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| Saint Ignatius of Loyola (c. 1620-22) by Peter Paul Rubens |
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA’S 14
RULES FOR THE DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS
—“The 14 Rules for Discerning of Spirits – ‘The Different Movements Which Are Caused In The Soul,’” The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, translated from the autograph by Father Elder Mullan, S.J., Discerning Hearts: Catholic Podcasts dedicated to those on the Spiritual Journey
Understanding and learning the Ignatian rules for the discernment of spirits
requires long experience. It takes time. A quick approach—though hardly
infallible—is to apply the heuristic given below.
DISCERNMENT OF GOD’S VOICE
Someone who knows what God is like knows what his voice is like. As an
exercise, write down a list of single words that describe what you think God’s
voice is like (for example: gentle, patient, kind, forgiving, encouraging).
Then write a separate list of what you think the voice of the bad spirit is
like (for example: harsh, condemning, impatient, negative). You will see a very
dramatic difference between the two lists. And yet everyone regularly forgets
this basic difference when they come to make key decisions. If you remember
what the voice of the bad spirit is like, you will make fewer bad choices. You
already know how to discern in most situations.
Presuppositions for Discernment
Before we can say discernment is actually occurring, certain conditions must be met:
You must desire to do God’s will. This means that this must be your fundamental choice in life.
You must be open to God at the moment of discerning. This means that you must be completely open to accept any of the possible results of discerning. If you are only interested in doing what you want to do, and are not open to other possibilities, then discernment is not possible.
You must know what God is like.
You must be a person who prays.
—Brian Incigneri, “Discernment: Recognizing God’s Voice,” Catholic Charismatic Renewal
The Christian life is really quite easy: Jesus is the door. He guides
us along the way, and we know his voice in the Beatitudes, in the works of
mercy, and when it teaches us to say “Father.” The door, the path and the
voice—may the Lord make us understand that this is Jesus, this is the icon of
him: the pastor who leads, who shows the way, and teaches us to listen to his
voice.—Papa Francesco
https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/pope-francis-jesus-door-path-voice-heed
Some additional rules of thumb:
How Spirits Work
Some basic patterns are easy to grasp. For instance, as you would anticipate, the good spirit usually brings love, joy, peace, and the like; the evil spirit characteristically brings confusion, doubt, disgust, and the like. Another pattern: when you are leading a seriously sinful life, a good spirit will visit you with desolation to turn you around; an evil spirit will keep you content so that you will keep sinning. Another clear pattern is the opposite of this: when you are seriously serving God, the spirits change roles. The evil spirit clouds your day with desolation to lead you away from God, while the good spirit fills your day with trust and love of God. And a final, easily grasped pattern: a spirit that works in light and openness is good, while a spirit cloaked in secrecy and deception is evil.
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/making-good-decisions/discernment-of-spirits/discernment-in-a-nutshell
Disquiet—the opposite of peace—is, I believe, a telltale sign of the influence of the evil spirit, and I look for this giveaway as a rule.
It is often said that peace is a sign of the good spirit, but in my opinion the meaning of “peace” is ambiguous and needs to be specified further. After all, we may experience peace—a feeling of restfulness, for example—while relaxing on the beach or resting in bed after a workout in the gym and a hot shower, a peace that isn’t that of the good spirit but rather that which results from a sense of physical and psychological well-being. I might suggest that the peace the good spirit brings springs from interior reassurance, dispelling anxiety and confusion. We sense in our prayer the spirit of God affirming us in our decision. Joined to this interior affirmation is a notable clarity of understanding despite obscurity. We understand sufficiently, if not entirely.
Signs of the Good Spirit:
Also, I found the Four Rules of Father Mike Schmitz very helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne8n-1ATd1s&vl=en
—Pope Francis, “Pope Francis: Jesus is the door, path and voice to heed,” America (April 18, 2016)
Some additional rules of thumb:
How Spirits Work
Some basic patterns are easy to grasp. For instance, as you would anticipate, the good spirit usually brings love, joy, peace, and the like; the evil spirit characteristically brings confusion, doubt, disgust, and the like. Another pattern: when you are leading a seriously sinful life, a good spirit will visit you with desolation to turn you around; an evil spirit will keep you content so that you will keep sinning. Another clear pattern is the opposite of this: when you are seriously serving God, the spirits change roles. The evil spirit clouds your day with desolation to lead you away from God, while the good spirit fills your day with trust and love of God. And a final, easily grasped pattern: a spirit that works in light and openness is good, while a spirit cloaked in secrecy and deception is evil.
