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Wednesday 13 August 2014

Thoughts from The Dark Night-Reviewing the Predominant Fault Posts

Everyone has a predominant fault. Some have more than one. I have been thinking of how some vices come in pairs or even triplets.

The knowledge of self and one's sins is one of the reasons for purification. If one is attempting to cooperate with grace regarding the destruction of the predominant faults, one may find that the fault is connected to another and another.

For example, pride can morph into vainglory and presumption. Sloth may be easily attached to Gluttony and Greed. Envy, Anger and Lust sometimes "work together". One sees a pattern.

Now, because of concupiscence, we shall be tempted all our lived until the moment of death. Even the greatest of saints experienced trials in the last months of their lives. St. Therese the Little Flower is only one example.

One must learn to avoid temptations as these occur immediately. Here is a reminder from Garrigou-Lagrange on the predominant fault. I have already written on the predominant fault, but this truth bears repeating. My highlights....

DEFINITION OF THE PREDOMINANT FAULT
The predominant fault is the defect in us that tends to prevail over the others, and thereby over our manner of feeling, judging, sympathizing, willing, and acting. It is a defect that has in each of us an intimate relation to our individual temperament.(1) There are temperaments inclined to effeminacy, indolence, sloth, gluttony, and sensuality. Others are inclined especially to anger and pride. We do not all climb the same slope toward the summit of perfection: those who are effeminate by temperament must by prayer, grace, and virtue become strong; and those who are naturally strong, to the point of easily becoming severe, must, by working at themselves and by grace, become gentle.
Before this progressive transformation of our temperament, the predominant defect in the soul often makes itself felt. It is our domestic enemy, dwelling in our interior; for, if it develops, it may succeed in completely ruining the work of grace or the interior life. At times it is like a crack in a wall that seems to be solid but is not so; like a crevice, imperceptible at times but deep, in the beautiful facade of a building, which a vigorous jolt may shake to the foundations. For example, an antipathy, an instinctive aversion to someone, may, if it is not watched over and corrected by right reason, the spirit of faith, and charity, produce disasters in the soul and lead it to grave injustice. By yielding to such an antipathy, it does itself far more harm than it does its neighbor, for it is much more harmful to commit injustice than to be the object of it.
The predominant fault is so much the more dangerous as it often compromises our principal good point, which is a happy inclination of our nature that ought to develop and to be increased by grace. For example, a man is naturally inclined to gentleness; but if by reason of his predominant fault, which may be effeminacy, his gentleness degenerates into weakness, into excessive indulgence, he may even reach the complete loss of energy. Another, on the contrary, is naturally inclined to fortitude, but if he gives free rein to his irascible temperament, fortitude in him degenerates into unreasonable violence, the cause of every type of disorder.
In every man there is a mixture of good and bad inclinations; there is a predominant fault and also a natural quality. If we are in the state of grace, we have a special attraction of grace, which generally perfects first of all what is best in our nature, and then radiates over that which is less good. Some are thus more inclined toward contemplation, others toward action. Particular care must be taken that the predominant fault does not snuff out our principal natural quality or our special attraction of grace. Otherwise our soul would resemble a field of wheat invaded by tares or cockle, of which the Gospel speaks. And we have an adversary, the devil, who seeks to foster the growth of our predominant fault that he may place us in conflict with those who work with us in the Lord's field. Christ Himself tells us: "The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat and went his way." (2)
Christ explains that the enemy is the devil,(3) who seeks to destroy the work of God by creating disunion among those who, in a holy manner, ought to collaborate in the same work for eternity. He is skillful in exaggerating in our eyes the defects of our neighbor, in transforming a grain of sand into a mountain, in setting up, as it were, a magnifying glass in our imagination, that we may become irritated at our brethren instead of working with them. Considering all this, we can see what evil may spring up in each of us from our principal fault if we are not most attentive to it. At times it is like a devouring worm in a beautiful fruit.

When one is attempting to live in community, the devil attacks by putting the predominant faults of others "in one's face" constantly. If one is aware of what is happening, one can avoid this deception and turn to prayer and compassion for the other.


to be continued...


08 Apr 2014
Firstly, St. Alphonsus reveals that anyone who gets upset with sin in one's own life is not humble, but proud, and may be exhibiting the predominant fault of anger. Anger is not merely focused on other or events, but one can ...
07 Apr 2014
Use the tags and labels to read the posts on one's predominant fault, if you have not done so already. Hard stuff, but necessary for the road to perfection. There are 45 posts dealing with that topic directly. And, speaking of ...
27 Nov 2013
But later the predominant fault is less apparent, for it tries to hide itself and to put on the appearances of a virtue: pride clothes itself in the outward appearances of magnanimity, and pusillanimity seeks to cover itself with those ...
18 Sep 2013
The predominant fault is the defect in us that tends to prevail over the others, and thereby over our manner of feeling, judging, sympathizing, willing, and acting. It is a defect that has in each of us an intimate relation to our ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com

21 Jul 2012
Garrigou-Lagrange states that "it is of primary importance that we recognize our predominant fault and have no illusions about it. This is is so much the more necessary as our adversary, the enemy of our soul, knows it quite ...
23 Jul 2012
Perfection Series continued-the predominant fault--four. Posted by Supertradmum. St. Augustine tells us, using Garrigou-Lagrange, that God never asks us to do the impossible. If God desires us to be one with Him and He ...
25 Sep 2013
Youth can spot a hypocrite a mile away and the bad priests and neglectful husbands and fathers will have to face God as to why they did not work on their predominant fault. Being a Catholic man, like being a Catholic woman, ...
20 May 2014
In Chapter 22, the great Dominican writes of "The Predominant Fault".The holy priest lists most of the obvious sins, but I want to highlight one, but in a different manner. We know that Pride is most likely the worst of all sins and .
 
