Many commentaries are available, fortunately, that explain consolation and desolation rather well.
begin It’s easy to misunderstand the Ignatian principles of consolation and desolation. Ignatius introduces these concepts as means to discern the spirits, the movements of God in my life. We often use these terms casually, referring to simple “highs and lows” of our day, or moments of happiness and sadness. While those daily realities and emotions are important to pay attention to, consolation and desolation, in Ignatian terms, are different and much more nuanced.
Ignatius defines consolation as “when some interior movement in the soul is caused, through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord.” He defines desolation as the opposite—as the soul being disturbed and agitated, “without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from his Creator and Lord.” What’s important to note is that both consolation and desolation have to do with one’s relationship with God. There is a spiritual orientation. end
Margaret Silf, a respected and popular writer about Ignatian spirituality, offers us two helpfully contrastive lists.
Consolation
- Directs our focus outside and beyond ourselves - Lifts our hearts so that we can see the joys and sorrows of other people - Bonds us more closely to our human community - Generates new inspiration and ideas - Restores balance and refreshes our inner vision - Shows us where God is active in our lives and where God is leading us - Releases new energy in us
Desolation
- Turns us in on ourselves - Drives us down the spiral ever deeper into our own negative feelings - Cuts us off from community - Makes us want to give up on the things that used to be important to us - Takes over our whole consciousness and crowds out our distant vision - Covers up all our landmarks [the signs of our journey with God so far] - Drains us of energy
Spirits indicate the various spiritual agents which, by their suggestions and movements, may influence the moral value of our acts.
...They are reduced to four, including, in a certain way, the human soul itself, because in consequence of the original Fall, its lower faculties are at variance with its superior powers. Concupiscence, that is to say, disturbances of the imagination and errors of sensibility, thwart or pervert the operations of the intellect and will, by deterring the one from the true and the other from the good (Genesis 8:21; James 1:14). In opposition to our vitiated nature, or so to speak, to the flesh which drags us into sin, the Spirit of God acts within us by grace, a supernatural help given to our intellect and will to lead us back to good and to the observance of the moral law (Romans 7:22-25). Besides these two spirits, the human and the Divine, in the actual order of Providence, two others must be observed. The Creator willed that there should be communication between angels and men, and as the angels are of two kinds, good and bad, the latter try to win us over to their rebellion and the former endeavour to make us their companions in obedience. Hence four spirits lay siege to our liberty: the angelic and the Divine seeking its good, and the human (in the sense heretofore mentioned) and the diabolical its misery. In ordinary language they may, for brevity’s sake, be called simply the good and the evil spirit.
Catholic Encyclopedia on DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05028b.htm
—Paul Debuchy, “Discernment of Spirits,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909)
The four spirits are concupiscence, the spirit of God, and good and evil angels.
HOW DO YOU DISTINGUISH THE INFLUENCE OF THE DEVIL FROM THAT OF CONCUPISCENCE?
The devil’s influence originates external to the soul while concupiscence, or “the propensity of human nature to sin as a result of original sin” (Catholic dictionary), arises internally, from the “wounded” nature of the human person.
A key criterion for discerning the source of the evil spirit is given in Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 335.
“In those who go on from good to better, the good angel touches the soul sweetly, lightly, and gently, like a drop of water which enters into a sponge. And the evil touches it sharply and with noise and disquiet, as when the drop of water falls on a stone.
“And the above-said spirits touch in a contrary way those who go on from bad to worse.
“The reason of this is that the disposition of the soul is contrary or like to the said Angels. Because, when it is contrary, they enter perceptibly with clatter and noise; and when it is like, they enter with silence as into their own home, through the open door.”
The capacity of the soul to discern the character of the evil spirit depends on their disposition, whether they are moving toward God or away from him, and everything in between.
The soul living a holy life readily recognizes the influence of the devil—he enters “with clatter and noise,” causing disquiet and unease if not actually manifesting his presence overtly. Moreover, the devil’s temptations, in contrast to the impulses of concupiscence, are perceptibly stronger.
The soul habituated to grave sin, on the other hand, does not easily distinguish the influence of the devil from the enticements of their own concupiscence because the two appear to the soul as being alike.
The soul has to depend on the influence of the good spirit—God and his angels—to enlighten them and make them aware of the influence and presence of the evil spirit. It is through the power and inspiration of the good spirit that the soul in this case recognizes the influence of the evil spirit.
“People are attacked by evil spirits I think more often than they realize. …We all have the normal temptations, and Satan does that to us, he tempts us, that’s part of our daily lives. But sometimes we get these stronger attacks…there’s something intense about that which is probably demonic.”
—St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, “Pray With Me: If Attacked By Demons,” YouTube video, 2:54 minutes, April 21, 2024
A key attribute, a giveaway, that the source of the evil spirit is the devil and not concupiscence is the intensity of the temptation. A strong temptation is indicative of the devil as the source, and the stronger, the more revealing and obvious.
CONSOLATION AND DESOLATION
ReplyDeleteMany commentaries are available, fortunately, that explain consolation and desolation rather well.
begin It’s easy to misunderstand the Ignatian principles of consolation and desolation. Ignatius introduces these concepts as means to discern the spirits, the movements of God in my life. We often use these terms casually, referring to simple “highs and lows” of our day, or moments of happiness and sadness. While those daily realities and emotions are important to pay attention to, consolation and desolation, in Ignatian terms, are different and much more nuanced.