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/making-good-decisions/discernment-of-spirits/discernment-in-a-nutshell
—Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ, “Discernment in a Nutshell,” From Making Choices in Christ, IgnatianSpirituality.com
Disquiet—the opposite of peace—is, I believe, a telltale sign of the influence of the evil spirit, and I look for this giveaway as a rule.
It is often said that peace is a sign of the good spirit, but in my opinion the meaning of “peace” is ambiguous and needs to be specified further. After all, we may experience peace—a feeling of restfulness, for example—while relaxing on the beach or resting in bed after a workout in the gym and a hot shower, a peace that isn’t that of the good spirit but rather that which results from a sense of physical and psychological well-being. I might suggest that the peace the good spirit brings springs from interior reassurance, dispelling anxiety and confusion. We sense in our prayer the spirit of God affirming us in our decision. Joined to this interior affirmation is a notable clarity of understanding despite obscurity. We understand sufficiently, if not entirely.
Signs of the Good Spirit:
Inspirations and affections of this type—
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no
law. …Those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions
and desires.—Galatians 5:22-23
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one
another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as
the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your
hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and
admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude
in your hearts to God.—Colossians 3:12-16
Signs of the Bad Spirit:
Impulses and temptations in this direction—
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of
fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking
bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who
do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.—Galatians 5:19-21
Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality,
impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Because of
these the wrath of God is coming [upon the disobedient]. By these you too once
conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way. But now you must put them all
away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths. Stop
lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the
image of its creator.—Colossians 3:5-10
Also, I found the Four Rules of Father Mike Schmitz very helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne8n-1ATd1s&vl=en
—Ascension Presents, “4 Helpful Rules for Discernment,” YouTube video, 6:30 minutes, February 8, 2018
The question corresponding to the third rule, “Is it wise to enter this door?” is not always easy to answer. Sometimes, applying the third rule can get complicated.
Is it wise to enter this door?
Saint Ignatius of Loyola – Three Ways of Making a Decision:
—David L. Fleming, SJ, “How Ignatian Spirituality Gives Us a Way to Discern God’s Will,” From What Is Ignatian Spirituality? IgnatianSpirituality.com
Third Way in detail:
—Jim Manney, “An Ignatian Framework for Making a Decision,” IgnatianSpirituality.com
Images of works of art are posted on this website according to principles of fair use, specifically, they are posted for the purposes of information, education, and especially, contemplation.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
PAPA FRANCESCO’S PRAYER INTENTION FOR MARCH 2018
ReplyDeleteThe times in which we live demand that we develop a profound capacity of discernment… To discern, from among all the voices we hear, which is the Lord’s voice, which is the voice of Him who guides us to the Resurrection, to Life, and the voice that frees us from falling into the “culture of death.”
Every Christian ought to grow in the ability to “read within” his or her life, and to understand where and to what he or she is being called by the Lord, in order to carry on his mission.
Let us pray together that the Church may appreciate the urgency of formation in spiritual discernment, both on the personal and communitarian levels.
Link: http://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-03/pope-francis--prayer-intention-for-march.html
Gonzalinho
—“Pope’s prayer intention for March: ‘For formation in spiritual discernment,’” Vatican News, March 2, 2018
DeleteGonzalinho
“…when you are leading a seriously sinful life, a good spirit will visit you with desolation to turn you around; an evil spirit will keep you content so that you will keep sinning.”
ReplyDeleteWhen a person is trapped in habitual grave sin—e.g. habits of pornography use, drug or alcohol addiction, or the abuse of political power entailing plunder, propaganda, the murder of political opponents, etc.—they will experience pleasure or even delight in the consequences of their actions, a false “consolation,” which is not genuine spiritual consolation. It is the work of the evil spirit.
At the same time, they will experience interior restlessness, trapped, possibly, in a condition of anxiety, depression, or other psychological disorders. They might be pierced on occasion by pangs of deep remorse. Interior affliction and sadness at being trapped in habitual grave sin is a type of desolation. If this desolation incites a person toward reform, it is a sign of the good spirit.