18 Sep 2013
The greatest fault is pride. Thinking that one knows better than a bishop or that one can judge a liberal bishop as unauthorized to make a statement on a visionary is pride. Period. But, those with a predominant fault of sloth or ...
18 Sep 2013
Garrigou-Lagrange helps us on our way. The graph at the very end of this post indicates how to break the sins of the predominant fault. This is hard work. This takes time and reflection. One must be ruthless with one's self to a ...
18 Sep 2013
For without dealing with our predominant fault, there is no moving on into the Dark Night, Illumnative and Unitive states. Later on, I can show how the predominant fault, unless dealt with in this life, is the reason we go to ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
26 Sep 2013
The Predominant Fault of Some Women. Posted by Supertradmum. Just to be fair, I have been talking with lovely, good Catholic women who want to become saints. They would be in the category of the really beautiful women ...
26 Sep 2013
The second most common predominant fault of women could be pride. This is the primordial sin and one easy to fall into. But, if this is the main, underlining fault of all faults, it must be rooted out through serious attention, ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
21 Jul 2012
Predominant Fault Three-perfection series. Posted by Supertradmum. Promptness of will and intolerance of our faults are part of the battle against our predominant faults. This is a battle from which we cannot escape if we ...
05 Dec 2013
For those interested in most of the postings on the predominant fault, I have tried to find most of the links on this subject, which is a Catholic idea, btw, and not a protestant one. As one who is being dragged into looking at my ...
08 Apr 2014
St. Francis de Sales on His Predominant Faults-Two. Posted by Supertradmum. After being greatly insulted by a Knight of Malta for not giving a benefice to one of his servants, “the bishop‟s brother …asked him how it was he ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
03 Aug 2014
As we have already spoken of the predominant fault, we here insist on precipitation to be avoided or, as the expression goes, on impulsiveness, which inclines one to act without sufficient reflection. With rash haste many ...
13 Jul 2014
It is very good to find a devotion which specifically leads to the removal of our predominant fault. We all need to crack the deep sin, deep weakness which keeps us from God, stops virtue, hinders grace. I now belong to a third ...
28 Jul 2014
However, some physical and mental pain is given by God for our purification, for the removal of the predominant fault. Too often I hear people say, "Oh, she is a suffering soul, or a victim soul" when in reality, the person is ...
29 Sep 2013
one can have more than one predominant fault. A good priest and I were discussing this today. He said that if the faults are close in nature, it is easy to have two. This makes it much harder to cooperate with grace and burn the ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
27 Sep 2013
Obviously, a mother may have the same predominant fault as her girls or girls. When the Bible states that a woman is saved by child-bearing, one of the meanings of that pregnant (pun intended) phrase is that one sees one's ...
06 Feb 2014
The Dark Night is the time of purgation of the predominant fault or faults. I have written about these here and one can follow the tags. The call is to cooperate with grace so that one can move into the Illuminative State, which is ...
05 Nov 2013
Unless one has had spiritual director for years, one who can tell one the predominant fault, one needs to do this on one's own. A sign of the movement towards the Dark Night is the movement into regular meditation, ...
30 Jan 2013
More than fear as a great evil, the state of living in a hidden sin, allowing one to keep on sinning and not dealing with the predominant fault, keeps people from the Truth, Who is a Person. Garrigou-Lagrange makes it clear in ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
31 Jan 2014
But, sloth is the great sin which is hidden in our society. It is "too ok" to have a lot of down time these days. . For my friend who is working to get rid of this predominant fault, God bless you. Remember, a lukewarm Catholic is ...
02 Sep 2013
Want to overcome the predominant fault and be brutally honest with one's self. Want to become love for the sake of Love, not for one's own sake, but for God's alone, Want all who one meets to experience not the "me" but the ...
20 Jul 2012
In Chapter 22, the great Dominican writes of "The Predominant Fault".The holy priest lists most of the obvious sins, but I want to highlight one, but in a different manner. We know that Pride is most likely the worst of all sins and ...
17 Sep 2013
Subtle temptations are connected to our predominant fault, about which I have written many times. If we know what are main fault is, we can catch the temptations and stop the process which leads to sin. Satan, as St. Ignatius ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
25 May 2014
This could be a predominant fault for some. The old phrase, "Let go and let God" applies to the egoist, if he wants to attain heaven. Egoism is like a cancer of the will, which ravages it more and more, whereas sanctifying grace ...
12 Apr 2014
beg God to reveal your predominant fault beg God to take the suffering for repararton of your sins offer the suffering for the sins of others, especially family members be patient be calm be resigned read the lives of the saints
10 Feb 2014
The predominant fault is discussed at length on my blog, when I did an unpacking of Garrigou-Lagrange and other writers on perfection and in the Doctors of the Church series on perfection. Over 600, more than 10% of my ...
21 Mar 2014
Eight, the predominant fault has been utterly destroyed. Nine, the person walks in light, and is no longer affected by the dark, but transcends the darkness with the awareness that God is always with him. Ten, good works, great ...