In a world seemingly dominated by materialism, where wealth, earthly desires, and worldly pleasures often take precedence, a pervasive anti-Christian propaganda machine thrives on promoting this false narrative.
We are dealing with the Catholic faith, so the best example of the changes that have taken place in the way Christians think are the priests, or rather the clergy as a whole. In the book “On the Imitation of Christ,” which was written many centuries ago, the author writes that at one time the measure of holiness was not only to follow the rules of monastic and priestly orders but to go even further—to add duties and prohibitions for the glory of the Lord. He notes, however, that even in modern times, one who makes any effort at all to follow the rules in force is considered almost a saint. Now it has gone much further, and the clergy not only do not enough to follow the already relaxed rules but also demand their changes go with the spirit of the world.
With horror, we can observe nuns or priests promoting some sexual behaviour, and yet they should not deal with such things at all and live celibate lives. And promote such a life as the highest degree of devotion to God.
The life of Catholic spirituality has ceased to exist, even among those who should promote it. Priests want to abolish celibacy because they are interested in the lusts of this world, not God. And those who are interested in such things look only to their own glory and want to become great charismatics in the Protestant style. They set up charismatic groups with themselves as gurus. How often this ends up in sectarianism can be seen from the accounts of people who have tried to get out of it. Many years ago, I myself was invited by a priest to the founding meeting of a prayer group, and I saw the horror of a woman when she realised it was supposed to be a charismatic group. In a trembling voice, she said that probably after two years she still could not recover spiritually after being uprooted from such a group and that only God saved her from suicide.
The hallmark of people associated with such sects is that they, yes, believe that Satan can deceive and attack you even in church, but already in those halls and stadiums of theirs, it is only God who speaks. This is typical propaganda. They outwardly very often show love for everyone, but they are already officially spreading literal hatred against all who reject their methods.
The emptiness of man’s soul without God cannot be filled by visits to a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychotherapist. That is why people’s attention has been directed to pagan cults and oriental religions. To everything that distances one from the true God. And that this often leads to terrible mental consequences, depression, and even suicide—it does not matter to them.
Again, I point out that they talk about progress, the “spirit of the times,” modernity, and science, and they direct people to paganism and, importantly, to religions that have been unchanging for centuries. And this does not bother them at all. One has to be blind not to see this, and people don’t see it; they just look for spiritual harmony in Pachamama or Buddha, while they have it buried in their own souls in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Probably very few people realise that the Freemasons, who promote atheism in the Christian world, themselves recognise that faith is necessary for man. Most Masonic lodges have in their requirements the necessity of belief in some god.
Many years of deviation from true Catholic teaching have led to a situation in which faith is seen as fulfilling a series of external duties. This way of thinking, of course, pushes all spirituality into the background. The second issue is that it is difficult to think about delving into the soul by looking at what today’s clergy represent. This is why people are literally throwing themselves into charismatic sects, Eastern meditations, etc. Of course, the descriptions of mental and spiritual degradations that often occur there are no longer so popular.
God is Spirit, and we should worship Him in spirit and truth. Only it has to be done in a Catholic way, not like the pagans. I will describe here some practical tips. However, the first thing you should do is read “The Interior Castle” by St. Teresa of Jesus and “Ascent of Mount Carmel” by St. John of the Cross. When reading the latter item, you must remember an important passage:
“Therefore, one should always reject such visions and feelings, for even supposing they were from God, one neither offends Him with them, nor deprives oneself of the effect and fruit that God wishes to cause in the soul through them, by rejecting them and not desiring to experience them”
If you missed it, then read again until you understand and remember. I have met many people, even priests, who claimed to know this book very well and did not believe St. John wrote it this way.
I wanted to emphasise that the advice I am giving is a guideline that may lead someone to turn on a warning light and retreat from the wrong path. I believe that only following the principles described by St. John and St. Teresa is safe, but I am horrified to see people fascinated by pagan rituals, and I decided to write down some things that I have learned in my life.
Our soul can be vividly compared to a great lake or even an ocean. Each of us has seen beautiful pictures of a calm sheet of water in the moonlight or bathed in sunlight. A beautiful sight—a true paradise. It is a true picture, but, after all, not entirely. Here it should be remembered that Satan always conveys to us the reverence of truth to hide the evil that lurks within us. Sailors, after all, know that calm and quiet waters often mean trouble, a breakdown in the weather, a storm, etc. When you are alert, everything is calm, but when you weaken your vigilance and fall asleep, the high, menacing waves wake up. When the disciples were sailing on the lake with Jesus, the problems began when he fell asleep. They lacked a foothold in God, and the disciples, in despair, thought they were going to die. Where did they go for help? Didn’t they go to God? We too must do so. Be very close to our Lord, and He will save us.