Once they make an effort toward reforming their lives, they will find the going difficult, because spiritual transformation is strenuous and costly—“The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force” (Matthew 11:12)—and as a rule, conversion is gradual. When a person experiences interior affliction and sadness in their struggle to repudiate habitual sin and to practice virtue, it is a type of desolation—if it causes discouragement and moves them to recidivism, it is a sign of the evil spirit.
Gonzalinho
“Pope’s mini-lesson: How to discern if God or Satan is speaking” by Kathleen N. Hattrup, May 4, 2020 –Papa Francesco’s new set of criteria for the discernment of spirits:
ReplyDeletehttps://aleteia.org/2020/05/04/popes-mini-lesson-how-to-discern-if-god-or-satan-is-speaking/
Gonzalinho
—Kathleen N. Hattrup, “Pope Francis’ 8-step guide to discernment,” Aleteia.org, May 4, 2020
DeleteGonzalinho
3 Ways to Distinguish Between God’s Voice and Satan’s Voice
ReplyDeleteBy Philip Kosloski
April 18, 2015
...Satan’s voice always has these three qualities:
1. It Contradicts God’s Commandments
2. It Creates Anxiety Rather Than Peace
3. It Accuses Us and Brings Us Down
Link: http://www.philipkosloski.com/3-ways-to-distinguish-between-gods-voice-and-satans-voice/
Accurate, concise, and easy
Gonzalinho
It was the voice of Satan that pushed Judas Iscariot to the point of despair.
DeleteGonzalinho
GOD’S VOICE
Delete…before we can properly discern these voices in our soul it is necessary to discern the state of our soul. Loyola writes that if the soul is moving from “good to better” the good Angel touches “sweetly,” but if the soul is moving from “bad to worse” then the opposite is true and the good spirit can seem sharp and try to kick us back in the right direction.
In general, if we are striving to draw closer to God, he will speak to us in the silence of our hearts with peace and joy. It will likely not be in the form of an earthquake, lightning bolt, or flames of fire, but as Elijah heard, in “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12).
https://aleteia.org/2018/07/12/this-is-what-gods-voice-sounds-like-according-to-st-ignatius-loyola/
—Philip Kosloski, “This is what God’s voice sounds like, according to St. Ignatius Loyola,” Aleteia.org, July 12, 2018
Gonzalinho
—Philip Kosloski, “3 Ways to Distinguish Between God’s Voice and Satan’s Voice,” Philip Kosloski, April 18, 2015
DeleteGonzalinho
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.
Gonzalinho
Peace is the spirit of consolation and a sign of God’s consolation.
ReplyDeleteIs 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.
Everyone 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.
Gonzalinho
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA’S 22 RULES FOR DISCERNMENT
ReplyDeleteIgnatius Loyola summarized his approach to discernment of spirits in two sets of Rules for Discernment, which he included in the Spiritual Exercises. The rules deal with ways to interpret the states of consolation (joy, peace, gratitude, and the like) and desolation (depression, anxiety, fear) that people typically experience in the course of cultivating a spiritual life.
The first set is 14 rules (Spiritual Exercises, 313–327) that give practical spiritual advice about dealing with desolation—those times when the heart feels far from God and spiritual vigor wanes. They are intended to be used by an experienced spiritual director who is helping people understand the nature and meaning of the emotions they are experiencing in prayer. They are especially intended for people embarking on a serious spiritual life. They assist people in identifying the spiritual forces involved in these emotions: the Good Spirit (God, the Holy Spirit) and what Ignatius called “the enemy of our human nature” (the world, the flesh, the devil).
The second set is eight rules (Spiritual Exercises, 328–336) intended to help people who are firmly established in a spiritual life. These rules focus on spiritual consolation. They help people discern when the spiritual consolation they are feeling is an authentic sign of God’s presence.
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/making-good-decisions/discernment-of-spirits/rules-for-discernment/
—“Rules for Discernment,” IgnatianSpirituality.com
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8 RULES FOR DISCERNMENT
Deletehttps://aleteia.org/2018/07/31/here-are-st-ignatius-8-rules-for-the-discernment-of-spirits/
—Philip Kosloski, “Here are St. Ignatius’ 8 rules for the discernment of spirits,” Aleteia.org, July 31, 2018
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SOME RULES OF DISCERNMENT
ReplyDeleteThere is no single rule of discernment that is without exception, according to a Carthusian. [1]
“Fruits” is a definitive criterion, but they do not always immediately manifest.
Obedience is often cited as a touchstone, and it is true that fulfilling the obligation of religious obedience is a virtuous act and consequently it is a salutary guiding principle.
