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What are the three spiritual traps that St. John warns against in 1 John 2:16, and how exactly are they combatted by the three spiritual weapons Jesus gives in Matthew 6 (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving), and by the three evangelical counsels Jesus gives in Matthew 19 (poverty, chastity, and obedience)?
Speaker 1:
You are listening to Shameless Popery with Joe Heschmeyer, a production of Catholic Answers.
Joe Heschmeyer:
Hi, and welcome back to Shameless Pope. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. So normally this podcast drops on Thursday, but as I was looking at the calendar, I realized Lent snuck up on me once again. And so I’m releasing in a little early to help anyone who might be like me sort of last minute thinking, oh, what am I going to do for Lent? And I thought what might be helpful is to talk about I think maybe little known spiritual principles and maybe we’ve heard of these things, but we don’t see how they all fit together. And I mean in here the three spiritual traps, or sometimes they’re called the three lusts, and then the six spiritual weapons, it’s going to be two sets of three. So what do those have to do with Lent and what are they in the first place? But let’s start with the bad news and we’ll get to the good news.
So what are these three spiritual traps? We see them in a way in the temptation of Jesus, but we see them even more clearly in first John. So in St. John’s first letter, this is first John two, beginning in verse 15, he says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.” Okay. So that’s something to think about in the beginning, that you either love God or the world. What does he mean by love of the world? Well, he’s going to say, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever.”
Okay, so there’s two things here. The first is an important spiritual setting that John is not saying that these things that we’re going to have lust for are themselves evil. He’s just going to say they’re passing. They’re passing things, that this world and all the stuff we have lust for is ephemeral. It doesn’t last, whereas God does last. He’s eternal. So are we setting on things that pass away or are we setting our heart on things that last forever? That’s going to be the critical kind of test, and we’re going to see this over and over again. When the saints talk about this, when the Bible talks about this, it’s are we putting our heart on passing things? Are we putting our heart on things at last?
But the second is, what does John identify? And he identifies three lusts or three spiritual traps. The first is what he calls the lust of the flesh. The second is what he calls the lust of the eyes. And the third he calls pride of life. Now, John does not actually define any of these terms, but both from context and from kind of the theological musing of the centuries, we’ve got a pretty clear sense of what each of those seems to mean. And St. Thomas Aquinas is really helpful on this. He’s very clear on this. He addresses this in several different places in the Summa. So I’m going to unpack kind of using his definition or his terms for it. So first, for the lust of the flesh, Aquinas is going to say, this is inordinate appetites for carnal pleasures. In other words, you naturally, and I mean literally naturally just as a bodily creature, as a mammal, as a human, you need food and drink and the species need sex.
Without those things, you die or the species dies off. And so those are natural, those are of the flesh. They’re not of themselves evil. This is sometimes a mistake is scripture will talk about the flesh and the spirit. And some people think that means that the flesh is literally bad. That’s a really dangerous misunderstanding because Jesus becomes flesh, right? The word became flesh and dwelt among us. So the flesh isn’t the problem, it’s an inordinate appetite. It’s putting the flesh as number one. That’s the problem. So you need food, but gluttony is still a lust of the flesh. You need drink, but drunkenness is still a lust of the flesh. Collectively, we need sex. But of course what we normally call lust, sexual lust, that’s the inordinate appetite that’s excessive. So lust of the flesh I think is pretty. Here’s this bodily good that of itself is good, of itself is fine, but you’re overdoing it.
You’re getting too obsessed with it. You’re giving it too much place in your life. That’s lust of the flesh. The second spiritual trap is lust of the eyes. Now this one is a little stranger, but if you think about it, there are other things you might crave. You might want the latest iPhone, you might want the latest fashions, you might want a million dollars in your bank. Those aren’t bodily desires the way food, drink and sex are, but they’re a different kind of lust. And Aquinas says, this is lust of the eyes. If you were to think about what part of my body is lusting for this, well, it’s the eyes, that looks really cool. I like that. And now that’s a little bit of a metaphorical description. It’s not literally your eyes lusting, but is it you see something and then you want it, but it’s not that your body’s just craving it the way food, drink and sex are just bodily cravings.
