PRAYER IS THE BEGINNING OF DISCERNMENT—OTHER FACTORS COME INTO PLAY
Prayer is the first element of discernment, Pope Francis said in his general audience message on Wednesday.
“To discern we need to be in an environment, in a state of prayer,” he said Sept. 28 in St. Peter’s Square.
“…the theme of discernment is very important [—] to know what is going on inside of us — feelings and ideas — we have to discern where they come from, where they lead me, to what decision.”
Francis emphasized that discernment does not lead to absolute certainty, because “life is not always logical” and humans are not machines, but “prayer is an indispensable aid.”
…He encouraged people to pray to God with simplicity. Just like they would greet a friend, they can say “hello” to God throughout the day.
Prayer “is knowing how to go beyond thoughts, to enter into intimacy with the Lord, with an affectionate spontaneity,” he said, adding that “true prayer is familiarity and confidence with God. It is not reciting prayers like a parrot, blah blah blah, no.”
“To be in prayer,” he said, “is not to say words, words, no; to be in prayer is to open my heart to Jesus, to draw closer to Jesus, to let Jesus come into my heart and let us feel his presence.”
This, the pope continued, is how we can discern when it is Jesus speaking to us and when it is just our own thoughts.
—Hannah Brockhaus, “Pope Francis: The first element of discernment is prayer,” Catholic News Agency, September 28, 2022
Prayer
is indeed necessary for effective discernment yet in the course of the
spiritual life other inescapably important factors also come into play—for
example, false consolation can lead us astray, while obedience to religious and
spiritual authority, which is subject to abuse, presents its own difficulties
and evils. Getting to know who God really and truly is will involve not only
constant prayer but also perseverance in Christian ascesis and spiritual growth
resulting from our own experience in dealing with the spirits.
Public domain photo
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PAPA FRANCESCO’S CATECHESIS ON DISCERNMENT – AUGUST 31, 2022
ReplyDelete“The Gospel suggests another important aspect of discernment: it involves the emotions. The one who has found the treasure feels no difficulty in selling everything, so great is his joy (cf. Mt 13:44). …It is the joy of those who have found the Lord. Making a good decision, a right decision, always leads you to that final joy…in the end the right decision blesses you with joy.
“[Discernment] requires a filial relationship with God. God is Father and He does not leave us alone, He is always willing to advise us, to encourage us, to welcome us. But He never imposes His will. Why? Because He wants to be loved and not feared. And also, God wants children, not slaves: free children. And love can only be lived in freedom.”
https://schoolofmary.org/pope-francis-catechesis-on-discernment/
He provides fourteen catecheses on discernment.
Gonzalinho
https://schoolofmary.org/pope-francis-catechesis-on-discernment/
Delete—“Pope Francis’ Fourteen Catechesis on Discernment,” The School of Mary
Gonzalinho
Obedience of the heart—of the emotions, not only of the intellect and will—is a critical and necessary aspect of the authentic discernment of the spirits.
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PAPA FRANCESCO’S CATECHESIS ON DISCERNMENT – SEPTEMBER 7, 2022
ReplyDelete“One of the most instructive examples is offered to us by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, with a decisive episode in his life. Ignatius was at home convalescing after injuring a leg in battle. To dispel the boredom, he asked for something to read. He loved tales of chivalry, but unfortunately, there were only the lives of the saints at home. Somewhat reluctantly, he adapted, but in the course of reading, he began to discover another world, a world that won him over and seemed to compete with that of knights. He was fascinated by the figures of Saint Francis and Saint Dominic, and felt the desire to imitate them. But the world of chivalry also continued to exert its fascination on him. Thus, he felt within himself this alternation of thoughts — those of chivalry and those of the saints — which seem to be on par with one another.
“Ignatius, however, also began to perceive some differences. In his Autobiography — in the third person — he wrote: ‘When he thought of worldly things’ — and of chivalrous things, of course — ‘it gave him great pleasure, but afterward he found himself dry and sad. But when he thought of journeying to Jerusalem, and of living only on herbs and practising austerities, he found pleasure not only while thinking of them, but also when he had ceased’ (Chapter 8); they left him a trace of joy.”
https://schoolofmary.org/pope-francis-catechesis-on-discernment/
—“Pope Francis’ Fourteen Catechesis on Discernment,” The School of Mary
Gonzalinho
“‘It is a fact that God reveals himself more in our interior feelings and moods than he does in clear and distinct ideas.’ [John English, S.J., “Awareness Examen,” pamphlet, page 1] Therefore, if we genuinely desire to know and experience God’s love most intimately, we must learn to explore this affective dimension of ourselves which has to do with our interior experiences. Here we are not dealing with superficial, trivial sentiments like our favorite color or our preference for classical music or our fancy for chocolate ice cream. Here we are concerned with interior movements very real and operative at the very core and heart of our being, which may be coming from God himself. And if indeed they are coming from the Lord himself, then they must be important enough and worthy of our notice and attention.
