Handling Attacks From the Enemy with Fr. Joshua Stengel
How do we respond when we feel spiritually attacked? In this talk at the 2026 Lent Holy League Catholic Men's Conference, Fr. Joshua Stengel explores the reality of spiritual warfare, the enemy’s tactics, and the Christian response rooted in prayer, the sacraments, virtue, humility, and trust in God.
Beginning with prayer and an introduction to the interior battle, Fr. Joshua explains how the enemy works through temptation, distraction, discouragement, and deceit. He shows how the battleground is often the mind, memory, imagination, emotions, and will, and why the enemy’s goal is ultimately to draw us away from God.
This talk also offers practical guidance for both the immediate response to spiritual attacks and the long-term strategy for growth in holiness. Learn how acts of faith, hope, and charity, along with confession, Holy Communion, meditation, detachment, and humility, strengthen us in the fight for our souls.
If you are looking for Catholic teaching on temptation, discernment, spiritual battle, and growing in virtue, this talk provides a clear and practical roadmap.
Chapters
00:00 Opening Prayer & Introduction
00:43 Introduction to Spiritual Warfare
01:10 The Nature of Spiritual Attacks
02:36 The Enemy’s Goal and the Battle for the Soul
03:32 The Battleground: Mind, Intellect, and Will
04:38 How the Enemy Attacks Our Vulnerabilities
06:12 Principles of the Enemy’s Attack
07:48 The Principle of Inversion
09:36 Prayer and the Sacraments as Our Primary Weapons
12:34 Means of Growing in Spiritual Warfare
14:28 Immediate vs. Long-Term Response
15:31 Take Cover: The First Response to Attack
19:02 Cutting Through the Fog of War
21:08 Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity
27:04 The Cross as Weapon and Standard
28:29 Long-Term Strategy: Growth in Virtue
29:52 Detachment, Attachments, and Weaknesses
30:48 Humility as Protection
35:44 St. Ignatius of Loyola and Discernment
37:53 Bringing Temptation into the Light
39:46 The Enemy Scouts for Weakness
41:45 Seeing Attacks as Opportunities for Growth
43:19 Fight the Fight
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