Working on the Predominant Fault

Once identified, work on the predominant fault systematically: (1) Bring it to the examen daily. (2) Confess it specifically. (3) Choose ONE concrete contrary virtue to practise (pride → humility, vanity → indifference to opinion, sensuality → small mortifications). (4) Don't try to fix everything at once — focus on the root. (Ep 176, 644, Disciplines Tree)

To appreciate the full significance of this teaching, it helps to situate it within the broader framework of the Catholic spiritual tradition. The great masters of the interior life — Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, and Ignatius of Loyola — each brought their distinctive charism and experience to bear on questions like this one. Their convergent testimony, spanning centuries and diverse vocations, gives this teaching a depth and authority that goes far beyond any single author's perspective.

Understanding "working on the predominant fault" requires attending to both its doctrinal foundations and its practical implications. The Catholic tradition insists that authentic spiritual knowledge is never merely theoretical — it must be tested in prayer, refined through experience, and ultimately verified by its fruits in the life of the soul. This is why the Church's greatest teachers on the spiritual life are not only theologians but saints — men and women who lived what they taught, and whose writings carry the authority of verified experience.

At the same time, the tradition is careful to anchor experiential testimony in sound doctrine. The Doctors of the Church do not simply report their own experiences; they interpret those experiences in light of Scripture, the Fathers, and the Church's magisterial teaching. This integration of experience and doctrine is one of the defining characteristics of Catholic spiritual theology, and it is what gives the tradition its remarkable combination of depth and reliability.

The richness of the tradition becomes apparent when we listen to the voices of the masters themselves. Each brings a distinctive perspective to this teaching, yet all converge on its essential truth.

St. Thomas Aquinas writes:

The Father having sent forth a voice proclaiming the Son, the Holy Spirit came besides, bringing the voice upon the head of Christ, in order that no one present might think that what was said of Christ, was said of John. But it will be asked: How was it that the Jews believed not, if they saw the Spirit? Such sights however require the mental vision, rather than the bodily.

(Source: catena_aurea_john.txt)

St. Teresa of Avila writes:

The Saint, ch. iii. 17, makes mention of these constitutions as being in force in Avila and Medina. 422 RULE AND have been said a quarter of an hour for the examen of conscience touching the spending of the day. A signal shall be given for the examen, and one of the sisters, appointed by the mother prioress, shall read in Spanish the mystery.

(Source: book_of_foundations.txt)

St. John of the Cross writes:

With these guiding axioms she was able to steer safely between the cliffs and shoals which imperilled her journey. Partly for her own satisfaction, partly for the benefit of others, she subjected the workings of her soul to a most searching analysis, and as she was not learned, either in divinity or in philosophical matters, she never failed to IN THE CARMELITE ORDER. 9 apply to the most.

(Source: ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt)

St. Francis de Sales writes:

If to every one, how does it happen that so many millions of Catholics have never perceived them, nor so many women, working-people, and otliers among yourselves ? If it is to some in particular, show them me, I beg you, — and why to these rather than to others ?

(Source: 03_catholic_controversy.txt)

St. Ignatius of Loyola writes:

Consequently, one who knows that he is of a choleric temperament must go strongly armed, even in regard to the smallest details about to be discussed with others, with examen and other precautions, to endure and not to lose his temper with the other party, especially if he knows that other to be weak in self-control.

(Source: letters_and_instructions_v1_oleary.txt)

The Church Fathers writes:

omnipotent; most piteous and most just; most hidden and most near; most beauteous and most strong, stable, yet contained of none; unchangeable, yet changing all things; never new, never old; making all things new, yet bringing old age upon the proud and they know it not; always working, yet ever at rest; gathering, yet needing nothing; sustaining, pervading, and protecting; creating, nourishing,.

(Source: Confessiones_english.txt)

The Catechism (PD) writes:

Someday the temptation will grow weaker and then they will be able to advance towards Heaven. We feel temptations most when we are trying to resist them and lead good lives, because we are working against our evil inclinations--the strong tide of our passions. We have no trouble going with them. Lesson 7 ON THE INCARNATION AND REDEMPTION "Incarnation" means to take.

(Source: baltimore_catechism.txt)

St. Thomas Aquinas writes:

The request being so good a one, Christ promises a free and full disclosure. He said to them, Come and see: that is to say, My dwelling is not to be understood by words, but by works; come, therefore, by believing and working, and then see by understanding. ORIGEN. Or perhaps come, is an invitation to action; see, to contemplation.

(Source: catena_aurea_john.txt)

The Church's doctrinal tradition provides authoritative grounding for this teaching. Proposition T2.C.010 (de_fide) states:

The human person is composed of two essential principles: a material body and a spiritual, immortal soul. The rational soul is the substantial form of the body. Each human soul is immediately created by God.

• Scripture: ['And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.', 'Fear ye not...
• Aquinas: ['The soul is united to the body as its form. Indeed, the intellectual soul, since it can subsist of itself, is not a form whose being depends on...
• Councils: ['We define that anyone who presumes henceforth to assert, defend or hold stubbornly that the rational or intellectual soul is not the form of the...

Additionally, proposition T2.O.001 (de_fide) affirms: Adam, the first man, transgressed the commandment of God and by his sin lost the original holiness and justice in which he had been constituted. This sin of Adam is transmitted to all his descendants by propagation, not by imitation, so that it is proper to each.

For the engaged learner, understanding "working on the predominant fault" opens a path to deeper prayer and more fruitful cooperation with grace. The sources cited above show that this is not abstract theology but a lived reality that has shaped the spiritual lives of countless saints and ordinary Christians across two millennia.

The practical challenge is to take this teaching into one's own prayer and daily life. This might begin with reflective reading of one or more of the sources quoted above, followed by prayerful consideration of how this teaching applies to one's current spiritual situation. The tradition consistently emphasises that spiritual growth comes not from accumulating information but from allowing truth to penetrate the heart through prayer, sacramental life, and faithful practice.

As St. Francis de Sales reminds us, the devout life is possible in every state — what matters is not extraordinary circumstances but extraordinary love applied to ordinary duties. This teaching invites precisely that kind of response: a deepening of one's relationship with God through understanding and practice, sustained by the rich resources of the tradition.