Spiritual Illnesses: Symptoms and Causes
Spiritual diseases are conditions that the soul of people suffers and causes them to cause or have such consequences that affect the feelings of the person which can make the person feel envy, anger, among others; There may even be other situations that lead to various vices.
spiritual diseases
Spiritual illnesses are considered common type problems that often affect both the body and the soul, due to these illnesses the person can feel discouraged, affect faith and end the person’s relationship with the Church itself.
Likewise, spiritual diseases are considered affections as their term of the spirit says, which must be overcome so that our soul returns to the true feelings of being children of God.
The most common
In relation to spiritual illnesses, there are some that we consider affective and common, which we will now determine:
Feeling of being indispensable: on this subject we must say as determined by the common saying that “no one is indispensable”, only God is. The rest of us are just servants of God.
Excessive activity: In relation to this point we must be clear and present at all times that it is necessary to have time for Christ, because if we do not dedicate due time to pray and listen to the word of God, we will not be fulfilling God’s plan but our own will. Nor will we be clear about what God wants from us.
Hardened heart: this more than an illness also becomes a personal problem since with this characteristic of a hard heart, the word and the desire of God to have humility of heart, simplicity will not be fulfilled; there are people who think when they hear the word of God: “it’s the same as always”, this means that the word does not touch the heart.
In the same way when some meet a poor or needy person and they comment: “bah” and we ignore it, this person presents a problem that we consider serious; since that person has a hardened heart, and the most serious thing is that the Spirit of God is absent.
Losing our own history: it is essential that we keep present at all times the history of salvation that God has made known to us throughout our lives, as well as our encounter with him for the first time, as well as our first love towards him; since the demon will always be on the lookout to try to damage everything.
Select groups: we must avoid closed groups, since in them the sense of belonging suffers an increase in terms of belonging to the body and in certain situations to Christ himself. This is shared by Pope Francis himself.
Do not seek God: the main path of Catholics is love, charity and virtue. Due to the love that must be felt for God and our neighbor, we must by all means avoid sin, for the same love we pray and feel the desire to do good to others. Not for the reason of being perfect, since the consequence of this is pride.
Love if we are well: when things go wrong in our lives or we have problems on a personal level, praying makes us feel peace in the spirit and is cataloged, if we could say, as a rebound towards God. Drawing closer to God is the most common feeling of partial love that conveys to us the need to feel good about God. Otherwise it is not feasible at all.
Division between life and Faith: faith must be felt at all times, not just at times, since if you are a Christian you must be wholehearted and sincere. As we would commonly say: “Either you are, or you are not”. If you are in this condition of being a Christian for a while, you really are not. For this reason in these cases God cries for betrayal.
With God and money: thinking only about the accumulation of money or goods will only make going through life more tedious and definitely slows it down.
Where do spiritual illnesses come from?
In relation to this question, the answer is none other than human weakness. Because of this, we must always be vigilant and avoid everything, this is nothing more than being attached to the things of God at all times, professing love for him and our neighbor, delivering that love with which God fills our lives.
Capitals sins
Regarding this topic, there are particular vices and situations that make us fall into sin at a given moment, we call them capital sins; and within this group we can describe the following: gluttony, anger, lust, sloth, envy, greed, pride, etc. They can be overcome by Christian virtues that we must keep in mind and practice at all times.
Gluttony: it is associated with excessive drinking or eating too much, this is true; however, it is also associated with wanting to eat something “exquisite”, or to eat for a very long period of time. We must flee from this sin through fasting, we must not feel the desire to be insatiable, this harms us.
Envy: it constitutes another of the deadly sins, it is manifested for the good of others but with an inconsistent desire to possess it, even if it is in an inappropriate way. Whoever wishes evil to his neighbor constitutes a mortal sin.
The feeling of envy is overcome by having humility and charity as weapons. Charity makes us not feel thoughts of possessing what belongs to others. Modesty; to not feel that we are worthy of something and even less than what others have.
Anger: this is a feeling that traps us and makes the person violent, aggressive, without control over himself; it can lead us to feel hatred for others and even desire for revenge.
This is a very negative attitude that usually appears when an injustice is committed and one is not able to control the annoyance and the words of Jesus do not apply: do not confront the one who offends you. On the contrary, if you get slapped, turn the other cheek. This is difficult to accomplish, but we must do it even if it costs us a little.
