Discernment—What Is It?

Christ in the Desert (2002) by Zagitov

DISCERNMENT—WHAT IS IT?

“...one most basic way of the Spirit drawing us to God and communicating the Lord’s everlasting love to us is by way of our affectivity, by way of our feelings. These can be feelings of love, hope, joy, courage, trust, peace, desire to pray, desire to forgive, desire to be honest, longing for sincere repentance, attraction to selfless sacrifice and service. Or they can also be feelings of guilt or restlessness, remorse or sorrow for sins.

“‘It is a fact that God reveals himself more in our interior feelings and moods than he does in clear and distinct ideas.’ [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.

“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.” (1)

More concisely, Tilden Edwards describes discernment as the process of identifying the fruit of an inner movement.

“There is a long history of discernment stretching behind the desert tradition to scriptural sources and through the patristic, medieval, and modern periods of church history. A recurring theme is attention to the fruit of an inner movement. If the movement is good, then the inner response and outer results will be good....” (2)

How does a person discern correctly? In other words, what criteria should one follow to discern rightly? A summary of fundamental criteria is given by Edwards.

“St. Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22ff.), in contrast with the fruit of the bad spirit (the ‘flesh’) (Gal 5:19-21), is central to the tradition. Authentic gifts of the Spirit for Paul are marked by light, peace, charity, and humility that spread to the community. The First Letter of John encourages us not to believe every spirit but to test them to see whether they are from God (4:1). Elsewhere St. Paul sets up the standard of continuity with past normative experiences of the church: Authentic revelation harmonizes with or deepens a revelation already confided.” (3)

However, discernment criteria are neither universal nor infallible in application.

“The Holy Spirit gives certain people a charism for discernment, a sort of divine instinct which intuitively perceives whether or not thoughts and attractions have a divine origin or not. The fullness of this gift presupposes exceptional holiness, profound humility and submission to the Church’s magisterium.... No matter how great this gift may be, it does not confer infallibility. It is always possible to err in using it.

“This gift in its fullness is rare, just as exceptional sanctity is rare. More often, through particular interior lights, the Spirit enhances a gift of discretion acquired by study, experience and prudence in the application of the traditional rules of discernment. These rules should be applied with great prudence because there is no rule (necessarily general) that is not capable of introducing error in a particular instance.” (4)

The Carthusian writer of the above passage lists some discernment criteria for the purpose of illustration but cautions that they are by no means complete. Here is a selection.

“Signs of a Doubtful and Suspect Spirit [2]

“1. Having definitively chosen one state, to desire another

“2. To be inclined toward the unusual, the singular, things that are not consonant with one’s state

“3. Love of the extraordinary in the exercise of virtue

“4. To look, sometimes, for extreme exterior penances

“5. Too much sensible consolation

“6. Continual spiritual consolation and delight without interruption

“7. Tears can themselves be suspect

“8. Frequent revelations to people of mediocre goodness” (5)

He concludes by warning once again that discernment criteria are neither universal nor infallible in application.

“We must emphasize that no one of these signs is an absolute criterion. They indicate a certain probability of good or evil in an act. It is their convergence that can lead to moral certitude. Therefore it is important always to apply these indicators together.” (6)

Innovative discernment criteria along with a practical method were introduced in the sixteenth century by St. Ignatius of Loyola. His contribution to our understanding of discernment is very significant in the history of the Church. His ideas on discernment are outlined by Tilden Edwards as follows.

“St. Ignatius Loyola, in the sixteenth century, provided a practical method that shifted the weight of earlier discernment tradition away from examining our attitudes, virtues, sins, and general state in life to looking at our actions. He asked what the Spirit was calling us to do, not only what we were to be, which would orient our lives in concrete situations ‘to the glory and praise of God.’

“A highlight of Ignatius’s many contributions in his sense of the three good times for vocational decision making;

“1. when our will is moved to a point where no hesitation is possible;

“2. when we find light and information through reflection on our experiences of desolation (darkness, turmoil, sloth, tepidness, etc.) and consolation (movements tending toward faith, hope, love, peace, etc.);

“3. in a period of calm, when the soul is not agitated by diverse spirits and exercises its natural faculties freely and tranquilly.