You don’t need to see food, drink or sex to have in you the desire for them. But there are other things that you see them, maybe an advertisement, maybe you see your neighbor has it, whatever it is, and then you want it. That’s lust of the eyes. Now, here again, wanting a cool thing, wanting nice clothing or any of those things isn’t inherently evil. What is wrong, where it becomes sinful is inordinate appetites for money, apparel, and the like that you become disproportionately interested in these things beyond what their actual value is. You’re putting too much of your heart. You’re setting your heart on having the latest, greatest clothes, the latest, greatest phone, the latest, greatest fill in the blank, car, house, you name it. These are not just bodily desires, granite countertops are not part of the human desire for shelter.
This is above and beyond. That’s lust of the eyes when you’re like, I have to have the best, the nicest, fill in the blank. When that becomes disordered, disproportionate, inordinate, we’re dealing with the sin of lust of the eyes, but then in addition to lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes, the third spiritual trap is what John calls the pride of life. And Aquinas describes this as the inordinate appetite of the arduous good. Now, what does that mean? Well, elsewhere, he describes it as ambition for renowned and honor. That’s pretty simple. You might lust after sex, food, and drink. That’s the first spiritual trap. You might lust after having cool stuff, having nice fashion, having money, having those things. That’s the second spiritual trap. But the third one is you might lust after things that are actually a little bit intangible, power, honor, glory, those sort of things.
You become obsessed with worldly honor. Well, that’s pride of life and that’s a major spiritual trap. And so elsewhere, Aquinas is going to say that all worldly goods can be reduced to three. So remember the things that pass away, the worldly things, the things of the flesh that’s honors riches and pleasures, whatever it is you want, you can narrow it down to one of those three categories, honor, riches, pleasure. If you love honor too much, that’s the sin of pride of life. If you love riches too much, that’s lust of the eyes. If you love pleasure too much, that’s lust of the flesh. Now here, I want to add one point that Aquinas doesn’t describe, but I’ve seen described elsewhere, and I think it’s actually really helpful. I don’t remember who it was, but someone said, if you want a million dollars, that’s greed.
That’s a form of lust of the eyes. If you want a billion dollars, that’s pride. There’s a kind of what looks like lust of the eyes, a kind of desiring of riches that isn’t actually for the riches, it’s for the power, the glory, the honor that goes with it and is actually pride of life. So hopefully you can see pride of life is really dangerous. It’s really spiritually detrimental. Of the three, it’s actually the worst of the three. It is the one that is most akin to the devil’s own rebellion from God. And so these have kind of gone in order, lust of the flesh, you have that in common with animals. Lust of the eyes, there’s something human about that and is actually worse than just having the normal bodily animal desires that go awry. But pride of life, there’s something that seems to be almost demonic about that.
It’s a spiritual desire to be basically in the position of God. Now, you may not articulate it that way, you may not think of it that way, but it’s setting your heart on divine honor and its most extreme form, but it’s setting your heart on these worldly kind of honors that is that you’re wanting to be praised by those around you, that’s pride of life. So those are the three spiritual traps. And so the first thing I would suggest is that you make a little inventory. Which of these three do I struggle with? And you might say, well, all three of them, but is there one that really jumps out as a particular struggle? Now, this is just one way of categorizing this sense. You’ve got the seven deadly sins. You’ve got other ways even in scripture that you have kind of a taxonomy of the different types of sin.
But I think that what John gives us is really helpful and these kind of three broad groupings of what am I after? Am I after honor? Am I after riches, worldly pleasures or excuse me, on riches like worldly goods or my after pleasures? So as you’re approaching Lent, you might say, okay, let’s do a little spiritual diagnostic. What do I need help with? In response to these three spiritual traps, these three lusts, the lust for honor, the lust for riches, the lust for pleasure, there’s two sets of three spiritual weapons. The first are the three spiritual weapons mentioned in Matthew chapter six, and these are sometimes called the acts of religion or the works of piety. Those kind of things, I’ll explain why. And these are biblical. These are given to us by Jesus. And what’s important about the three that we’re about to cover is they’re universally applicable.