Ignatius defines consolation as “when some interior movement in the soul is caused, through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord.” He defines desolation as the opposite—as the soul being disturbed and agitated, “without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from his Creator and Lord.” What’s important to note is that both consolation and desolation have to do with one’s relationship with God. There is a spiritual orientation. end
https://godinallthings.com/2019/10/14/consolation-desolation/
—Andy Otto, “Consolation and Desolation,” God in All Things, October 14, 2019
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/07/consolation-and-desolation.html
Gonzalinho
Margaret Silf, a respected and popular writer about Ignatian spirituality, offers us two helpfully contrastive lists.
DeleteConsolation
- Directs our focus outside and beyond ourselves
- Lifts our hearts so that we can see the joys and sorrows of other people
- Bonds us more closely to our human community
- Generates new inspiration and ideas
- Restores balance and refreshes our inner vision
- Shows us where God is active in our lives and where God is leading us
- Releases new energy in us
Desolation
- Turns us in on ourselves
- Drives us down the spiral ever deeper into our own negative feelings
- Cuts us off from community
- Makes us want to give up on the things that used to be important to us
- Takes over our whole consciousness and crowds out our distant vision
- Covers up all our landmarks [the signs of our journey with God so far]
- Drains us of energy
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/consolation-and-desolation-2/
—Vinita Hampton Wright, “Consolation and Desolation,” IgnatianSpirituality.com
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/07/consolation-and-desolation.html
Gonzalinho
THE FOUR SPIRITS
ReplyDeleteSpirits indicate the various spiritual agents which, by their suggestions and movements, may influence the moral value of our acts.
...They are reduced to four, including, in a certain way, the human soul itself, because in consequence of the original Fall, its lower faculties are at variance with its superior powers. Concupiscence, that is to say, disturbances of the imagination and errors of sensibility, thwart or pervert the operations of the intellect and will, by deterring the one from the true and the other from the good (Genesis 8:21; James 1:14). In opposition to our vitiated nature, or so to speak, to the flesh which drags us into sin, the Spirit of God acts within us by grace, a supernatural help given to our intellect and will to lead us back to good and to the observance of the moral law (Romans 7:22-25). Besides these two spirits, the human and the Divine, in the actual order of Providence, two others must be observed. The Creator willed that there should be communication between angels and men, and as the angels are of two kinds, good and bad, the latter try to win us over to their rebellion and the former endeavour to make us their companions in obedience. Hence four spirits lay siege to our liberty: the angelic and the Divine seeking its good, and the human (in the sense heretofore mentioned) and the diabolical its misery. In ordinary language they may, for brevity’s sake, be called simply the good and the evil spirit.
Catholic Encyclopedia on DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05028b.htm
—Paul Debuchy, “Discernment of Spirits,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909)
The four spirits are concupiscence, the spirit of God, and good and evil angels.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/07/what-are-spirits.html
Gonzalinho
HOW DO YOU DISTINGUISH THE INFLUENCE OF THE DEVIL FROM THAT OF CONCUPISCENCE?
DeleteThe devil’s influence originates external to the soul while concupiscence, or “the propensity of human nature to sin as a result of original sin” (Catholic dictionary), arises internally, from the “wounded” nature of the human person.
A key criterion for discerning the source of the evil spirit is given in Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 335.
“In those who go on from good to better, the good angel touches the soul sweetly, lightly, and gently, like a drop of water which enters into a sponge. And the evil touches it sharply and with noise and disquiet, as when the drop of water falls on a stone.
“And the above-said spirits touch in a contrary way those who go on from bad to worse.
“The reason of this is that the disposition of the soul is contrary or like to the said Angels. Because, when it is contrary, they enter perceptibly with clatter and noise; and when it is like, they enter with silence as into their own home, through the open door.”
The capacity of the soul to discern the character of the evil spirit depends on their disposition, whether they are moving toward God or away from him, and everything in between.
The soul living a holy life readily recognizes the influence of the devil—he enters “with clatter and noise,” causing disquiet and unease if not actually manifesting his presence overtly. Moreover, the devil’s temptations, in contrast to the impulses of concupiscence, are perceptibly stronger.
The soul habituated to grave sin, on the other hand, does not easily distinguish the influence of the devil from the enticements of their own concupiscence because the two appear to the soul as being alike.
The soul has to depend on the influence of the good spirit—God and his angels—to enlighten them and make them aware of the influence and presence of the evil spirit. It is through the power and inspiration of the good spirit that the soul in this case recognizes the influence of the evil spirit.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/07/consolation-and-desolation.html
Gonzalinho
“People are attacked by evil spirits I think more often than they realize. …We all have the normal temptations, and Satan does that to us, he tempts us, that’s part of our daily lives. But sometimes we get these stronger attacks…there’s something intense about that which is probably demonic.”
Delete—St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, “Pray With Me: If Attacked By Demons,” YouTube video, 2:54 minutes, April 21, 2024
A key attribute, a giveaway, that the source of the evil spirit is the devil and not concupiscence is the intensity of the temptation. A strong temptation is indicative of the devil as the source, and the stronger, the more revealing and obvious.
Gonzalinho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEz7nkHt8qg
Delete—St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, “Pray With Me: If Attacked By Demons,” YouTube video, 2:54 minutes, April 21, 2024
Gonzalinho
PHOTO CREDITS
ReplyDelete“Mountain” photo, cropped
Public domain
“Prison cell” photo, cropped, courtesy of GrimsbyT
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kilmainham_Gaol_cell.jpg
“Golden bull” photo, courtesy of ILRI
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilri/39260454734
“Night sky” photo
Photo labeled free for noncommercial reuse
Gonzalinho