Alone without God, man is doomed there. His mind is constantly under attack and, having no foothold, after the initial phase of feeling bliss, calm, and a sense of harmony with the spiritual world, there follows a complete detachment from reality and problems with self-identity. And once the wolf appears, it is a sign that the prince of this world has taken total control. The symbol of the wolf is very often seen in circles of people delving into the spiritual world. However, the wolf is not a loner; it lives in a pack, and a pack is very dangerous. If one has already come to the point where he feels he is a wolf, he must realise that there is already a pack around him that he does not see. This is a stage from which it is very difficult to break free. I personally believe that he stays forever, like a stain on the soul, impossible to remove. Man is a being tainted by sin, and there always comes such a moment of life’s problems in which, although he is already reconciled with God and so defending himself from them, he flees into the depths of himself into the darkest recesses of the soul, and it seems to him that he is a lone wolf. And, unfortunately, he often does not return because the symptom of the wolf state is suicidal thoughts.
A Catholic should, of course, be directed to God in his soul. There is nothing in the world more spiritual than the Catholic faith.
If you go to war in the outside world, the army gives you everything to defend yourself, while spiritual battles are much more difficult and important. God has given us free will, and so He will not put a sword and shield in your hand. He doesn’t order you to believe and love. He shows you how to do it, but you yourself must prepare for the battle.
Bravado, audacity, and a sense of their own greatness have led many commanders to perdition. That’s why you must assume that you are unworthy of anything good and that you are a worm crawling in this paddock of tears. Why am I writing this first and not about faith? Unfortunately, this one point is an impossibility for many, even very many. It is the cause of falls and spiritual death, but also often physical death.
I applied the way; it seemed to me to be universal and very simple. Unfortunately, it turned out that for today’s world, however, it was too difficult and, in addition, had a hidden trap. My assumption was simple: after all, I really am dust compared to God, and so falling before Him will eventually lead me to become so humble that I will learn humility towards people. In my case, everything went very quickly, but only at some point did I realise that even the ability to humble myself before another person is very often a trait of people with a very, very high opinion of themselves. So, it turned out to be not quite easy and cost a lot more work and guarding of thoughts. However, my method proved to be unacceptable in today’s world.
Humanity’s own self has outgrown God, and no one even wants to kneel anymore because, after all, Jesus and Mary are like friends and colleagues. How do we talk about humble recognition of one’s nothingness from such a reference point?
A sense of greatness causes people to be spoiled by the idea that they are entitled to everything. But to Satan, they are just bloated fools, easy prey to whom he tosses some “gifts”—hundreds of silver for their own destruction. Blinded, they do not see that these are not gifts but debts that must be paid. And the price is one—their souls.
You perform some rituals and meditations, and they tell you that you are connecting with something good. And initially, it often looks that way. You get success, and obstacles disappear as if by magic. They tell you that you are part of the good world, and they protect you from evil. Only God is good, and the rest are illusions. You feel like a celebrity—a winner in the lottery of life. You don’t notice that celebrities often fall, and their falls are painful—they lose their families and children because they forget everything, intoxicated by their own successes. Big wins also cause people to fall even lower. You just cross the line, and before you realise that it was a step too far, you lose everything.
The final collapse also gives you a spark of hope. This is the last moment in which you can see the outstretched hand of God. You can, but you don’t have to at all. Very few succeed. If someone tells the story of his conversion and says that he was in hell and came back, that often just means that he got that special grace of seeing God’s helping hand at the last moment.
It is the Spirit that gives life, and the Spirit is the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you can’t listen to some idols and delve into the spiritual world, because then you enter hell.
I remember the words of a well-known preacher that scared me. He said that things may not be right in Medjugorie, “but there is power there”. God is the truth itself and only the truth, so everything that comes from him is in full order, so the only power he feels is the power of the devil!
Don’t look for heartfelt raptures or feelings that are fleeting; don’t listen to people that other people testify about. Listen to the Son that the Father testifies about. His words give you life, not the lies of charlatans. Your soul has many dwellings, as St. Teresa describes, but the most important thing is that you live there with God. With God, not with other people who will point out to you, “there he is” or “here he is”… After all, he is with you, so try to make him as close as possible. The less you listen to people, the closer you are to the Beloved Saviour.
They study the scriptures, prove things that have already been proven centuries ago, and they can’t call a blasphemer a blasphemer, a heretic a heretic, or a liar a liar.
Why?
Because they live in the world of the body, not the soul. How are you supposed to listen to someone’s teachings about the spiritual world if he cannot call the truth in earthly matters the truth? If he does not understand earthly matters, how is he supposed to understand the spiritual world?
Don’t entrust the affairs of your soul to crooks, because you don’t throw pearls to pigs.