Everyone must practice these three. And a lot of us, including a lot of Christians, don’t. The catechism, I’ll start there and then I’ll get into the biblical stuff, the catechumen paragraph 1434 says that, “The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many in various ways. Scripture in the fathers,” that’s the church father dearly Christians, “Insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God and to others.” Now, there’s a cool connection that they just made there because the point is this, in sin, we hurt our relationship to ourself, we hurt our relationship with God, we hurt our relationship with our neighbor. So if you are struggling with lust of the flesh, you have a disordered relationship with yourself. Okay, well, what’s the tool that combats that, the relationship with ourself? Well, fasting, it’s a form of self mastery, or I’ve got pride of life. I am putting myself in the place of God and I’m desiring these worldly things and I’m getting puffed up. Well, what’s the cure for that? Prayer.
Or I’ve damaged my relationship to others, I’m being greedy. I’m dominating those around me. I’m trying to get my neighbors goods, covetousness, all of that stuff. Well, what’s the cure for that? Almsgiving. That these worldly goods that maybe I really want will give that money away. And so rather than damaging your relationship to your neighbor by getting richer and richer while your poor neighbor languishes, you give to your neighbor. So you can see this is hopefully very clear that the damaged relationship to myself is related to lust of the flesh. The damaged relationship to my neighbor is related to lust of the eyes. My damaged relationship to God is related to pride of life. Now, don’t take that as an exclusive sort of thing because sin impacts all of those relationships, every sin impacts all of those relationships. But some sins impact one relationship in a particularly obvious way, and that’s one of the things the catechisms kind of pointing towards here.
And that therefore fasting, which works on myself, prayer which works on my relationship with God, almsgiving works on my relationship with my neighbor, are especially kind of calibrated. So while these are not the only forms of interior penance, these are big ones. This is again paragraph 1434 of the catechism. Paragraph 1969 says that the new law, the law of God, the law of Christ practices, the acts of religion, almsgiving, prayer and fasting, directing them to the Father who sees secret in contrast with the desire to be seen by men. It’s prayer, that is the prayer of the new law, is our Father. Now what you’re going to see is that these three acts of religion, almsgiving, prayer and fasting, all coming from Matthew six, which is also where we get our father. And this is important because it’s possible to do these acts of religion badly.
And that’s actually the point of Matthew six that is possible to do prayer, fasting and almsgiving in a really spiritually unfruitful way, in a way that actually makes pride worse rather than better. So in Matthew six, Jesus begins by saying, “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them. For then you’ll have no reward from your father who’s in heaven.” And this is I think, a really good helpful thing to remember as you start Lent, if you’re doing the Lenting thing just to make yourself better in your own eyes, if you’re doing the Lenting thing just to make yourself look better to your neighbor, you’re doing it wrong, that those are actually spiritually unproductive and can actually work against the path of humility. They can actually work against your path of holiness. So watch out for that. But Jesus mentions practicing your piety.
Now, what does he mean by practicing your piety? He’s going to identify three things. I bet you can guess what they are. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. So in verse two, he says, “Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. That is, it’s not spiritually beneficial for them because they’re not really doing it spiritually. They’re doing it to look good to others. They already got that. They look great to others. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your alms may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.” Now, this is the critical part. The hypocrites, the religious hypocrites of the day, they did prayer, fasting and almsgiving in a hypocritical way.
But Jesus doesn’t say, therefore, don’t pray, don’t fast, don’t give alms. He just says, don’t do it in the way they do. In fact, he says very clearly when you give alms, this is Matthew six, verse two and verse three. Then he says, when you pray in verse five, and then again in verse six, and then when you fast in verse 16 in verse 17, that it is, it’s not if you give alms, if you decide to pray, if you decide to fast, these things are not optional parts of the Christian life. We’ve got to do them.
So let’s remember these three spiritual principles. Fasting helps the fight against lust of the flesh. If your body and the fleshly level is in the driver’s seat, you can’t say no to yourself when you are desiring an extra helping or you’re desiring another drink or you’re desiring more sex or pornography or whatever it is, and this is by the way, I’ll get into why pornography is in the lust of the flesh. Even though you’re thinking, well, I engage that with my eyes. Well, but it’s not your eyes that are hungry for it. It’s a sexual thing. And so it’s this bodily desire, it’s become disordered. In all of those cases, you’ve got poor self mastering that your spiritual principle, intellect and will is not governing very well your lower animal passions, they’ve gotten out of control and in fasting, you get them back in control.
