Fr. Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V. Struggles in the Spiritual Life: Their Nature and Their Remedies. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2022. Paperback $18.95. 192 pages. Available from the publisher.
Does the amount of sleep you get, whether or not you exercise, and what kind of diet you consume affect your spiritual life? Should the way you feel emotionally impact your ability to pray? If you are overextended with work and other activities, will it influence your relationship with God?
In Struggles in the Spiritual Life: Their Nature and Their Remedies, Fr. Gallagher unpacks wisdom from St. Ignatius of Loyola to explain the different types of desolation that we encounter and how we can overcome discouragement.
Fr. Gallagher guides readers through various scenarios, through an imagined conversations between a priest and his spiritual directees. This inviting approach draws the reader into the struggle and helps them understand the steps toward finding the solution.
“You are a person of faith. You love the Lord. You strive to serve the Lord,” relates Fr. Gallagher. “Your relationship with the Lord is important to you. God is central in your life. You are sincere. With good will, you try. But . . . you struggle. You encounter difficulties. And you do not know why. Because you do not, you feel helpless. You do not see how to respond.”
Grounded in Ignatian discernment, readers will learn how to put on the armor of God in the spiritual battle, resist temptations, and open their hearts to God’s healing love. In these pages, they will receive balm for their wounds and new freedom from fear, shame, and other lies that bind them.
By sharing the purpose of consolations and desolations, Fr. Gallagher carefully guides the readers to a place of understanding and hope where they are able to encounter our Lord in a deeper, more relational way.
Also contained are sample meditations on the Gospels using the Ignatian method. Readers’ spiritual lives will be renewed as they learn to pray with the heart and enter into a conversation with the Lord.
“All who walk the spiritual journey undergo, in their individual ways, such struggles,” explains Fr. Gallagher. “Our spiritual tradition knows these struggles, explains their causes, and supplies their remedies. Such struggles lie within God’s loving providence. Understood and faced well, they will not harm us. They will, on the contrary, lead to growth—the reason for which God permits them.”
Members of the media may send an email to Sophia Institute Press’ Director of Publicity, Sarah Lemieux at slemieux@SophiaInstitute.com to receive a physical or digital copy of Struggles in the Spiritual Life, and/or to schedule an interview with Fr. Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V.
