Corpus Christi Blog

Last week, we discussed the nature of our free will and some indicators that can help us discern God’s influence on our decisions. Now, we’ll discuss the hallmarks of demonic influence on the will as detailed in Fr. Cliff Ermatinger’s book, Who’s Speaking: Discerning the Good Shepherd’s Voice from that of the Stranger.

The past two weeks I have written about how we can discern between the voices that influence our thinking by identifying the hallmarks of both God’s and Satan’s influences on our intellects. Once we determine which of our thoughts are coming from the Stranger, we can more quickly and easily reject them so we can focus on the voice of the Good Shepherd that breaks through the darkness in our intellects caused by original sin. Of course, the work does not end with our thoughts. We must make choices and act on those thoughts. This week, continuing to draw from the wisdom of Fr. Cliff Ermatinger's book, Who's Speaking: Discerning the Good Shepherd's Voice from that of the Stranger, we will examine the hallmarks of God’s influence on the will. Next week, we’ll cover the hallmarks of the demonic influence on the will.

Last week, we discussed the hallmarks of God’s influence on our intellects that help us distinguish the Good Shepherd's voice from all the distracting and competing voices in our minds. Drawing on the wisdom from Fr. Cliff Ermatinger's book, Who's Speaking: Discerning the Good Shepherd's Voice from that of the Stranger, we will now examine the hallmarks of demonic influence on the intellect, enabling us to more easily identify the thoughts that aim to divert us from our spiritual journey.

Now, more than ever before, the world is filled with a lot of noise. When making decisions, we are bombarded with information, opinions, and advice from various conflicting sources. It can be difficult to distinguish Jesus’ voice in the midst of all of clamor. Sometimes, even our own internal voice, colored by our desires and emotions, can drown out the voice we need to hear most.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a 12^th-century monk who founded the Cistercian order because of his dissatisfaction with the growing opulence within the Benedictine order at the time. In 1830, he was declared one of the 37 Doctors of the Church by Pope Pius VIII, due to the extensive contributions to theological and spiritual thought he left behind in his writings. Today, we’ll look at one of these contributions — The Four Degrees of Love.

We have spent the last two weeks discussing specific ways we can participate in Jesus Christ’s priestly and prophetic offices. This week, we will conclude our three-part series by examining our role in the kingship of Christ. First, we’ll explore what the Church teaches about what it means for us to be kings. Then we’ll discuss how to put that advice into practice in our everyday lives, based on the guidance provided by Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR, in his book, Habits for Holiness: Small Steps for Making Big Spiritual Progress.