This is why I think even a lot of non-religious people can recognize the good of fasting because you learn to say no to your body. Look, the person who cannot say no to their body is never going to be anyone great. They just aren’t. You can’t strive for greatness without having some degree of self-mastery and a pretty high degree of self-mastery, I’d argue. So that’s the first. So if lust of the flesh, that’s the trap you’re falling into. Well, fasting is a really important tool to help against that, and that’s going to be first and foremost fasting from food. It can also be other forms of fasting, but people say, oh, I’m fasting from going out to eat at brunches or whatever. It’s like, yeah, but are you able to just say no to your body and just say, I’m not going to eat right now when I really want to because if you can’t do that, that’s the problem.
And I’ll get into this at the very end. But you want to make sure you’re not just trying to fast, pray and give alms on your terms because then you are still in the driver’s seat and a lot of what Lent is about is getting out of the driver’s seat. Just stop. You don’t need to be in control of everything. So even as you’re getting this greater sense of self mastery, it’s not to put yourself in the driver’s seat and so that you can better serve God. Second, the spiritual weapon of almsgiving. This helps against the lust of the eyes. If you’re constantly spending money on stuff you don’t really need, a good cure for that is to give your money away so it’s not there to tempt you. I think that’s pretty self-explanatory. And again, there’s a sense of sinful economic inequality. Now, the church does not say everyone should have the exact same amount of money.
That’s not it. But if the rich are just spending their money on themselves and not on the poor, and I think most people listening to this, fall in the category of the rich and the kind of global sense, that’s the problem, that the gifts you have are given for others, not just for yourself. And so if you find that you’re spending things too much on yourself, you’re getting too nicest stuff, that might even be food by the way. There’s a type of food and drink that falls into lust of the eyes just as there’s a kind of what looks like greed that falls into pride of life. There’s a kind of… So if you’re getting top shelf vodka, tequila, whatever, probably not vodka, that may not just be a craving for alcohol, that may be a lust of the eyes. You’re wanting the nicest kind of stuff.
That’s not because you’re thirsty, right? That’s a different kind of lust. That’s the lust of the eyes. Just like if you need the latest, greatest phone, the latest, greatest computer, the latest, greatest car, the latest, greatest house, that’s lust with the eyes. And so give that money away. Finally, pride of life, pretty self-explanatory. You have made yourself too much the center of things. You’ve started to serve yourself as a God pursuing honers. Pray, pray more. And particularly, remember the catechism mentions this and Jesus mentions in Matthew six, pray the our Father. Now why is the our Father so important? Because the whole prayer is a per of childlike humility. Think about the beginning of it, our Father. So you’re acknowledging one, your neighbor, the R, and two, your relationship with God, Father. And then you’re saying to him, hallowed be thy name, not hallowed be my name, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So it’s all about what are the things of God and how do we put those things first rather than selfish things. So these are the spiritual jewels. Again, these spiritual weapons are universally binding and we talk about them a lot in Lent for this reason. This is a particular time to get a little more serious about this spiritual fight, but this is a spiritual fight you should be waging in one way, shape, or form all the time. There’s another set of three spiritual tools that are given in Matthew 19. These are the evangelical councils. Now get into what makes them different, but I just want to point them out because these we sometimes don’t notice because they’re a little more subtle. They’re not as simple as just when you pray, when you fast, when you give alms, it’s just right there.
You can just read the words. You see the parallel in the text. These ones you have to pay a little more attention to. But Jesus gives us three other spiritual tools. Now, why are they called evangelical councils? Because these are not given, because they’re necessary, the way new X, Y, Z. These are given as striving for perfection. So the catechism points this out, paragraph 1973, that besides its precepts, you know the rules, the new law also includes evangelical councils. This is advice, in other words, not command. The traditional distinction between God’s commandments and the evangelical councils is run in relation to charity. The perfection of Christian life. The precepts are intended to remove whatever is incompatible with charity. We just saw that, right? Like the whole battle of prayer, fasting, almsgiving is just in a real way, the bottom, it’s a basement of Christian living because if you aren’t praying, fasting and giving alms, then you’re probably still in one of the three spiritual traps that we talked about.