Yet even the saints have acted contrary to the directives of their spiritual guide. Saint Camillus de Lellis is an example. He founded the Camillians against the counsel of Saint Philip Neri.
Humility is the safest way—yes, but who is genuinely humble?
Primacy of conscience should always prevail, according to the teaching of Vatican II on human dignity.
“In all his activity a man is bound to follow his conscience in order that he may come to God, the end and purpose of life. It follows that he is not to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his conscience. Nor, on the other hand, is he to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience, especially in matters religious.” (Dignitatis Humanae, 3)
Therefore, follow your conscience. If you abdicate your conscience, you will still be responsible for disavowing your ineradicable obligation to take moral responsibility for all your decisions and actions.
We should always obey the law of God. To transgress God’s law is to sin.
This being said, the law of God and its application in a particular case is not always obvious or apparent.
If we ask God for the gift of discernment, he will grant it, according to Scripture. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it.” (James 1:5)
[1] A Carthusian, The Call of Silent Love, translated by an Anglican solitary (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1995), page 160.
Gonzalinho
PRINCIPLE OF CONGRUENCE
ReplyDelete“…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
Conversely, incongruence is a type of desolation. It is associated with disquiet and unease, telltale signs of the evil spirit and the opposite of peace and joy, spiritual joy.
Gonzalinho
SYNODALITY
ReplyDelete…This is not so much an event or a slogan as a style and a way of being, by which the Church lives out her mission in the world.
All these years, we have been used to a hierarchical church, where bishops ruled and the laity obeyed.
A synodal church is the opposite: it is built on the participation of all — young, old; men and women; priests, religious and laity; the educated and the ordinary — as all walk towards (the original meaning of ‘syn-odos’) their mission, revealed in communion with the Spirit of Jesus.
It’s a new way of functioning, something which neither “obedient” Catholics nor “Protestants” are used to. And it is based on discernment, or openness to the Spirit, which now becomes the new way of proceeding for the Church.
This is Pope Francis’s gift to the Church. Will it be cherished? Will it be remembered? Will it be used?
https://www.ucanews.com/news/pope-francis-and-the-third-church/100645
—Father Myron J. Pereira, S.J., “Pope Francis and the ‘Third Church,’” Union of Catholic Asian News, March 13, 2023
Spirituality in the Church should develop in the direction of a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit, which means, among others, a finer understanding of the discernment of the spirits and a more thoroughgoing and discriminating practice of it.
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DISCERNMENT IS ITERATIVE
ReplyDeleteBecause discernment is a process active throughout life, which itself is in constant process, discernment is necessary iterative. Generally, the task of discernment is not to settle dogmas with finality, but rather to evaluate, assess, and judge a mainly interior reality constantly in flux. Discernment is iterative because it asks us to revisit a changing existential reality.
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DISCERNMENT IMPROVES WITH AGE AND EXPERIENCE
ReplyDelete“Wisdom is life experience applied to well-considered judgment.”
https://poetryofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2018/01/aphorisms.html
To the extent that the gift of the discernment of the spirits depends on our capacity for making well-considered judgments, our application of this gift to the particular circumstances of our lives improves with life experience.
Gonzalinho
SHORT RULES FOR THE DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS
ReplyDeleteThere is no single rule of discernment that is without exception, according to a Carthusian.
Cf. A Carthusian, The Call of Silent Love, translated by an Anglican solitary (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1995), page 160
“Fruits” is a definitive criterion, but they do not always immediately manifest.
Cf. Francisco López Rivera, S.J., “Obedience and Discernment,” Review of Ignatian Spirituality (January 2009) 40(120):
http://www.sjweb.info/documents/cis/pdfenglish/200912004en.pdf
Consolation is interior movement towards God and the morally good.
Cf. Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:12-16
Desolation is interior movement away from God and toward the morally evil.
Cf. Galatians 5:19-21; Colossians 3:5-10
Consolation is life-giving. Desolation is life-draining.
Cf. Ali Newell, “Spiritual Discernment – what gives life /what discourages,” The University of Edinburgh, May 26, 2020:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/chaplaincy/for-times-like-these/spiritual-discernment-what-gives-life-what-disco
Be aware of your feelings, use your head!
Cf. Brendan McManus, SJ, “Two Hints for Recognizing the Two Ignatian Movements of Consolation and Desolation,” IgnatianSpirituality.com:
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/two-hints-for-recognizing-the-two-ignatian-movements-of-consolation-and-desolation/
Ask questions. Gather information.