How can we overcome anger: this is also achieved, as we said before, with humility and patience. God has forgiven all his children, so as we are not going to forgive, we must be an example of the things that Jesus taught us: Be merciful as your Father is merciful.
Laziness: this capital sin translates into doubt or hesitation in the love of God, it can lead to negativity to give oneself completely to charity. This feeling of laziness or spiritual laziness can affect the joy that comes from God our Father and reject everything that is good.
For our part, we must be obedient in everything, including the works of Faith that make God happy.
Lust: This is another capital sin that is usually one of the most unpleasant since it incites the body and mind to fornication, and this is another mortal sin that God totally abhors. even the reader will be able to investigate in the last part of the Apocalypse and even in other passages of the Bible that God hates fornication and denies those who practice it entrance to heaven.
Also about it we can say that the sin of lust is in contravention of temperance and chastity, since it leads to wish bad feelings to others instead use it for good.
Greed: can be defined as a desire or thirst for money, many times this is born from the uncontrolled passion for money and power. By all means we must avoid this most unpleasant sin since it is impossible for us to serve two people at the same time. Since you will love one and not the other, or what is the same, you will be aware of one but not both. In the Bible itself it is established: you cannot serve God and money at the same time. God does not fit inside the heart of a greedy person!
The way to avoid this unpleasant sin is by giving alms and goods with which we can help others in a situation of poverty or need. Jesus’ own words already say it: “Sell your possessions and give alms; make bags that are not damaged, and an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where thieves do not approach nor moths gnaw.” Because where your treasure is, the heart is.
Pride: this is directly related to two other sins such as pride and vainglory, these make God not be the central axis of our lives and separate him from us making us feel self-sufficient to solve everything.
This also happens when we feel that we are worthy of what we have but in a wrong way. To overcome this feeling we must be humble at all times.
Through the above we have been able to see that such unpleasant feelings are usually born from the heart of the same person, making us act against God’s designs for our lives.
We must clarify and keep in mind a situation that we consider fundamental: and that is that we must not put the virtues into practice just like that; It is necessary that we also seek God at all times and in this way other things will come to us in addition, just as Jesus himself tells us in his word.
For this reason we must not forget to always place God in our lives and give him an important space at all times, and if at any time we fall with any of these sins already described, we must get up and continue in the presence of God, since he will help at all times to get out and overcome such situations.
practice today
Why do we currently speak of spiritual illnesses or deadly sins? The answer to this question is the enormous strength that they have in terms of the social environment in which we live. When we feel envy we begin to make unhealthy comments and feelings of enmity and hatred come along with it and as a final point it makes us disassociate ourselves from the Church itself.
If our feelings are insensitive or we have a hard heart in relation to the needs of those who need us, with this we are doing the opposite of having to give positive testimonies of the teaching of Christ; and thus we distance and mortify our neighbors or similars. For this reason and in order to live together with the Church, it is necessary that we remain vigilant in the fight against any of these deadly sins that are so serious for the spirit of people.
According to what we have already discussed in the previous paragraphs, we must carry out a personal, exhaustive examination of conscience of our conscience, and we must be sorry for any feeling that is not in accordance with the teachings of Jesus. For this reason, let us ask our neighbor for forgiveness and later assist Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
We must keep in mind the following attitudes to achieve a deep cleaning of our spirit, which we must put into constant practice, if necessary, namely:
We must carry out an exhaustive examination of conscience.
Feel true feeling of wanting to get away from sin.
We must ask for forgiveness for the sins we have committed against others.
We will make a good confession with a Priest and later the fulfillment of Penance.
How do they affect the spirit?
The diseases of the spirit are various and as we said, they can affect both the spirit and the body and organism itself, and for this reason they affect our daily lives and take us away from our happiness.
For this reason, we must bear in mind the following text: “Only one thing is needed to achieve happiness and for each one’s life to be a prelude to heaven: we must feel life with true love for God, joy, encouragement and total fulfillment. When our soul surrenders to God little by little or halfway, there is a risk that our spirit will be affected, discouraged and we could say drying up and we lose interest in divine things and things of God, and consequently it is tedious and unsustainable to fulfill divine will.”