“Ignatius suggests ways of enhancing the validity of this third decision-making way, including deciding as though you were at the moment of death or by picturing an unknown person you would like to see practice perfection: How would [he or she] decide? [3] We could add to these: remembering an earlier time in our lives when we sensed God’s loving presence and call amidst our openness. Which of the choices before me now seems most congruent with this deepest sense of God?” (7)

Citations

[1] John English, S.J., “Awareness Examen,” pamphlet, p. 1.

[2] Rightly understood, when it is a matter of applying these rules to our own conduct, the most elementary prudence requires recourse to the advice of an experienced director. All the signs of a ‘doubtful’ spirit can be found in a good spirit in certain circumstances.

[3] Louis Puhl, The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1951), pp. 84ff.

Notes

(1) 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, pp. 32-33.

(2) Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Director, Spiritual Companion: Guide to Tending the Soul (New York: Paulist Press, 2001), p. 61.

(3) Ibid., p. 62.

(4) A Carthusian, The Call of Silent Love, translated by an Anglican solitary (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1995), p. 159.

(5) Ibid., p. 160.

(6) Ibid., p. 161.

(7) Tilden Edwards, op. cit., pp. 62-63.

EWTN provides a reproduction of an informative compilation of key spiritual writers in this area, such as the two great co-founders of the Discalced Carmelites, Ss. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, and Pere Auguste Poulain, S.J. The compilation is Discernement des Faux Mystiques et des Faux Prophetes (1961) by Abbe Felix Bourdier. It was originally published in English by Augustine Publishing Co. in 1988.

Below are some of my own ideas on this subject.

RULES FOR DISCERNMENT

When the spirits move a person toward what is manifestly good or evil, the person should affirm or repudiate, respectively, the inspiration and its prospective action.

In the many instances wherein the outcome of the inspiration or action is not manifestly good or evil, the person should proceed with prudence, that is, with proportionate means toward accomplishing a good end. He should advance with due caution and apply good judgment based on scientific, theological, and other types of sound knowledge but especially on wisdom born of life experience. He should consult his feelings in the proper spirit of discernment and particularly his conscience. He should not act against his conscience, even if it is erroneous, because according to the authoritative teaching of the Roman Catholic Church:

“A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1790)

Although religious or spiritual authority in the Roman Catholic Church is a salutary source of information and advice, it can be mistaken or ill-considered. It should not be treated as infallible unless it is actually so, which is extremely rare. The exercise of religious and spiritual authority in the Roman Catholic Church participates in different degrees of divine authority and as a result the adherence required by the Roman Catholic faithful is correspondingly qualified. He who discerns the spirits should act accordingly.

We also cite 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. 

 

By way of further clarification, we cite Rahner:

“…Rahner argues, ordinary people often make important decisions more or less in the way suggested by Ignatius. A person might ponder something to be decided over some time, and then make a decision on the basis of what feels right and in harmony with [their sense of self]. Theologically, Rahner points out, this [sense of self] may include [their deepest sense of self] before God. This deepest sense of self is the place of grace, the place of the Holy Spirit.

“Such a decision is made not only on the basis of rational analysis, but also by a sense of what ‘suits’ a person deep down. Many people express the need to ‘sleep’ on a decision. It seems that they need time to find out what is congruent [boldface mine] with their true sense of self in a particular context. In the light of this, Rahner suggests that faithful Christians ‘who have never heard of St. Ignatius’s instructions nevertheless instinctively make their decisions by their everyday religious logic in essentially the same way as Ignatius provides for’ [Karl Rahner, “The Logic of Concrete Individual Knowledge in Ignatius Loyola,” in The Dynamic Element in the Church (London: Burns and Oates, 1964), pages 166-7]

“It must be admitted that we always face the danger of delusion: If I decide something on the basis that I feel ‘at home’ with it, this can easily be a self-centered judgment. It simply indicates that the proposal does not take me out of my comfort zone. The more refined process suggested by Ignatius creates the possibility of finding freedom to make the hard choice. It seeks to ensure that I am testing a decision not against a superficial sense of myself, but against a real openness to the otherness of God.”

https://spiritualdirection.org.au/gathering-papers/2006-gathering-papers/discernment-of-the-holy-spirit/ 

 

—Denis Edwards, “Discernment of the Holy Spirit,” Australian Ecumenical Council for Spiritual Direction

 

 

Saint Ignatius the Pilgrim (1994) by William McElcheran,
sculpture at Ignatius Jesuit Centre, Canada