{"id":453,"date":"2011-04-04T08:44:02","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T15:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=453"},"modified":"2011-04-04T08:44:02","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T15:44:02","slug":"spiritual-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/spiritual-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Warfare"},"content":{"rendered":"

D<\/span>uring Lent, I am reading the Desert Fathers. On occasion I will post sayings that strike me during my Lectio<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a little something in a martial theme, that strikes I think at the heart of our spiritual struggle:<\/p>\n

Abba John the Dwarf said, “If a king wanted to take possession of his enemy’s city, he would begin by cutting off the water and the food and so his enemies, dying of hunger, would submit to him. It is the same with the passions of the flesh: if a man goes about fasting and hungry the enemies of his soul grow weak.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During Lent, I am reading the Desert Fathers. On occasion I will post sayings that strike me during my Lectio. Here’s a little something in a martial theme, that strikes I think at the heart of our spiritual struggle: Abba John the Dwarf said, “If a king wanted to take possession of his enemy’s city, he would begin by cutting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-7j","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":617,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/let-us-pray-for-the-soul-of-osama-bin-laden\/","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":0},"title":"Let us Pray for the Soul of Osama bin Laden","author":"Thom","date":"02 May 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Did that shock you? Good. You have heard that it was said, \"You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\" But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":158,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/spiritual-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":1},"title":"Spiritual Advice","author":"Thom","date":"08 October 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I met Fr. Vincent Beuzer of the Society of Jesus. My pastor, Fr. Sacco, had recommended him to me as a spiritual adviser. I called him this afternoon, and we met at 3:00 at Bellarmine, where he is a resident with the other Jesuit Fathers. The object of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Meditations"","block_context":{"text":"Meditations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/meditations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":392,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/392\/","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":2},"title":"A Word","author":"Thom","date":"11 March 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"During Lent, I am reading the Desert Fathers. On occasion I will post sayings that strike me during my Lectio. Three old men went to Abba Paphnutius to ask a word from him. The old man said to them, \"What do you want me to say to you? A spiritual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Meditations"","block_context":{"text":"Meditations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/meditations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-new-beginning\/","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":3},"title":"A New Beginning","author":"Thom","date":"21 October 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a new start on what I hope will be a spiritual journal as I discern my possible vocation to the diaconate. This site has been moved in its entirety from it original site at http:\/\/mundus-tranquillare-hic.blogspot.com\/. The old site will be shut down at some point. The phrase that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Ephemera"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Ephemera","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/blog-ephemera\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83301,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/litany-of-syrian-saints\/","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":4},"title":"Litany of Syrian Saints","author":"Thom","date":"05 September 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Please consider heeding the call of Pope Francis to fast and pray for peace on this coming Saturday the 7th of September. In that spirit, please consider this litany. Litany of Syrian Saints For private use only Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison, Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison. Christe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Ephrem the Syrian","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/St.-Ephrem-the-Syrian.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2035,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/on-the-role-of-spiritual-guides\/","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":5},"title":"On the Role of Spiritual Guides","author":"Thom","date":"18 January 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Suffering through a snow day here at Pistachio House when I came upon this. It needs to be shared, and I for one need to ponder the scriptures and the Pope's words. Helping Those Called to \"Recognize the Voice of God and Follow It\" VATICAN CITY, JAN. 16, 2012 (Zenit.org).-\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Meditations"","block_context":{"text":"Meditations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/meditations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Pope_Benedict_XVI_Angelus_CNA_Vatican_Catholic_News_12_8_10_2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}