Scheme or types of spiritual diseases
- Diseases of the spirit itself.
- Spiritual lukewarmness or belief in an ambiguous way.
- Spiritual pettiness or acedia.
- Physiological spiritual illnesses.
- Problems that affect the psychological and spiritual part.
Likewise, we can say that spiritual illnesses are considered vices that also affect and place man in a situation of temptation in particular situations, so much so that he may feel trapped by them and think that he is not capable of overcoming such attitudes of the spirit and corporal.
Among these diseases there are two that we consider of great importance since they usually destroy the person both in their state of mind. These are what we call: lukewarmness and mediocrity, then we will detail them:
- The spiritual warmth
The spiritual literature makes only one sense in determining lukewarmness as one of the most dangerous spiritual illnesses of the spirit. Regarding its care, it is argued that it is better to prevent it than to cure it since it is easier.
- Symptoms and signs: in relation to this topic, the specialist or spiritual director must be aware of the identification of lukewarmness and if it is related to aridity. Warmth is linked to aridity.
It carries with it a “relaxation” or need for a feeling of inferior pleasure, as well as signs of reluctance for things of the spirit such as prayer, spiritual loneliness, boredom in the fulfillment of daily tasks and the things of God. Symptoms of heaviness are also felt, and obligations go into the background with the thought that there is nothing else to do.
The person who suffers from this spiritual lukewarmness presents other symptoms such as lack of prayer and when he manages to do so, boredom and distraction are seen in that person, often voluntarily. It is noticeable in her lightness of heart, panic to see his own interior or to know him, in that person the sense of sacrifice is absent, since he suffers from fear of mortification.
However, all these symptoms in the person can be momentary or for a certain period. Due to this, it could be thought that it may not always be a feeling of lukewarmness, but rather a momentary situation of temptation or a mixture of tiredness and processes of some pathology.
We must wait a bit since we can think or give a premature opinion of lukewarmness, we must be careful with it since it could cause the person to sink. This lukewarmness will occur in a chronic state with the frequent affirmation of intentional venial sin.
Unlike the above, the person with a feeling of lukewarmness is the one who is afraid of the difficulty of the path of virtue and accepts the temptations, but nevertheless feels at the same time horror at the progress of virtues, perhaps he can feel the thought of to avoid committing further mistakes.
Sometimes it is not usually strange that this picture of lukewarmness is presented as an apparent peace of mind, because he does not feel major agitations or temptations. The harmful spirit is favorable to such a state and tries to feel satisfied in its daily life, with the purpose that already with arrogance and swollen it believes and is convinced that everything is fine and no other efforts are necessary and condemning others.
Nature: lukewarmness, is directly related to acedia, the capital vice and the temptations of man as well as demonic spirits, as some authors of spirituality treat it.
However, in the feeling of lukewarmness not only does acedia occur with its variables, temptations and consequences of vices such as darkness, restlessness, laziness, drowsiness, lack of bodily and mental stability, curiosity, but it also presents a stability of the results that They are effects of daily life.
Due to its nature it is in opposition to charity. Charity tends to lead the person to the good, the best, and activates the positive virtues that are opposed to venial sin and to what God does not like.
On the contrary, lukewarmness is the opposite of charity and neutralizes it, causing it to become weak, without activity, with a lack of enthusiasm for progress, it is the resignation of a state where venial sin is considered admissible, and losing the generosity as well.
Genesis and preventive medicine: lukewarmness can appear after a fervent process, lack of perseverance. He is pleased with what he has experienced and enjoyed, attributing it to himself.
Whenever you try to detach yourself or at least lessen the desire of the process of giving love, it is favorable for it to warm up slowly. Since when the impulse of love is lost, one is no longer within the dynamism of charity.
The person specialized in matters of the spirit must be on the lookout to know how to differentiate and go deeper into the fulfillment of the obligations even of unimportant people, and must be vigilant with a loving attitude about fidelity to spiritual matters, and not allow escape omissions on these.
Likewise, you will have in mind that both physical and moral fatigue are undoubtedly the cause of spiritual lukewarmness.
Remedies for lukewarmness: in case the person in charge realizes that he is facing a situation of spiritual lukewarmness, he must keep in mind that this disease is very serious, since it can ruin spiritual hopes.