Your soul is much more than pearls; it is a treasure given to you by God. You cannot bury it and wait for the Lord to return because you will be cast into darkness. You must multiply its qualities, and only then will you merit the grace of salvation.
You cannot learn spirituality from those who have been stuck in darkness for centuries. Castes, tyrannies, and fanaticism combined with cruelty are unparalleled anywhere in the world. “By their fruits, you shall know them,” and what they are can be seen with the naked eye. Many accuse Catholics of declaring someone a saint, but “holy” rivers or cows don’t bother them. Think about who you listen to. Having the living God, you replace Him with a stone and a tree.
Surely you have heard many times how much damage a bad psychologist or psychotherapist can do to your mind. So why do you listen to people if you have words from our Lord Jesus Christ?
If someone tells you about some “power,” treat them like someone who has watched too much Star Wars, not as an oracle on such an important thing as your soul.
Humility and more humility are the keys to staying safe in the spiritual world.
You must recognise that you are unworthy of any “transmissions” or “revelations”. If you don’t, you’d better close your soul and not delve into it, or you could do yourself irreparable damage.
If you are wrapped up in your greatness and accept everything because you think you have earned everything, it means you are blind. So how can you see the errors? You thus close yourself to God and open yourself to everything that is wrong. You consider yourself equal to God and even greater because you think you are in charge of your own life, but you are just a puppet in the hands of Satan.
Watch yourself some coverage of so-called charismatic meetings. If you hear satanic gibberish, like from horror movies about possessed people, it means that your soul is still alive, but if you hear speech in tongues, as these fanatics claim, it’s time for conversion.
If you see demon-possessed people throwing themselves to the ground, then your soul is still alive, but if you see the workings of the spirit, then it’s time to repent and convert.
Don’t be fascinated by some soul levitations or stigmata. Do not follow such stories. First of all, the Church has always approached such things with caution; sooner they signify the work of the evil one than of God. And secondly, God gives us things we really need, not things that arouse sensation and controversy, so think about what purpose they are for and what the result of them is.
Say out loud:
God I do not desire revelations, messages, or supernatural phenomena. I just want to cleanse my soul to make it worthy of being your dwelling place.
All, literally and emphatically, it must be said that everything that is communicated to us must be in accordance with the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is unchangeable and will always be so—now and forever. It is not possible for God to communicate to us any other truth than that contained in His gospel. Even if it is not true, it means that it is Satan who wants to smuggle a lie here.
Feelings and raptures of the heart are not spiritual experiences at all; they are the result of our desires and momentary infatuations. The pure soul is not a momentary joy, rapture, or tears of joy; it is a peaceful tabernacle of truth united with God. It is the rock on which the true church is built.
People do not want to listen to God, but why do they listen to obvious charlatans who, for example, offer them some” better souls”? There are soul sellers in this world; only the buyer thinks he is acquiring a “new soul,” while he is just losing everything to Satan.
So many delight in Eastern meditations, running away from the true God. They claim to achieve harmony in the spiritual world, while in fact they are entering the path of fanaticism of various sects, and the meditations are meant to prepare them for the hostile takeover of their souls.
The Christian faith is the only true path to salvation and the only one that we can also accept with reason. It is the whole truth and, therefore, a logical, scientific explanation of the reality around us. It does not contain any elements of superstition or magical incantations, unsupported by a rational view of the world. You will find answers to all your questions, and everything comes together in a logical, but most importantly, simple, way.
In the Gospel, we read how Peter, wanting to follow Christ, moved to Him on the water, but he lacked faith and, if not for the help of the Beloved Saviour, would have drowned. As I wrote earlier, the spiritual world is such a beautiful and calm lake if you have Jesus in your soul, but very dangerous when alone. Even Peter hesitated; his faith wavered, so don’t be surprised that you need deeper preparation.
Let’s go back to the image of the soul as an ocean. Peter, who nearly drowned because his faith was shaken, shows us how difficult and dangerous this path is. How much faith do you need to have and trust in order to survive? That’s why our Lord Jesus Christ gave us His mother. Under her guidance, everything is much easier. Just as in front of the fleeing Jews from Egypt, Moses, by the power of God, made the waters part, so does the Mother of God plead for us, her Son, and then the waters will part. Following the Beloved Queen, you stumble at most over protruding stones—adversity—but you will not drown. You need to do only one thing: trust, believe, and surrender, completely allowing yourself to be led. Bind your eyes so that the world does not tempt you, and entrust your soul to the best guide—the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Unfortunately, the slaves of this world, barely dragging their feet shackled in chains, scream that they are free because they can’t hear the clanking of their own chains. They can’t even kneel before God, showing a modicum of respect, let alone listen to someone other than their own “self “, fallible as all things human.
Arkadiusz Niewolski
Catholic during the Great Apostasy 
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