One of the three lusts or maybe more than one. The aim of the councils on the other hand is to remove whatever might hinder the development of charity even if it is not contrary to it. In other words, the three evangelical councils are not just about the floor, but about aiming higher and higher in the Christian life. What can I do that draws me closer to God? What can I do to remove anything that might get in my way, even if the thing that gets in my way isn’t wrong? Even if the thing that gets in my way is God-given and good, I can still settle for something less than God. How do I get all of those obstacles out of the way so I don’t settle for anything other than God? Well, the answer to that is going to be the evangelical councils.
And again, Catholic Encyclopedia says the difference between a precept and a council lies in this, that the precept is a matter of necessity, you have to pray, you have to fast, you have to give alms. While the council is left to the free choice of the person to whom it is proposed. It’s council. You can freely ignore the council, but this is God-given counsel. God is giving you advice. He’s not commanding you, but he’s giving you advice for something to pursue. So what are the evangelical councils? There are three, poverty, chastity and obedience and so when we talk about, for instance, professed religious, religious vows, they take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience like monks and nuns. The type of chastity that we’re talking about here is chase celibacy primarily. So poverty, chastity, and obedience. In each of these, we’re talking about going above and beyond the universal called the holiness.
We’re going, we’re talking about going above and beyond what’s applicable to everyone, everywhere. And we get all of these from Matthew 19. In Matthew 19, in verse 16, “The rich young man comes up to Jesus and says, teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Jesus says, why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” Notice those are the precepts, those are the laws. Keep the commandments. You can’t go around sinning and expect to go to heaven. But then in verse 21, he goes, “If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you’ll have treasure in heaven and come follow me.” Okay, so Jesus has just given him two, we noticed one of them, but really two bits of concrete counsel that, hey, this is no longer just what do I have to do to have eternal life?
This is if you would be perfect, if you want treasure and heaven, if you want to go above and beyond, give up everything you’ve got, embrace voluntary radical poverty. Now, notice that is not universally required of Christians. We do not say, if you own property, you’re going to hell. That’s not the Christian teaching. But if you’re really serious about wanting to pursue God with radical abandon, maybe you need to be free of everything. Maybe you need to give up everything you own to follow him. But then second the come follow me. This is not just the universal call to believe in him. This is a more radical obedience like the kind the apostles have. We’re going to see this more directly in a minute, but I wanted to flag that we see primarily the council of poverty here, but this is actually going to also be related to the council of obedience, but also in Matthew 19, this is actually a little before that we get the Council of chased celibacy.
So Jesus presented his radical teaching on marriage that divorce and remarriage is always forbidden and the apostles are shocked by it. The disciples say to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” That’s Matthew 19, verse 10. And Jesus says, “Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom is given for there are eunuchs who’ve been made so from birth, and there are eunuchs who’ve been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who’ve made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.” So notice this is not a universally binding precept, but there are some people who are called to be what Jesus calls eunuchs for the kingdom.
He doesn’t mean that literally, is self castration, but he’s saying that you give up the God-given good sexual relationships between man and wife in pursuit of the kingdom of God, that you want heaven so much, you want the things of heaven so much that even the ordinary goods of marriage and sex, you are going to forego those to pursue him in a radical way.
St. Paul talks about this as well in first Corinthians 17, and again, you’ll notice the language is not of a universally binding precept but of counsel. He says in first Corinthians seven verse eight, “She’s the unmarried in the widows. I say that as well for them to remain single as I do, but if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry for it’s better to marry than to be a flame with passion.” There’s a clear delineation here. Lust being a flame with passion, that’s evil. Don’t go that route. So if you need to get married to avoid that, by all means get married. That’s bad versus good. But the distinction that he draws between marriage and being single as he is a distinction, not a bad versus good, but of good versus better. That’s the nature of the evangelical counsels, that they take you beyond what’s universally required.
If you want to go even higher, here’s something else you can do. If you want to do more, here’s something more you can do. And then skipping down to verse 25, the same chapter he says, “Concerning the unmarried, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the impending distress, it is well for a person to remain as he is.” So he is telling the unmarried people, I think right now it makes sense not to get married. And he says in verse 31, specifically, this is because the form of this world is passing away. Remember the spiritual battle is how do we turn our hearts and our minds away from passing things for eternal things? You are not required to give up marriage, you’re not required to give up family, you’re not required to give any of those things, but the person who does so to turn their heart solely on the eternal, solely on God is going above and beyond.