The cure for this is God’s own grace and mercy, which will be done by the same person invoking divine help with firm, sincere prayer and above all with the most important characteristic such as trust.
Spiritual attitudes: the person in charge must make suggestions to the person who suffers from spiritual lukewarmness in a careful way given the seriousness of his condition. This is extremely necessary since, as we said before, the lukewarm person usually presents characteristics of apparent tranquility and peace as well as self-satisfaction, supported by arrogance.
This type of person must be made to see that their situation is of concern, since their spiritual life is stopped and their mission in life is frustrated. Likewise, she will be told not to get into that attitude where she is submerged, that this goes in opposition to the practice of charity and the sharing of the teachings of Christ.
If these suggestions made to the person were not enough and the lukewarm person does not react, the director must make him see his situation with elements of concern and how it affects his life; that such an attitude constitutes elements of alarm before the question of his state of grace; because the life of the Christian should be a life of perfection.
Sins or vices of blindness, ignorance, fear, error and guilt can accumulate in the person; with which he easily came to sin against God. He must be made to see that he is much more to blame than he may think. Likewise, he must be shown that the vices of blindness and hardness of heart are in opposition to love and a life full of God’s grace and charity.
However, it should also be kept in mind that the person should not be incited to despair, sadness or discouragement; On the contrary, he must be made to see that there is a possibility of cure. We must take care of this type of people by repeating pessimistic phrases continuously, as we sometimes do.
Many times it has been thought that the healing of lukewarmness is something impossible, or that it would only happen with a miracle. Some people have plunged into the highest ruin of their lives by insisting that lukewarmness is a situation of the spirit that is very difficult to overcome. This often happens because of the constant repetition of such an idea.
We must keep in mind that many times the deep personal thought or idea is what emerges in educational interviews. Likewise, we must bear in mind that a person, due to their nefarious thoughts or because they are convinced that their condition has no remedy, can plunge them into the deepest feeling of failure, since the person’s personal collapse is reached, since they believe that their case there is no cure.
Possibly in some cases a person can be considered to suffer from a state of spiritual lukewarmness without being sure of it, which would lead to the person feeling down through their thoughts that their healing should be a miracle. .
For all of the above, the argument or thought that the lukewarm person is healed almost by a miracle should never be used, since it conditions the person himself to collapse and despair of his spiritual healing. On the contrary, he will be given the greatest confidence that helps his personal effort and thereby achieve a slow and diligent healing.
Practical remedies: regarding this issue, spirituality experts consider that it is the same as for acedia, such as activity and prayer. Likewise, the remedy for lukewarmness should be treated through prayer, both by the one directed and by the person who helps him.
Likewise, apart from prayer, there must be a sense of collaboration based on the new internal attitude where the necessary elements of resistance of nature are placed, even with feelings of reluctance.
It is important that the person is born to a new life, guided by the path of generosity, acquire in his life the true love and charity that are fully taught by God himself, and all this attached to the sacrifice of the Eucharist on a daily basis. . There must be an attitude of true repentance of the state in which the person is plunged.
There must be a purpose to amend and above all an attitude of full will to no longer make the same mistakes in which the person was immersed. He must do work of fidelity to grace as well as to the mortification of passions; this will be done by means of or through voluntary and successful sacrifices on penance of the body.
There must also be fidelity to the spiritual exercises and more frequent practice of spiritual guidance and confession. Likewise, the person will have the serious effort to continue leading a correct and orderly life.
As a possible reconversion activity, a spiritual retreat related to spiritual exercises could be carried out. Many times God makes a call to attention to his children, through paths that he determines for us.
spiritual mediocrity
It deals with a sad state of spiritual condition. This must be seen as an important situation of attention, before the strict spiritual path.
Symptoms: these are not usually initial, because people usually spend a long time in their spiritual life, within which they have understood the most vital principles of the Christian life, living them in some way.
Some of these symptoms include tiredness and disappointment. However, they are considered lukewarm, since feelings of aridity, spiritual reluctance, boredom do not usually predominate in them and on some occasions they admit voluntary venial sin.
These people lead a lived spiritual life, however it can be superficial or fictitious, lacking in true meaning. In them you see the total absence of holiness, maybe I can only talk about it but nothing else. It is usually accompanied by a situation of complacency of a personal nature, under which spiritual progress is often stopped for years.