Delete“This leads us to discernment. Technically, discernment of spirits involves a process whereby the Christian, in faith, examines these affective experiences, these feelings operative from within, enabling the Christian to discover, understand and respond more authentically to God’s personal unique manner of unconditional loving here and now.” [Ramon Maria Luza Bautista, S.J., Discernment of Spirits in the Spiritual Exercises, unpublished thesis for the degree of Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, California, May 1993, pages 32-33]
Gonzalinho
Satan’s voice incites self-hatred, anxiety, disquiet, and despair.
DeleteGod’s voice has the opposite effect—it fosters love for God and self-love; trust, hope, and confidence in God; humility and spiritual peace.
Peace is the spirit of consolation and a sign of God’s consolation.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/07/st-ignatius-of-loyolas-14-rules-for.html
Gonzalinho
Is false consolation possible? Yes. We have to examine the entire experience of the spirits, including and especially where the soul stands in the spiritual life.
DeleteEveryone is vulnerable to false consolation, but particularly those who are far from God or just beginning their journey back.
The devil is the master of false consolation.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/07/st-ignatius-of-loyolas-14-rules-for.html
Gonzalinho
PAPA FRANCESCO’S CATECHESIS ON DISCERNMENT – OCTOBER 5, 2022
ReplyDeleteOften, we do not know how to discern because we do not know ourselves well enough, and so we do not know what we really want.
…“I have come to the conviction that the greatest obstacle to true discernment (and to real growth in prayer) is not the intangible nature of God, but the fact that we do not know ourselves sufficiently and do not even want to know ourselves as we really are. Almost all of us hide behind a mask, not only in front of others, but also when we look in the mirror” (cf. Thomas H. Green, Weeds Among the Wheat, 1984). We all have the temptation to wear a mask, even in front of ourselves.
…Knowing oneself is not difficult, but it is laborious: it entails patient soul-searching. It requires the capacity to stop, to “deactivate the autopilot”, to acquire awareness of our way of acting, of the feelings that dwell within us, of the recurrent thoughts that condition us, and often unconsciously. …we come to recognize that the view we have of ourselves and of reality is at times somewhat distorted.
…A general examination of conscience of the day: what happened in my heart during this day? “Lots of things happened…”. Which? Why? What traces did they leave in my heart? Carrying out an examination of conscience, that is, the good habit of calmly rereading what happened during our day, learning to note in our evaluations and choices what we give most importance to, what we are looking for and why, and what we eventually find. Above all, learning to recognize what satisfies my heart. What satisfies my heart? …only the Lord can give us confirmation of what we are worth.
https://schoolofmary.org/pope-francis-catechesis-on-discernment/
—“Pope Francis’ Fourteen Catechesis on Discernment,” The School of Mary
“If a jar of wine is left in place a long time, the wine in it becomes clear, settled and fragrant. But if it is moved about, the wine becomes turbid and dull, tainted throughout by the lees. So you, too, should stay in the same place and you will find how greatly this benefits you.”—Evagrius Ponticus [The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Volume 1, translated by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer (London: Faber and Faber, 1979), page 35]
To be continued
Gonzalinho
PAPA FRANCESCO’S CATECHESIS ON DISCERNMENT – OCTOBER 5, 2022
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The Desert Fathers and Mothers had a word for it—hesychia. Silence. Stillness. In its most compelling metaphor it is a limpid body of water recollected in a state of tranquility. In this state the soul is able to see itself as in an undisturbed reflection and to sense the touch of God when it alights upon the surface. In the silence of prayer the soul is a perfectly placid lake:
In autumn chill I sat at the edge of a deep blue lake.
It was placid as the stillness of the moon in solitary space.
Silently as if stirred by the slightest briefest breath,
Perfect circles in a series broke the surface, moving outward.
