Book Reviews and More: Spiritual Warfare Fighting the Good Fight - Vivian Boland

Thursday, 17 April 2025

Spiritual Warfare Fighting the Good Fight - Vivian Boland - CTS Deeper Christianity Series

Spiritual Warfare:

Fighting the Good Fight

Deeper Christianity Series

Vivian Boland

Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781784692728

eISBN 9781784692728

ASIN B071SJBYHM

CTS Booklet SP16

Spiritual Warfare Fighting the Good Fight - Vivian Boland - CTS Deeper Christianity Series

Over the last several years, I have read many books from the Catholic Truth Society, over 430 of them in fact, many read more than once; this all since the spring of 2018. Most were good reads; some were great reads; and a few are exceptional. This is another excellent offering, as are the others in this series I have read. It is the fifteenth in the Deeper Christianity Series that I have read, many of them have been read twice. I have also read a few other volumes by Father Vivian Boland across a few of the CTS Series. This series is one of my favourites. This booklet was originally published 2007 and the eBook was released in 2017. The description of this volume is:

“This booklet enlightens the struggle against the self and temptation by searching the wisdom of the scriptures, giving us hope because Christ has defeated death and is always by our side to help us in every battle.

Every Christian is engaged in an ongoing struggle against the self, and against temptation, striving to gain the blessings of the Kingdom of God. This booklet enlightens the struggle by searching the wisdom of the scriptures. It gives hope to everyone, because Christ is always by our side to help us in every battle, and he has already defeated death and sin.”

The chapters in the book are:

Introduction

The Struggle with Ourselves

Not Just Flesh and Blood

Wrestling with God

Christ, Our Champion

I highlighted numerous passages while reading this volume, some of them are:

“In recent years Scupoli’s work is not so well known, perhaps because the themes of self-denial, self-distrust, and even doing violence to oneself in order to follow Christ, trouble rather than encourage people. But any serious spiritual teaching involves discipline and the practice of asceticism, a readiness to engage in the struggle with oneself, with the powers of the spiritual world, and with the mystery of how we come to prefer God’s will to our own.”

“In 1943 a French Jesuit, Henri de Lubac, wrote an essay called Spiritual Warfare. In this work the future Cardinal identifies the attack on it by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche as the greatest contemporary challenge facing Christianity.”

“The warfare in which the Christian must engage is on many levels, then, not just the personal moral and spiritual quest but also the social intellectual and political contest, what has more recently come to be called ‘the culture war’.”

“The language of combat and warfare is not fashionable in spirituality or theology today. It is clearly open to misunderstanding and abuse.”

“In 1996 John Paul II wrote that spiritual combat is ‘a demanding reality which is not always given due attention today’ (Vita consecrata § 38).”

“Spiritual warfare, the struggle against sin and temptation, involves battles at each corner of this triangle, sometimes in relation to oneself, sometimes in relation to the challenges posed to us by others and our dealings with them, sometimes with regard to God.”

“The threefold asceticism of Lent, which is the threefold asceticism of the Christian life at any time, consists of almsgiving, prayer and fasting.”

“Over indulgence in food and drink is always possible and it is often easier to find excuses for it than to recognise it simply as temptation.”

“Fasting cannot be simply a personal challenge to see if we can meet certain spiritual targets, a visit to a kind of spiritual gymnasium. Modesty in our intake of food and drink, and even abstinence from them, supports concentration and meditation, reminds us of the needs of others, and helps us to acknowledge the gifts of God.”

“Anyone who follows Christ must be poor, chaste and obedient. In publicly making profession of these vows, religious thus become a witness and sign to the Church as a whole of its own deepest reality and calling.”

“The struggle with temptation brings about a growth in self-knowledge. We learn about our weaknesses and blind spots, about the depth of our commitments and about the extent to which we are ready to serve God.”

“In practice it is only through temptation that we come to distinguish what we really value from what we think we value. The struggle with temptation helps to clarify this difference for us.”

“The ascetical practices of fasting, almsgiving and prayer already strengthen us in virtue and prepare us for temptation. In Lent we turn our minds to the testing and training that Christian life requires but Lent serves simply to recall us to things that ought to mark our life always:”

“In his Spiritual Combat, Scupoli identifies four ‘most sure and necessary weapons’ in the spiritual warfare against self • distrust of oneself • trust in God • spiritual exercises • prayer.”

“In the first chapter we proposed a triangular model for the spiritual struggle: temptation has three aspects (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life), there is a triangle in which we must live (relating to self, others, God), the classical works of asceticism are three (fasting, almsgiving, prayer), and the vows of religion, seeking to confront directly the threefold root of sin in us, are also three (chastity, poverty, obedience).”

“Sin is a power working through us for which we cannot be asked to bear full responsibility. Although we strengthen the power of sin by our choices and actions, sin itself is more powerful than us, something in which we are unavoidably caught up. This has always been part of the Church’s doctrine of original sin: we find ourselves in a situation not of our own making which nevertheless means we are alienated from God.”

“It is not an evasion of responsibility to say we must contend with powers that are more than flesh and blood. It is, once again, simply to recognise the reality of our situation. The moral and spiritual struggle of the individual Christian is his way of participating in the great battle.”

This is an excellent volume. I have been aware of Scupolis volume and even picked up 2 different editions of it and have read both:

The Spiritual Combat - Lorenzo Scupoli

The Spiritual Combat For the 21st Century Christian - Lorenzo Scupoli

This book served as a great refresher and reminder. Much of the material I was familiar with, but at this stage in life really needed the reminder. There are some things going on at work and home; that needed approaching from different angles, and this book helped with that.

This book is one of those ones that I believe we really need today, in our current day and age with all that is going on in the world, and even the church. We need solid teaching, and spiritual nourishment, and to be prepared for the battles. I will likely return to this booklet again. This is an excellent read in a wonderful series. The CTS Deeper Christianity Series of books is written in such a way that they can easily be read in any order. Pick and choose the ones that interest you, read them in order, or jump around. I have been blessed by all the book in this series that I have read and can easily recommend this book and the series.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

For reviews of other books in the CTS Deeper Christianity Series click here.

Books in the Deeper Christianity Series:
7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit
8 Deadly Sins Learning to Defend the Life of Grace

Art and Prayer

Catholic Architecture
Christian Fasting Disciplining the Body, Awakening the Spirit

Christian Meaning of Time

Deepening Prayer Life Defined by Prayer

Depths of Scripture
Desire & Delight
Faith, Hope and Love The Theological Virtues
Fruits of the Holy Spirit Living a Happy Life
Icons
Lectio Divina Spiritual Reading of the Bible
Kingdom of God