It may be that the person makes efforts, but it is as if he tries to move forward and later he gets tired and leaves everything again. The consequence of this is the lack of progress in his spiritual life.
The momentary effort that is seen in the person that is favorable to the thought of good sense. It also favors the person who falls into mediocrity since he tends to have attitudes of piety and kindness and delicacy in the treatment of others.
When the person falls into this feeling of mediocrity, he maintains and positively sponsors the vices that are notorious such as gluttony, vanity, impression, curiosity. In this case the efforts in relation to it are absent, however they are lessened, thus stopping the tendencies that turn it into a deliberate sin.
Due to the above, as a consequence, the light of the spirit is diminishing, and the person without being able to get out of the situation that takes him out of sin. His true attitude will be to step in the best possible way not to commit sin. When the person reaches this point it is almost null to try to convince her of her voluntary resignation, since it will be impossible for him to understand it.
On the contrary, he feels liberation from straits and oppressions and observes with a certain compassion those who renounce these legal enjoyments.
Nature: this can be considered in a constitutive way and also with a criterion that distinguishes it: a double intertwined situation such as the lack of understanding and the weakness of the internal life.
Mediocre people have an inner life. This life somehow presents a characteristic of superficiality; lack of visualization on supernatural matters. They do not understand the meaning of holiness in their internal life and apostolate; although they may admit it but in a theoretical way, but in real life they do not apply it at all.
As a consequence their thoughts and beliefs have no faith. Consequently, for these people, the thoughts and affections of faith do not have enough substance for them to move forward with the necessary attitude to overcome mediocrity.
Genesis: The slow progress towards mediocrity can enter into the spirit in a variable way. According to the experiences that are had, the form is the loss of attitude and the generosity of the spirit, due to interrelated opposite situations.
The person must be helped to maintain his will, for which he must be attentive in the first steps of this condition. People’s lives are getting weaker little by little. He lets himself be carried away by certain points of view of some people and for this reason he loses his intelligence regarding supernatural elements. Faith does not lose her but stops her progress of the spirit.
In certain cases, general fatigue may occur, due to the monotony of the person’s life. Desires for holiness are considered only unreal illusions. Unsuccessful renewed efforts can lead to the growth of mediocrity in the same person.
This discouraged tiredness will become greater when the person is carried by his own forces in relation to impatience and impetus. Later you can see the renunciation of dreams of sainthood and its practice; and finally stabilization is reached in terms of mediocrity.
There is another way to reach mediocrity, this is the wrong way; One of them is the thought that everything is the work and causality of God, that grace and holiness must be pursued as a fundamental condition, all with the thought that we must abandon ourselves in the hands of God.
However, all these thoughts are exaggerated in such a way that they come to the consequence of eliminating the efforts that God seeks in man in order for his divine plan to take place.
As a result, the person would be pious, good, believer and practitioner of the things of God, in which self-sacrifice and union are above, without the vigor and depth and with great defects that the person himself does not imagine.
Remedies: to overcome this evil, the work of grace is undoubtedly spoken of, which occurs in some cases of updates of the spirit. In some situations it can be due to internal irresistible impulses, which affect the individual and do not allow him to have peace, leading to the consequence of surrender. Such an impulse can appear unexpectedly, in other cases it is given by small and partial impulses such as progressively.
They can also occur due to external circumstances that harm the negative life of people such as traumatic separations, illnesses, humiliations; In the same way, contrary situations may arise, that is, positive signs in the spiritual as an unexpected apostolic achievement, having experience with unusual circumstances with God, or with certain people.
The cure for this vice of mediocrity that affects the spirit is clearly a gift from God himself. The person who is in charge of the solution of the spiritual illnesses that the person presents, will be aware that there must be grace; and he will insist on the healing of the individual.
One of the situations that are made so that the individual achieves the necessary grace is the preparation of the person’s heart, this is a situation to be developed by the person treating spiritual illnesses.
That is why it must be executed with the absolute vision of fervent desires, trying to have nostalgia in the spirit and that there is also confidence, zero bitterness or discouragement. This state of confidence and spirit of the person is positive for her in the case she is going through.
This must be achieved by trying to instill in the individual feelings contrary to what the soul invaded by mediocrity feels. Perhaps some reasons are not of great interest to you, however you can insist on situations such as service to the good of souls.