And Paul says, “I think that’s a good idea. God doesn’t require it. I think it’s a good idea.” So again, that’s counsel, right? You can ignore that. You don’t have to do it, but if you want to really strive, that’s the way to do it. And then the third is obedience. Now, there’s a type of obedience that’s universally required just like there’s a type of chassis that’s universally required and a type of not being greedy that’s universally required, but in poverty, chastity, and obedience, we’re talking about going above and beyond that. So when we talk about obedience here in Matthew 19, we see that pretty clearly in verse 27, Peter says, “Loe, we’ve left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?” Notice again, poverty is connected to obedience. They’ve given up everything just like Jesus said to the rich young man and they’ve followed Christ.
And Jesus says to them, “Truly, I say to you in the new world, when the son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.” Now, that’s a really important verse because Jesus is talking about a specific type of obedience. He is not just talking about the way all the disciples, small disciples follow him. He’s talking in a particular way about the way the 12 have followed him. Notice that the 12 thrones, he’s talking about the obedience of the 12, that there’s a type of obedience they’ve been called into as the 12 to give up everything, follow him, do everything he says. They quit their jobs, they give up everything. And he says this, he says, “And everyone who’s left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or [inaudible 00:31:21] for my namesake will receive a hundred fold and inherit eternal life.”
They’ve given up having a family very clearly from this text, they’ve given up having a family. They’ve given up owning property. They’ve given up all of these things so they can obey Jesus more radically. That’s the call of the 12. That is not everybody’s call, not everyone is called to do that, but to those who are, they’re promised a great reward. Now remember, just as prayer fastened almsgiving could be done in a bad way, poverty, chastity, obedience can be done in a bad way as well. Think about the 12, one of them, Judas has given up all this stuff, but he doesn’t have the right heart. So bear that in mind that these are not mechanical. Like this is not just a, if you write a check giving away everything you’ve got, you’re guaranteed a spot in heaven. It’s not that, these are spiritual counsels.
You can still do them badly by doing them at the wrong motive. You can still do them badly by having the wrong heart. We’ll get into that all in a second when I get to the very last bit of spiritual advice, but nevertheless, poverty, chastity, obedience. Jesus is clearly describing all three of those in Matthew 19 as being these ways of really radically following him that he promises to reward. Now, Lumen Gentium the Second Vatican Council document says, “The evangelical counsels of chastity dedicated to God, poverty and obedience are based upon the words and examples of the Lord.” Now, notice that that’s actually something we haven’t even talked about yet, that Jesus doesn’t just tell us to have poverty, chastity and obedience. He models them all perfectly. He lives a life of perfect celibacy. He lives a life of radical poverty. He lives a life of awe-inspiring obedience to the Father, even to the cross.
So he shows us what poverty, chastity, and obedience look like, not just in his words, but in his deeds, in his examples. But then these councils were further commanded by the apostles and fathers of the church as well as by the doctors and pastors of souls. The councils are divine gift which the church received from his Lord and which should always safeguards with the help of his grace. So it’s not just about wanting to do these, these are actually gifts you have to receive from God, like you will not be able to just practice radical poverty, chastity and obedience by yourself. But Lumen Gentium goes on to say, “The profession of the evangelical council stand appears as a sign which can and ought to attract all the members of the church to an effective and prompt fulfillment of the duties of their Christian vocation.”
In other words, nuns and monks are called to take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. We are not as laypeople, but we should be inspired by what they’re doing to say, huh, how can I incorporate more of that spirit in my own life? And that is universally applicable counsel, like, no, you don’t have to tell your wife, sorry, honey, I’m becoming celibate. You don’t have to say sorry, honey, I sold the house so we can live radical poverty. You don’t have to say, I entered religious life. In fact, if you try to do that, the church is going to say, no, you are not being called to that. But what are you being called to in keeping with your own state and life? How can you live a little more poverty, chastity, and obedience in your life?