Cf. Spiritual Exercises, Three Times for Making a Good and Sound Election, Third Time; Second Set of 8 Rules, Fifth Rule
Gonzalinho
The first short rule, “There is no single rule of discernment that is without exception,” is a Russell’s Paradox.
DeleteWhat is a Russell’s Paradox? Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains the Russell’s Paradox concisely and accurately, even if the explanation is not very accessible to our understanding. See:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell-paradox/
—“Russell’s Paradox,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, October 12, 2020
“Some sets, such as the set of all teacups, are not members of themselves. Other sets, such as the set of all non-teacups, are members of themselves. Call the set of all sets that are not members of themselves ‘R.’ If R is a member of itself, then by definition it must not be a member of itself. Similarly, if R is not a member of itself, then by definition it must be a member of itself.”
Russell’s Paradox arises in the case of sets that are not members of themselves.
“Such a set appears to be a member of itself if and only if it is not a member of itself. Hence the paradox.”
The above description, even if precise, is rather abstract. It can be readily understood only through one or more examples.
The earliest example of the Russell’s Paradox is that of Epimenides, a Cretan philosopher (c. 600 BCE). He said, “All Cretans are liars.” Close examination will show that the statement is both true and false. It’s perfectly logical to make the statement, so that it is formally true. However, if the person who makes the statement is a Cretan, then the statement is also false—because he is a Cretan and we assume that the statement is true. So the statement is both true and false at the same time—a paradox.
The paradox can only be solved by treating Epimenides as an exception among Cretans, that is, he is a Cretan who is not a liar. In other words, he belongs to the set of Cretans who are not Cretans who lie. In the terminology of “naïve set theory,” he is a member of a set that is not a member of itself. Or, he is a member of a set to which he is an exception.
One widely accepted solution to Russell’s Paradox is that of Zermelo and Fraenkel, who basically say that we have to treat some members of a set as an exception to the set. They do not share all the properties of the members of the set.
So in the case of the Cretans who are all presumably liars, some Cretans, or at least one Cretan, Epimenides, is not a liar.
An explanation in symbolic logic of Russell’s Paradox and its solution according to Zermelo and Fraenkel is given in the Stanford Encyclopedia article cited above.
What I find more readily understandable is that given by Jeffrey J. Early, who at the time of publication of the following piece was an Undergraduate Physics Major at the University of Puget Sound. See:
http://math.ups.edu/~bryans/Current/Journal_Spring_1999/JEarly_232_S99.html
—Jeffrey J. Early, “Russell’s Paradox and Possible Solutions”
Going back to the first short rule, “There is no single rule of discernment that is without exception”—it is a Russell’s Paradox because it is a rule of discernment, and if it is a rule of discernment, then it must admit exceptions, including itself. However, if it is an exception, then it contradicts itself, because then it says that there are always exceptions. At the same time, if it includes itself as an exception, then it says that there are no exceptions. Therefore, the first short rule is both true and false at the same time.
One solution to this paradox—the solution of Zermelo and Fraenkel—is to regard the first short rule as at least one of the exceptions to the very rule it states. This solution I prefer.
Gonzalinho
The devil has the capacity to affect not only our senses, emotions, and imagination, but also our intellect. See, for example, Saint Teresa of Avila’s account of her experience of the devil’s presence.
ReplyDelete“I have seldom seen him in bodily shape, but I have often seen him without any form, as in the kind of vision I have described, in which no form is seen but the object is known to be there.” (Life of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Chapter 31, 276)
The saint describes what she later terms an “intellectual vision.” See The Interior Castle, Chapter 8, 2.
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I suspect many people are not aware of how often and how easily they succumb to the devil’s temptations because they don’t recognize them as such.
DeleteGonzalinho
The devil is a pure spirit. He doesn’t have a sensible appearance, but he has the capacity to represent himself to us through our senses, emotions, imagination, or intellect. He can represent himself in a purely intellectual, non-sensible way. He can show himself as handsome or lovely, or oppositely as bestial, chimerical, frightening, and horrific. The devil likes to frighten people with his appearances. It’s an empty show of power on his part rooted in his pride. If we make the unspeakable mistake of choosing to join him in hell, he will have the power to torment us forever.