As these desires appear in the person with the vice of mediocrity, their active cooperation should be encouraged, so that they advance in terms of will by taking advantage of specific situations, even if they do not present the total evangelical disposition.
These special situations will be small advances of the person himself. These advances must be kept in mind in terms of generosity, through or through small situations of effort frequently in terms of inner recollection, trying to give more intense situations.
Likewise, the person will be led to exercise a certain situation of control in an eventual or partial way over the impressionability and the overflowing situation, trying to dominate it and be aware of it.
If these efforts are practiced even in a small way, with them they will be achieved and the preparation for the cultivation of God’s grace will be reached for months.
You can also create positive situations to recover spiritually. There may be special situations that favor such recovery, such as missions far from certain places, which can be requested and accepted.
It can also be the case of resignation of a highly valued job, forced resignation under pressure from immediate superiors; this is the cause of damage to the soul since it separates the balance from the spiritual; this brings with it rebellion and discouragement in the person which causes ignition of great fervor.
The person in charge should not lose heart at any time. He must work tirelessly to help other people, if he manages to get the person out of his state, with such an attitude the fervor will be activated in the same, and he will have collaborated with the church in favor of the redemptive work.
Likewise, he will keep in mind the time and he should not be discouraged or feel discouraged from his work since the consequences of thanks are often imperceptible. As a consequence of the above, a maturity can be noticed in the person that has sometimes passed quickly over time.
Physiologically based spiritual diseases
There are some important aspects that are part of spiritual life such as bodily health, psychological function and healthy organic function. The person treating the subject with spiritual illnesses should not neglect these aspects. In this regard, the guide of spirituality must carry a hygienic concern regarding the use of medications and home advice, preventing and monitoring at all times.
Just as when the family itself goes to the doctor in cases of health importance, the person treating the subject will likewise monitor and make a family council, within which they will make suggestions for the subject to go to the specialist in the case of serious spiritual illnesses.
The disturbances of the organism can have their beginning in relation to certain aspects of life such as apathy of the spirit, conflictive situations and illness, depression, irritability and difficulty in enduring situations, these can be transitory or stable in terms of their temperament or chronic type.
The person treating the case must be vigilant so that a mistaken diagnosis is not made of something that may not be of a spiritual level but only organic.
When we speak of the organic component of temperamental onset, we can refer to a state or situations of generalized and constant anxiety. And the transitory ones can be spiritual states equivalent to crises of illnesses of the organism or critical stages of physiological development.
The person treating the subject with spiritual diseases must maintain balance at all times. The abandonment of spiritual effort and only the recommendation of medical care, or vice versa, is not prudent; since these types of people require an organic treatment that is accompanied by a posture of prayer and approval.
However, avoiding falling into resignation or irresponsibility while dealing with the total restoration of the individual. Likewise, the treating subject must calm the spirit of people with spiritual illnesses; since they are easy prey to believe in a lazy attitude of the spirit and later of their body itself.
Spiritual illnesses of psychological implication
The Christian person must at all times seek integration only with Jesus Christ. It must be made up of intelligence, will and affectivity and sensitivity apart from it.
We believe that the beginning of spiritual guidance in a mature way should be the work of the parents themselves, since they should be more in tune with the important mission of the church. Bearing in mind as a motto at all times:
“What is learned as a child is identified and grows with the spirit and is totally attached to it.”
However, this has not developed that way. And for this reason, the person in charge of treating spiritual illnesses is dedicated to the necessary re-education due to states of conflict that affect the subject, blocking the process of spiritual life with feelings of anguish, anxiety and scruples.
These situations generally hinder, condition and lead to the deformation of the objective of Christian life.
This is often due to the fact that, as we have already mentioned, the parents themselves have not been able to carry the evangelical message well lived, in a serene way, or they themselves at a given moment presented imbalances that affect education or had traumatic experiences that affect affectivity.
Likewise, emotional and temperamental obstacles may arise that affect the constant formation of the lives of these people. Likewise, there is the situation that they are not well educated in terms of Christianized situations or the way of showing the principles of morality.
Therefore, it results in a sick individual, deformed due to conclusions from his childhood and adolescence that affect true consciousness with related anxiety and restlessness.
