During a typical day, thoughts may run through people’s minds like a tape recorder: “You’re a loser,” “you’ll never get past this, just give up,” and worst of all, “God loves people, but you’re the exception because of your sins.”
These are influences of the enemy on the heart and mind, according to Dan Burke, former president of EWTN News and founder and president of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation.
He shared a message of hope that while spiritual warfare is inevitable it is winnable in his presentation, “Setting the Captives Free: Spiritual Warfare and the Discernment of Spirits,” April 20 at St. Agnes Church in Baton Rouge.
Burke spoke about the spiritual battles he fought as a child and how he achieved spiritual freedom.
Top right photo: Dan Burke, was joined with his wife, Stephanie, during a presentation on spiritual warfare and discernment of spirits at St. Agnes Church. Photo by Debbie Shelley | The Catholic Commentator
“When I was younger, I grew up in the context of physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse,” said Burke.
By the time he was 18-19 years old, he was “ready to exit this life to the next world.”
In desperation Burke prayed to God, “Please help me. I don’t know if you exist. I don’t know what’s going on; I just know I just can’t do this and If I’m going to make it, if I’m going to live and continue on, I need to know there’s a reason for all of this suffering.”
God heard him and led him into an encounter with Jesus.
Jewish by birth, Burke said by accepting Christ as his savior he found a reason to endure all that occurs from having suffered abuse.
From his experiences Burke outlined a path to spiritual freedom. There is a physical, emotional, or spiritual storm that leads to despair, that leads to an encounter with Jesus and to hope.
Burke had negative “tapes in his head” from childhood struggles so he wondered if other Catholics had similar difficulties.
He surveyed devout Catholics through a Facebook page dedicated to those who wanted to have authentic dialogue about contemplative prayer life.
“And what shocked me was that the vast majority of those surveyed, who were devout Catholics, more than 80 percent, indicated hourly, daily, weekly struggles with undesired, negative thoughts, emotions. I thought, ‘Wow now that doesn’t mean 80 percent suffered abuse, it just means this is normal; it’s normal for people to struggle with emotions, it’s normal for people, devout as you can be, religious priests, it’s normal for us to struggle,”
That led Burke to the question, “Why is it normal to struggle?”
Burke discovered in his spiritual journey that it is not Jesus’ desire for people to be stuck in such destructive thoughts.
An important key to obtaining spiritual freedom is to understand what desolation is and its connection to sin, said Burke. He pointed to St. Ignatius' description of desolation as “a darkness of soul, disturbance in it, a movement to low and earthly things.” It comes from various agitations and temptations, moving to lack of confidence, hopelessness, slothfulness, tepidness, and sadness as if separated from God.
St. Ignatius revealed that desolation comes from “bad spirits” to separate us from God. Burke pointed out that the first demonic strategy is to keep people trapped in habitual sin and controlled through desolation and related manipulation. Another is to keep people ignorant of the path to freedom.
A primary reason many Catholics are not spiritually free is that they do not understand they are in a spiritual warfare and how to fight it. Burke said that everyone is in a spiritual warfare “whether they like it or not.”
Throughout his presentation, Burke referred to Scripture verses that are an important weapon in spiritual warfare : “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid (Jn 14:27);” and several verses found in Philippians 4:4–9 (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/philippians/4).
Burke advised attendees that when various thoughts run through their mind they are “not to believe every spirit but test whether they are from God (1 Jn 4:1)” and “test all things, holding fast that which is good (1 Thes 5:21).” Furthermore, it is necessary to take every thought captive to Christ.
The summary of the path to spiritual freedom is understanding that God has promised you peace, he has commanded you to fight for peace and he gives you what you need to fight for and know that peace, according to Burke.
The saints, especially St. Catherine of Siena, St. Ignatius and St. Teresa of Avila, assure us that victory is possible, even in the midst of committing sin, Burk pointed out. God simply asks us to turn to him.
“St. Catherine of Siena tells us that God’s only disappointment with us in sin is when we don’t turn to him,” Burke said.
“The father is waiting, poised to run and receive his son as he returns. And it’s the same with you. He created you for an eternal relationship of love and he did that when he saw all the sins you were going to commit that tore the flesh off his back and drove the nails into his arms and pressed the thorns into his head. He still brought you into existence and that is an extraordinary love,” he added.