DeleteGonzalinho
99% of demonic action is through temptation, which is why the devil likes to induce people to believe that he doesn’t exist. Their ignorance of the devil’s influence undermines their resistance to temptation and facilitates their collaboration with the devil unknowingly.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
What is the connection between Saint Ignatius of Loyola and the discernment of the spirits?
ReplyDelete“St. Ignatius Loyola developed a way of decision making/discernment from his own experiences. When St. Ignatius was convalescing after a cannon ball injury, he began daydreaming about his future and noticed interior facts. Those facts which enlivened his heart and gave energy toward a certain path, he called consolation. Those interior facts which left one restless, hollow, or with distaste, he called desolation. And he came to understand that consolation usually came from the Spirit of God touching into one’s heart and thoughts. And he came to learn that the spirit of disease, hollowness, and restlessness came from the enemy of human nature that he saw as the evil spirit.
“With this awareness of how God leads a person, Ignatius began to develop a set of guidelines for individuals wanting to make decisions about where God is calling them. He called these guidelines the Rules for the Discernment of Spirits. Use of these guidelines are for serious decisions an individual needs to make—what path of life to take, what occupation best suits one’s gifts and talents, changing jobs, determining the number of children a couple chooses to bring into life, buying a house, choice of college for a son or daughter or determining the best living environment for an aging parent. These are decisions in which there are competing goods and not a choice between good and bad.”
https://www.marquette.edu/mission-ministry/explore/ignatian-discernment.php
—Rev. Doug Leonhardt, S.J., “What Is Ignatian Discernment?” Marquette.edu
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PRAYER IS THE BEGINNING OF DISCERNMENT—OTHER FACTORS COME INTO PLAY
ReplyDeletePrayer 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.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252407/pope-francis-the-first-element-of-discernment-is-prayer
—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.
Gonzalinho
“EQUAL-MINDEDNESS”
ReplyDeleteA critical condition for discerning correctly is “spiritual detachment.” Spiritual attachment is an inordinate attachment to creatures, desiring them for our own self-serving purposes, so that spiritual detachment is its opposite—the desire for creatures and use of creation for the ends for which they have been created, the service and love of God.
As a general rule there is always a mixture of the two, so that the influence of spiritual detachment and the compulsion of its opposite, spiritual attachment, is a matter of degree.
Someone who is inordinately attached to creatures will naturally have difficulty in discerning correctly, because they will be drawn to make choices out of weakness of will and for their own self-serving purposes.
Spiritual detachment has been described as “Ignatian indifference.” A better term, in my view, is what Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J. calls “equal-mindedness.”
“When it comes to dealing with good, legitimate options, I can either make a decision by the seat of my pants, or I can really seek to determine what God is asking of me. …If we want to do what God wills, then we can be open to any possibility, because God our Lord made everything good, including riches, poverty, or a relatively simple lifestyle. God can work through people with wealth (many saints were kings and queens) or through very poor people (St. Francis of Assisi and many other saints). These various possibilities are good in themselves, and therefore they are ways to become holy and to give glory to God who made them. How do we choose among these good options?
“If God can use everything and everything is good, then an essential starting point of being able to discern God’s will is the gift of being ‘equal-minded.’ St. Ignatius of Loyola called this gift being ‘indifferent,’ but some modern people interpret this term as not caring about the choices. Better is the term ‘equal-minded,’ which implies that I am happy to take either this option or that option. Neither option matters to me except insofar as one gives greater glory to God than the other. Seeking to give greater glory to God is one of the most important principles of discerning God’s will for my life.”
—Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, How to Listen When God Is Speaking: A Guide for Modern-Day Catholics (2011), pages 72-73
Basically, Father Pacwa expounds “The First Principle and Foundation” of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola:
“God created human beings to praise, reverence, and serve God, and by doing this, to save their souls.
“God created all other things on the face of the earth to help fulfill this purpose.
“From this it follows that we are to use the things of this world only to the extent that they help us to this end, and we ought to rid ourselves of the things of this world to the extent that they get in the way of this end.
“For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things as much as we are able, so that we do not necessarily want health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long rather than a short life, and so in all the rest, so that we ultimately desire and choose only what is most conducive for us to the end for which God created us.”