Many times the spiritual guide must sometimes provide the repair work, so that a reeducation is created that reconsiders the obvious defects and deformations of affectivity. The Christian spiritual life has many values that are beautiful in restoring and balancing the psychological.
With certain frequency, the person in charge of the treatment of spiritual illnesses, usually treats the affections also of a psychic type, this one can solve as much as a professional psychologist, as long as he knows how to value the elements of the Christian content.
Likewise, he must take good care of taking advantage of the trust that the person places in him, and by means of it, depending on himself in an exaggerated way or that the treatment is not serious.
The confidence of the person who is treated gives the treating subject credibility on the curative action of the same. This trust occurs only if the person is sure and sincerely believes without having any doubts, that is, in total trust in the person who treats them.
It is important that the person is spoken to at all times and treated as the mature person they are and not addressed as if they were a child, a sick person or a lack of responsibility.
Regarding this feeling of sincerity, the safety of the treating person and the treated subject, as well as the trust between them, is increasing, taking into account the supernatural and evangelical detail of the address, through spiritual strength, prayer and divine power as a form many times of the healing of the subject treated with spiritual illnesses.
Another form of healing is the evangelical spirit itself as well as the Catholic doctrine, they offer balance, healing and universal healing capacity. The foregoing provided that it is not a sporadic dogma or taken out of the vital context, but rather that it is within the whole itself. This balanced character of the spiritual in the evangelical has elements of an apologetic type.
The doctrine defined according to the text that points out “that habitual concupiscence is not usually a sin in baptized persons”, has freed many people from the real hell from anguish as well as from scruples; while promoting the counter Lutheran ideology of neurosis.
Neither concupiscence nor moral judgment should be violently damaged. There is no room for violent abstentions. This could lead us to sin, however it as such is not a sin. We just have to keep in mind not to let ourselves be guided by it.
Therefore, we could also say in relation to the doctrine of Providence, that it must be united to the real collaboration of man, the objective of suffering, and this in turn united in the struggle to overcome it and the achievement of hope; achieving the fight against injustice and accepting the cross of Jesus Christ.
Some people have managed to obtain a solid and authentic faith due to the participation of the mystery of eternal life and knowledge of the love of God, which is the communication from the beginning of the attitude of man in a supernatural way towards God.
Which is becoming a spiritual factor from the fervor and charity that is increasing in the heart.
Many times this has been insistently touched upon about the value of faith and its whole. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, on the contrary, the exhibition is unilateralized, declaring and taking for a reality on which it insists, and allows the elements of Catholic truth to be lost from view.
Many times the fault of the above is the lack of balance of the very person treating the subject who suffers from the disease; since it insists on some elements of faith and some customs.
So it will never be enough to insist that the light and the evangelical spirit be inculcated in the person regarding the true circumstances in which he is immersed, and not on the contrary to a false and unbelieving subject who only uses him with thoughts magical or unreal.
Sound psychological science is not in contravention of spiritual doctrine. For this reason, some spiritual authors inculcate the need for psychological knowledge in the preparation of the person in charge of treating subjects with spiritual illnesses.
The reduction of the guide to applied psychology is considered an error of a certain magnitude. The treating person who will present himself before the subject to be treated as a psychologist or psychiatrist, will thus seek his own failure both as a psychologist and as a treater of subjects with spiritual illnesses.
Therefore, it should be about a discreet thought, solid in terms of the exercise of the function it fulfills. In the previous case, the specialist has to try to integrate the spiritual action of the priest on the rich observations of psychotherapy, correctly adaptable. For this reason, one must have knowledge of the basic characteristics of pastoral psychology, laws of psychic conflicts, mechanisms.
All this with the purpose of at least the application of the evangelical initiations according to the real interpretation of the person. However, at all times he will act as an evangelizing man and not as a psychiatrist.
The great treaters of these spiritual illnesses have always been characterized by being great and good psychologists since the Fathers of the desert; they have had the structure and mechanisms of human psychology; however, they did not possess scientific knowledge that currently exists in relation to the science of psychology.
In addition to the basic and important study of San Juan de la Cruz, the no less important study of the advances in psychological pathology must also be added. Since if an error occurs due to misinterpretation, it can lead to a fatal result, when simple ignorance would have been the cause of a delay along the way.