I watched the widening whorl travel to the edge then bounce back.
Something—or someone—had touched the water.
Maybe it was a bird dipping down or a fish twitching its tail.
Maybe a dry leaf riding a draught had made a splash landing.
When the waves had spent their energy, the lake becalmed again.
It shone purely, a polished mirror of the sky: blue to blue.
I felt the cold wet air rise but did not hear the wind swirl.
I waited for one hour and the surface stayed serene.
If you were to visit the New York Adirondacks in the chill after Labor Day, you would find no visitors at the edge of the clear blue lakes, which manifest a rich stillness. Gaze on the surface and you will see your image wavering ever so slightly but unbroken. In this delicate equilibrium the undetected aspects of the soul are discovered. Dip your finger in the water and you will view ripples in serenely widening arcs across the surface, even to the distant margins. Silence is this quality of the lake that is awakened by God's gentle touch and just as at Bethesda (John 5:2-3), you would have to hasten to the water to receive the grace offered to you.
https://poetryofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2014/10/silence.html
The Jesuits call it “The Ignatian Examen.” “St. Ignatius invites us to find God in all things. That means we have to pay careful attention to how the Spirit is moving in each moment of our daily lives. We have to take a magnifying glass to the seemingly ordinary, seeking to encounter the Divine.”
https://www.jesuits.org/spirituality/the-ignatian-examen/
—“The Ignatian Examen,” Jesuits.org
Quieting ourselves in prayer in order to hear the voice of the Spirit of God belongs to the essence of this spiritual exercise.
Gonzalinho
PAPA FRANCESCO’S CATECHESIS ON DISCERNMENT – OCTOBER 5, 2022
ReplyDelete...Desire, then, is the compass to understand where I am and where I am going; or rather, it is the compass to understand if I am still or if I am moving; a person who never desires is a static person, perhaps ill, almost dead. It is the compass to know if I am moving or if I am standing still. And how is it possible to recognize it?
...Unlike a momentary craving or emotion, desire lasts through time, even a long time, and tends to materialize. If, for example, a young person wishes to become a doctor, he or she will have to embark on a course of study and work that will occupy several years of his or her life, and consequently will have to set limits, say “no” first of all to other courses of study, but also to possible diversions and distractions, especially during the most intense periods of study. However, the desire to give his or her life a direction and to reach that goal — to become a doctor was the example — enables him or her to overcome these difficulties. Desire makes you strong, it makes you courageous, it makes you keep going forward, because you want to arrive at that: “I desire that”.
...The era in which we live seems to promote maximum freedom of choice, but at the same time it atrophies desire — you want to be satisfied continually — which is mostly reduced to the desire of the moment. And we must be careful not to atrophy desire.
...Many people suffer because they do not know what they want from their lives; they have probably never gotten in touch with their deepest desire, they have never known: “What do you want from your life?” — “I don’t know”. Hence the risk of passing one’s existence between attempts and expedients of various kinds, never getting anywhere, and wasting precious opportunities. And so certain changes, though desired in theory, when the opportunity arises are never implemented; the strong desire to pursue something is lacking.
If the Lord were to ask us, today, for example, any one of us, the question he asked the blind man in Jericho: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10:51) — let us think that the Lord today asks each one of us this: “What do you want me to do for you?” — how would we answer? Perhaps we could finally ask him to help us know His deepest desire, which God himself has placed in our heart: “Lord, may I know my desires, may I be a woman, a man of great desires”.
https://schoolofmary.org/pope-francis-catechesis-on-discernment/
—“Pope Francis’ Fourteen Catechesis on Discernment,” The School of Mary
To be continued
Gonzalinho
PAPA FRANCESCO’S CATECHESIS ON DISCERNMENT – OCTOBER 12, 2022
ReplyDelete...Desire, then, is the compass to understand where I am and where I am going; or rather, it is the compass to understand if I am still or if I am moving; a person who never desires is a static person, perhaps ill, almost dead. It is the compass to know if I am moving or if I am standing still. And how is it possible to recognize it?
...Unlike a momentary craving or emotion, desire lasts through time, even a long time, and tends to materialize. If, for example, a young person wishes to become a doctor, he or she will have to embark on a course of study and work that will occupy several years of his or her life, and consequently will have to set limits, say “no” first of all to other courses of study, but also to possible diversions and distractions, especially during the most intense periods of study. However, the desire to give his or her life a direction and to reach that goal — to become a doctor was the example — enables him or her to overcome these difficulties. Desire makes you strong, it makes you courageous, it makes you keep going forward, because you want to arrive at that: “I desire that”.
