these are two different things, very different things. Of course, studying spiritual warfare is learning from the scriptures and from the fathers of the church about how to hold fast to God and not to give in to the Devils. This is extremely important. Learning facilitates the practice of this Warfare, but one only becomes competent in it through many struggles, many battles, and many failures, many losses, and standing up and trying again. No one becomes a spiritual expert in this life and doesn't struggle to the end, no one. So stop looking for this. There will be no cessation to conflict in this life. This is a falling world, and it lies in the power of the evil one. For us Believers, the realm of this life in which God has placed us is the

opportunity for us to demonstrate our love for him and to become, through the cross-bearing that he's assigned to us, the struggles that he expects us to engage in, to become who we need to be, to bear his Beauty, to be in his presence, and to be deified by his light. That is the intent of God through allowing us to struggle and mature. So don't look for the escaton before the escaton. Don't expect the struggle to end. It will end at the return of our Savior. We will be definitively and completely delivered from every sick sorrow and sighing. Every tear will be wiped away from our eyes, but that is at the return of Christ. Right now, it's blood, it's tears, it's struggle. Listen to his beautiful counsel. Every time you fall into some pardonable transgression, even if it happens a thousand times a day, let me stop there. Let me stop there. Listen to this beautiful word from the great Saint. Listen to this word that in Nicodemus says, Every time you fall into some

pardonable transgression. Even if it happens a thousand times a day, I doubt for you it's happening a thousand times a day, as sometimes I think it's happening to me a thousand times a day, or I should say I am falling, not using the passive. I fall sometimes a thousand times a day. This is his counsel: as soon as you notice it, do not torture yourself and so waste your time without profit. That's what self-torture is: wasting your time without profit. But at once humble yourself, and conscious of your weakness, turn to God with hope and call to him from the depths of your heart. Oh Lord my God, I have done this because I am what I am, and so nothing can be expected of me but such transgressions are even worse. If thy Grace does not help me and I am left to myself alone, I grieve over what I have done, especially because my life has no righteousness responding to thy care for me. But I continue to fall and fall. Forgive for me and give me the strength.

not to offend thee again, and in no way to digress from thy will. This is the counsel of St. Nicodemus. Notice, don't be shocked, don't be shocked at your falls. Sometimes that shock is pride, thinking you were something when you're not. Don't be shocked even if it's a thousand times a day. Number two, establish yourself in humility born of reality. He says here, I am what I am. Don't be shocked, don't be shocked. Be grieved, of course, be grieved. Don't reconcile with your selfishness, don't reconcile with your self-love. Of course, we're in war, but don't be shocked by it. Don't be shocked. What do you think you are if you're shocked instead? Establish yourself in the humility that's born of reality. I am what I am, so nothing can be expected of me but such transgressions or even worse. And then lastly, he says in this paragraph, Don't torture yourself. It's fruitless. It doesn't help at all. The Lord doesn't

receive any pleasure from you torturing yourself. You don't obtain grace by torturing yourself. In fact, it's called here by St. Nicodemus a waste of time without profit. Instead, he says humble yourself. That's the appropriate response every time we fall, even if it's the first time of the day or the thousandth time in a single hour. He continues in the next paragraph, having done this, do not torment yourself with thoughts as to whether God has forgiven you. This is also a subset of the torturing of yourself, right? Don't torture yourself, he said, and then don't torment yourself with thoughts that somehow God has not forgiven you or won't forgive you. The Lord is near and listens to the sigh of his servants, so calm yourself in the certainty, having regained your calm, continue your usual occupations as though nothing had happened. Don't be shocked, calm yourself in the certainty of God's love, regain your calm, and continue your usual occupations as though nothing has happened. You must do this not once but

if necessary, a hundred times in every minute, and the last time with the same perfect trust and daring towards God as the first. In doing this, you will render due honor to the infinite goodness of God. Far from being presumptuous, being humble and calling on the mercy of God and resting in that Mercy, this is not being proud; this is giving God the due honor for his infinite goodness and his immeasurable love, which is far greater than our sins. Where sin abounds, Grace Super abounds, St. Paul says. Even a hundred times in every minute, do this, and at the last time with the same perfect trust and daring towards God as the first. In doing this, you will render due honor to the infinite goodness of God, whom you must always see as full of infinite loving kindness towards us. Then you will never cease to make progress in your life and will go on moving forward without waste of time or labor. What a word, what a way to finish this incredible text on spiritual warfare, this massive injection of Hope.

