NOTES ON THE DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS
Discernment Is Iterative
Because discernment is a process active throughout life, which itself is in constant process, discernment is necessarily 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.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/07/discernmentwhat-is-it.html
Discernment Improves with Spiritual Maturity
What exactly consolation and desolation consist in is understood principally through one’s personal experience of the spirits. Theory by itself cannot fully explain them.
We learn how to distinguish between good and evil spirits by putting theory into practice, so that the gift of the discernment of spirits is the upshot of growing maturity in the spiritual life.
https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/07/consolation-and-desolation.html
Discernment Advances with Age and Experience
“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.
Public domain photo
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THE ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE IN THE DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS
ReplyDeleteDiscernment of the spirits significantly depends on our knowledge and experience, both spiritual and practical.
This point is well illustrated in the application of Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s “Three Times When a Correct and Good Choice of a Way of Life May Be Made,” Spiritual Exercises, 175-177 (also known as the “Three Ways”).
175. Three Times When a Correct and Good Choice of a Way of Life May Be Made
176. First Time
When God our Lord so moves and attracts the will that a devout soul without hesitation, or the possibility of hesitation, follows what has been manifested to it. St. Paul and St. Matthew acted thus in following Christ our Lord.
177. Second Time
When much light and understanding are derived through experience of desolations and consolations and discernment of diverse spirits.
178. Third Time
This is a time of tranquillity. One considers first for what purpose man is born, that is, for the praise of God our Lord and for the salvation of his soul. With the desire to attain this before his mind, he chooses as a means to this end a kind of life or state within the bounds of the Church that will be a help in the service of his Lord and for the salvation of his soul.
I said it is a time of tranquillity, that is, a time when the soul is not agitated by different spirits, and has free and peaceful use of its natural powers.
Commentary: Applying the first and second ways is particularly dependent on the capacity of the soul to recognize the influence of the good and evil spirits. The first way depends on their capacity to identify God’s unmistakable action and compelling communication. The second way calls upon the soul’s ability to distinguish between the influence of the good and evil spirits, between consolation and desolation, respectively. Both the first and second ways draw and build on the soul’s experience of good and evil spirits, of consolation and desolation.
The third way asks the soul to compose itself, and then pray and reflect in a state of consolation, that is, spiritual peace. It requires application of the soul’s “natural powers,” that is, reason, knowledge, and experience. The third way makes particular use of the soul’s practical knowledge and life experience, besides their spiritual ken.
Understanding the three ways explains how the discernment of the spirits improves with increasing spiritual and practical knowledge and experience.
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Discernment of the spirits is iterative for at least two reasons: first, because over time, conditions change, so that they have to be revisited; and second, because our spiritual knowledge and experience develop, generally for the better, with the passage of time.
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How do we know God's will?
ReplyDeleteAt least five ways to know God's will—
God’s law
Word of God
Voice of conscience
Holy Spirit
Discernment of the spirits
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