...The era in which we live seems to promote maximum freedom of choice, but at the same time it atrophies desire — you want to be satisfied continually — which is mostly reduced to the desire of the moment. And we must be careful not to atrophy desire.
...Many people suffer because they do not know what they want from their lives; they have probably never gotten in touch with their deepest desire, they have never known: “What do you want from your life?” — “I don’t know”. Hence the risk of passing one’s existence between attempts and expedients of various kinds, never getting anywhere, and wasting precious opportunities. And so certain changes, though desired in theory, when the opportunity arises are never implemented; the strong desire to pursue something is lacking.
If the Lord were to ask us, today, for example, any one of us, the question he asked the blind man in Jericho: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10:51) — let us think that the Lord today asks each one of us this: “What do you want me to do for you?” — how would we answer? Perhaps we could finally ask him to help us know His deepest desire, which God himself has placed in our heart: “Lord, may I know my desires, may I be a woman, a man of great desires”.
https://schoolofmary.org/pope-francis-catechesis-on-discernment/
—“Pope Francis’ Fourteen Catechesis on Discernment,” The School of Mary
To be continued
Gonzalinho
PAPA FRANCESCO’S CATECHESIS ON DISCERNMENT – OCTOBER 12, 2022
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Concerning our spiritual desires, Father James Martin, S.J. lists eight ways in which they reveal the action and direction of God.
Incompletion
“At times you may have had the feeling that, even though you’ve had some success and happiness, something’s missing.”
Common longings
“Sometimes you experience a strange or fleeting desire in the midst of an everyday situation…. Such common longings are ways of becoming conscious of the desire for God.”
Uncommon longings
“These are more intense feelings than common longings.”
Exaltation
“Here you feel lifted up, or likewise, a sense of exaltation or happiness.”
Clarity
“Sometimes you feel tantalizingly close to understanding exactly what the world is about. Yes, you think to yourself, now I get it.”
Desires to follow
“These desires are much more explicit. It is not a desire for ‘I know not what,’ but for ‘I know exactly what.’”
Desires for holiness
“An attraction to personal holiness is another sign of the desire for God. This can be triggered in at least two ways: first, learning about holy people in the past; and second, meeting holy people today.”
Vulnerability
“God is able to reach us because our defenses are lowered. …You are more open. Vulnerability can awaken your innate desires for God, which have been buried under layers of resistance.”
https://uscatholic.org/articles/201006/more-than-a-feeling-a-desire-for-god/
—James Martin, S.J., “More than a Feeling: A Desire for God,” U.S. Catholic: Faith in Real Life (June 30, 2010)
I would make additional clarifying distinctions in Father Martin’s list.
Martin distinguishes between our desires for God—“common longings” and “uncommon longings”—and holy desires, which are also desires for God but they are specified in some way. They include desires for good, holy things—Martin calls them “desires to follow”—and “desires for holiness.”
The third type of desires that Martin describes are unfulfilled desires—dissatisfaction or “incompletion” and anguish or “vulnerability.” They are “holes in the heart,” so to speak. In this case, the subject is not fully aware of their desires for God.
Lastly, Martin describes desires that are fulfilled, entailing “exaltation” or “clarity.” They are confirmatory emotions.
Applying the Ignatian understanding of the discernment of the spirits, we might say they are “consolation” and affirm the soundness of a judgment or a decision.
Confirmatory emotions follow upon the discernment of the spirits based on the principle of congruence, that is:
“…the principle of consistency, logical and moral, between claims based on the spirits—conveyed, for example, through visions, locutions, and the like—and the beliefs and actions indicated thereby, and external circumstances. External circumstances include the favorable judgment of legitimate and appropriate religious or spiritual authority, and the support of reason and demonstration. Inconsistency points towards repudiation.”
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/07/discernmentwhat-is-it.html
When all the pieces of a puzzle fall into place…when everything seems to fit together…when our understanding of a particular situation is marked by consistency in all its various parts, that is, by congruence—then we experience “clarity” and the “exaltation” that follows upon it.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2020/07/placeholder-2-of-2.html
Gonzalinho