Lumen Gentium goes on to say, “The people of God have no lasting city here below, but look forward to one that is to come. Since this is so, the religious state that is monks and nuns whose purpose is to free its members from earthly cares more fully manifest to all believers, the presence of heavenly goods already possessed here below.” In other words, one of the reasons there’s celibacy for the kingdom is it’s a reminder that in heaven, it’s not all about sex and heaven it’s not all about gathering financial goods, poverty and heaven is not all about building up yourself in doing your own will so obedience. That poverty, chastity and obedience are reminders that these things are all passing, that the riches and honors and pleasures, that spiritual traps we always get caught up in.
We are reminded of how [inaudible 00:35:43], how passing those things are by the holy example of people set aside for poverty, chastity and obedience, and that we should respond to that, not by necessarily taking those vows ourself, but by saying again, what does that look like in my own life? And St. Thomas Aquinas actually talks about this too, because he makes this point. He says, and he’s going to tie this back into the three spiritual traps. “Now, the goods of this world which come into use in human life consist in three things, namely and external wealth pertaining to the lust of the eyes, sense of the eyes in carnal pleasures pertaining to the [inaudible 00:36:20] sense of the flesh, and honors which pertain to the pride of life. So again, if you’re falling into a spiritual trap, you’ve become too tied up with external wealth, with carnal pleasures or to honor pride of life.
And it is in renouncing these all together as far as possible that the evangelical councils consist. In other words, poverty, chastity and obedience, those three things are suggested, counseled because they’re directly corresponding to the three spiritual traps. And he says explicitly, “Every form of the religious life that professes the state of perfection is based on these three.” Since riches are announced by poverty, carnal pleasures are announced by perpetual chastity and the pride of life by the bondage of obedience. So let’s unpack that. If you love riches too much, that’s the sin of lust of the eyes. The cure is poverty. Just like remember almsgiving before? Well, okay, maybe it’s not just a one time thing. Maybe you give away everything. If you love pleasure is too much, that’s the sin of lust of the flesh. Well, the cure is chastity. Remember the temporary fasting, the long-term chastity, and then finally, if you love honors too much, the cure is pride of life.
Excuse me, the sin is pride of life. The cure is obedience. Prayer in the immediate, in obedience in the long term where you just say, not my will but thyne be done and that not my will. But thyne is manifested in prayer in the our Father, but also in just giving of yourself to holy obedience where you say, I’m going to do whatever the bishop tells me. I’m going to do whatever mother superior tells me, whatever that looks like, where you pledge yourself and you say, I’m going to do whatever my religious superior tells me to do. Now again, these are evangelical counsels. You don’t have to do these three things, but Aquinas says you might be able to do them in a restricted sense in a particular case. He gives three examples. For instance, he says, when anyone gives alms to a poor man not being bound to do so, he follows the counsels in that particular case.
That is you’re not living a life of total poverty, but you’re the council of poverty Here. Second example, when a man for some fixed time refrains from carnal pleasures that he may give himself to prayer, he follows the council for that particular time. So if you say to your wife, “Honey, let’s not have sex tonight. Let’s instead fast from this and offer this as a time of prayer,” you are following chase celibacy in that moment. It’s a form of chastity. This is a form of sexual self mastery. It’s also then directed towards prayers. You see, you’re following the evangelical counsels here, not as perpetual vows, but just momentary. And then the third example he gives, when you follow not your will as to some deed which you might lawfully do. For instance, if you do good to your enemies, when you’re not bound to or if you forgiven an injury of which you might justly seek to be avenged, you’re following the council there because remember, the whole point of obedience is not my will, but thye be done.
That’s the whole point of prayer in the our Father. And so if when you forego pursuing your own vengeance, when you don’t stand on your rights and say, you know what? That person, maybe they were in the wrong, I’m going to let it go. You’re actually living that out in a small way. You’re living out something like what obedience is getting to, what prayer is getting to. You’re doing that, not my will, but God’s will, that’s the attitude you’re doing in that moment. So again, most people listening to this are not going to be called to the evangelical councils in the perpetual vows sort of way, but all of us can find something this Lent where we say, how can I live out a little more of what those councils are getting to? So those are the six spiritual weapons we’ve been given for Lent.
