Vatican City, Sep 27, 2020 / 05:30 am
Pope Francis said Sunday that the Christian life requires concrete commitments and spiritual combat in order to grow in holiness.
"There is no path to holiness without some renunciation and without spiritual combat," Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Sept. 27.
This battle for personal sanctity requires grace "to fight for the good, to fight not to fall into temptation, to do what we can on our part, to come to live in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes," the pope added.
In the Catholic tradition, spiritual combat involves an internal "battle of prayer" in which a Christian must fight temptation, distraction, discouragement, or dryness. Spiritual combat also entails cultivating virtues to make better life choices and exercise charity towards one's neighbor.