and confidence in the goodness of God, his infinite loving kindness for man. God's patience and love for you is greater than your sins. Don't torture yourself with thoughts that are unworthy of God. Calm yourself in the certainty of God's forgiveness. Do this 100 times in a row if you have to, each time doing it with the same perfect trust and daring towards God. By doing this, you will render due honor to the infinite goodness of God, to his loving kindness. And then he ends the entire text by saying, Then you will never cease to make progress in the Christian Life. Look at that. Don't be surprised that you haven't made the progress that you would like to. This is how he stops, how he starts the concluding chapter. Don't be surprised, don't torment yourself when you fall even a thousand times in a day, but be confident that by taking this counsel, by being humble and having the trust in God's goodness that renders him due honor, because this is our God, a man-lover who wishes no one to perish.

but all to come to repentance. This is the very means by making of making spiritual progress. Then you will never cease to make progress in the Christian Life. I hope this is a great encouragement to you, dear ones. Stop torturing yourself. Stop tormenting yourself with thoughts that are unworthy of the goodness and the infinite loving kindness of God to all those who repent. Christ is risen. Patristic Nectar Publications is pleased to present Enduring Love: Laying Christian Foundations for Marriage. Marriage preparation, together with the sacred institution itself, has fallen on hard times in the post-Christian West. It is more important than ever for couples to saturate their hearts and minds with the glorious vision of holy matrimony presented by the church in holy tradition and lived by countless saints. Here in these pages, couples will find inspired teaching from the holy scriptures, the writings of the holy fathers, and the service text of the sacrament itself on how to live in a genuinely Christian marriage in which

the home becomes a domestic Church through loving love. May God inspire the hearts of those preparing to be married, and also those already married who would like to deepen their union and render it more pleasing to God. Available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Stop TORTURING Yourself

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스스로를 고문하지 마세요: 영적 전쟁에 대한 성찰

이 묵상은 악마론과 영적 전투에 관한 고전적인 텍스트인 "보이지 않는 전쟁"을 바탕으로 합니다.

마지막 장에서 성 니고데모는 지속적인 희망과 회개의 중요성, 그리고 자신을 괴롭히는 것을 멈출 필요성을 강조합니다.

영적 전쟁의 투쟁은 현재 진행형이며, 전투와 실패, 재도전의 필요성 없이 영적 전문가가 될 수 있는 사람은 아무도 없습니다.

하나님은 우리가 그분에 대한 사랑을 보여주고 그분의 아름다움을 품기 위한 방법으로 고난과 성숙을 허락하십니다.

궁극적으로 우리를 슬픔에서 건져주시고 눈물을 닦아주실 그리스도께서 재림하실 때까지 고난은 계속될 것입니다.

그 동안 우리는 자신을 낮추고 희망을 가지고 하나님께로 향하며 범죄의 때에 그분의 은혜를 구하도록 격려받아야 합니다.

겸손과 용서에 대한 성 니고데모의 조언

성 니고데모는 겸손과 현실의 중요성을 강조하면서 개인적인 실수에 충격을 받지 말라고 조언합니다.

그는 개인이 이기심과 자기애와 화해하지 않고 자신의 죄를 슬퍼할 것을 권장합니다.

그는 자신을 괴롭히는 대신 겸손하고 하나님의 사랑에 대한 확신 속에서 진정하며 아무 일도 없었던 것처럼 일상적인 활동으로 돌아갈 것을 촉구합니다.

하나님의 무한한 선하심에 대한 신뢰

본문은 하나님의 무한한 선하심과 사랑을 기리며 온전한 신뢰로 하나님의 자비를 반복해서 구하는 것이 중요함을 강조합니다.

하나님의 은혜는 우리의 죄를 능가하며, 그분의 인내와 용서는 우리의 결점보다 크다는 점을 강조합니다.

하나님의 사랑의 친절을 겸손히 신뢰함으로써 우리는 우리의 실패에도 불구하고 그리스도인의 삶에서 지속적으로 발전할 수 있습니다.

지속적인 사랑: 결혼을 위한 기독교적 기초 세우기

이 본문은 그리스도인의 삶에서 영적 진보를 위한 회개의 중요성을 강조합니다.

특히 기독교 이후 서구에서 부부가 거룩한 결혼에 대한 교회의 비전을 받아들여야 할 필요성을 강조합니다.

이 책은 부부의 결합을 더욱 깊게 하고 하나님을 기쁘시게 하는 것을 목표로 진정한 그리스도인 결혼 생활을 위한 영감 있는 가르침과 지침을 제공합니다.