The first three universally applicable fasting, almsgiving, prayer. The second three, not universally applicable, but there is something in them for everyone, poverty, chastity, and obedience. But I would be remiss if I didn’t leave us with one important reminder, and this is what makes it both difficult in some ways, but also really rewarding in other ways. This is the one thing necessary. So there’s really, if you will, seven spiritual tools, but this isn’t so much a tool as the thing all the tools are pointing towards.
And the one thing necessary is going to be love of God, St. Francis de Sales, an Introduction to the Devout Life, he warns that we can do all of this stuff badly and even says we all of color devotion according to our own likings and dispositions. And then just think about that line because I think at Lent it’s really easy to just be like, what do I want to give up? What am I good at giving up? What am I good at offering to God? What am I good at taking up? Maybe you’re really good at one spiritual discipline. You decide to do that because it’s easy, and then you judge the person who is not as easy for, well, you’re coloring your devotion. So watch out for that. He says, “One man sets great value on fasting and believes himself to be leading a very devout life so long as he fasts rigorously all the while his heart is full of bitterness.
And while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water in his great abstinence, but he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbor’s blood through slander and detraction.” See, that’s a great example because we can misdiagnose what we need. That person didn’t need to focus on fasting. And fasting wasn’t doing them a great deal of spiritual good because their problem wasn’t in sins of the body, like lust of the flesh. Their problem was in their relationship with their neighbor. And so they’re still getting drunk on the blood of their neighbor as Francis Sales presents it. Another man, he says, “Reckons himself as devout because he repeats many prayers daily. Although at the same time he does not refrain from a manner of angry, irritating, conceited, or insulting speeches among his family and neighbors. This man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him.” While that one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debt save under pressure.
Meanwhile, all these people are conventionally called religious, but nevertheless, they are no true sense, really devout. See why I say there’s something a little bit ominous about that. You can check off every box and still not really be doing the thing God wants you to do. That’s what the Pharisees have been doing. That’s the whole point of Matthew six. They’re praying, they’re fasting, they’re giving alms, and they’re missing the whole point. We shouldn’t just sit there in judgment of them and say that, I thank you, Lord. I’m not like this Pharisee, we should say, maybe I am like this Pharisee. Maybe I do this thing. I do the easy spiritual discipline or the hard spiritual discipline I chose because it was hard, and then I felt really good that I did it, but not the spiritual discipline God was actually calling me too.
So what is the solution to this? What is the one thing necessary if I’m going to really be devout? Francis Sales says, in fact, “All true and living devotion presupposes the love of God. And indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God, although not always of the same kind for that love while shining on the soul we call grace, which makes us acceptable to his divine majesty. When it strengthens us to do well, it is called charity. But when it attains to its fullest perfection in which it not only leads us to do well, but to act carefully, diligently, and promptly, then it is called devotion.” So in other words, the one thing necessary, and this is where it is both easy and hard, is charity. It’s love of God. It’s how much do I love God and how does it impact my love of my neighbor?
If I really love God, I’ll love my neighbor. If I really love God, that’ll animate how I pray, how I fast, how I give alms. It’ll pray what poverty, chastity, and obedience look like in my own life, and it’ll animate kind of the fight against lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. So that’s the one thing necessary. I didn’t want to start with that because it’s easier to just say, hey, love God, have a good Lent, goodbye. But I think it’s helpful to think about all these particular areas to say, all right, what does this battle with myself look like? What does this battle with my neighbor look like? What does this battle with God look like? Where am I fighting God? Where am I fighting my neighbor? Where am I fighting myself and how can I approach these relationships in a healthier way?
So hopefully you’ve got something here to work with as you kind of plan out a good course of action for Lent to not just have it be a self-improvement project in a narcissistic sort of way, but to really have it be, how can I be a better gift to my neighbor? And even more than that, a better gift to God? How can I fight those demons that need fighting in my fleshly battles? But how can I also free myself from all the temptations of lust of the eyes by being generous to my neighbor? And how can I ultimately say to God, not my will be done, but yours? And in all of that, how can I love God a little more today than I did yesterday? I hope this helps. I hope you have a really fruitful Lent or whenever you’re watching this, I hope it’s really fruitful. If fits ordinary times is Easter, hopefully there’s something in there that you were able to enjoy and learn from and incorporate in your own life. Please pray for me. I’ll pray for you. Joe Heschmeyer. God bless.
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