Father Pacwa further explains:
“Obstacles to being equal-minded arise when we cling to things and become attached to them, which is the opposite of being equal-minded. We have various reasons for these attachments, most of which depend on the inclinations of our personalities. …I allow attachments to the good things of the earth to cloud my ability to see and hear the voice of God the Creator. I may not necessarily choose to do evil by pursuing a certain profession or by working to buy a particularly beautiful house in a prestigious neighborhood, but neither will I be able to discern whether this is God’s will for me. My attachments hinder my ability to listen to God.”
—Op. cit., page 75
Gonzalinho
AGERE CONTRA
ReplyDeleteHow does one cultivate and attain equal-mindedness? One way propounded by spiritual writers is agere contra, Latin for “to act against.”
“Agere contra is an Ignatian concept we don’t hear much about, at least not on this blog. The phrase means “to act against,” and refers to acting against behaviors that are not life-giving and hold us back from freedom. Edmund Lo, SJ, writes about agere contra:
“‘We can be attached to patterns of behaviour that seemingly make us feel safer, be they our insecurities, doubts, or unwillingness to be pulled out of our comfort zones. They prevent us from living our lives fully in the way the Lord intends. When we live our lives in Spirit and in Truth, we live in a true freedom. Agere contra helps us to confront those things that hold us back from such freedom; better yet, it helps us to grow into this freedom.’”
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/acting-against/
—dotMagis Editor, “Acting Against,” IgnatianSpirituality.com
“Saint Ignatius knew our human tendencies well. He was a lover of the world and fell easily into lust and vanity. The pulls he felt toward such things he called the ‘evil spirit’. We can tend to stick with what’s comfortable and known. This autopilot can get us into trouble though. Over time Ignatius studied how the evil spirit would tempt him into sin or a disordered life. In his journal he noted ways that he could fight against things that drew him away from God and a good and healthy life. One of his methods is called agere contra – meaning to act against.
“Remember, this is about going against what you would normally tend to do. We recognise that sometimes our human tendencies can be flawed…and that we’re also creatures of habit. Habit can be a good thing, but not if it prevents us from growing as persons loved by God. Ignatius warns against a ‘disordered’ life. Having order does not mean acting as a robot and never straying from your schedule or plan. Having an ordered life means you can let go of certain attachments or unhealthy relationships, you can adapt to new situations, and you remove blockades that prevent you from growing more into your true self. Agere contra is one way to help jar us out of the safe path we’ve always been taking.”
https://godinallthings.com/2012/04/11/agere-contra/
—Andy Otto, “Agere Contra,” God in All Things, April 11, 2012
To be continued
Gonzalinho
AGERE CONTRA
DeleteContinued
In principle agere contra is sound but it is also susceptible to being misunderstood and misapplied—in particular, we might interpret God’s will as the opposite of what we desire so that we believe that because we desire it, it is not God’s will.
This attitude in the spiritual life is seriously awry. The correct perspective to assume is that as long as the object of our desire is not evil but rather good, both possibilities exist—that what we desire could be in accord with the will of God but that it could also be at variance.
So how do we determine which one it is? One assured (not infallible) way is to apply the rules of discernment. They may not always be easy or straightforward in application, and sometimes, the correct judgment and the decision that follows upon it are attained only after an extended period of time and great spiritual effort.
Our good desires for something good might indeed be an indication of God’s will for us.
Notably, the following interpretation of Ignatian discernment underscores good desires under the aspect of emotional motivation and emphasizes “emotivism” as a necessary tipping point in discernment.
“There is a set of emotions related to faith and integrated with it, and these Christian emotions are aroused by prayer, worship, spiritual reading, and so on. …The other set of emotions includes those bearing on the possibilities between which one must discern…. These emotions are aroused by carefully and concretely considering as fully as possible what actually would be involved in the options under consideration. (It is assumed that the necessary investigating and information gathering already have been done.) Then one’s Christian-faith emotions are compared with the sets of emotions related to each option—emotions which reflect not only the realities on which they bear but the reality of one’s hidden self. What is involved here is not some sort of objective measurement, but the effort to perceive an inward harmony. If the emotions related to one option plainly harmonize better with one’s Christian-faith emotions, that can be considered the option which pleases one’s Christian self, and one should choose as pleases this self.”
http://twotlj.org/G-2-5-J.html
—Mount Saint Mary’s University, “Living a Christian Life: Chapter 5: Seeking Moral Truth: Moral Judgment and Problem Solving: Question J: How Should One Discern between or among Good Options?” The Way of the Lord Jesus
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2022/07/discernment-and-conscience.html
Gonzalinho