Saint Catherine of Siena on the Discernment of the Spirits

 

 

SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA ON THE DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS

“Having seen with discerning light to whom [the soul] is indebted and what she should offer…she renders glory to God and praise to his name…gives herself her own due, that is, hatred of vice and her sensuality…and she loves her neighbor as creature created by the supreme, eternal Father…so the principal effect of the virtue of discernment on the soul is that with its light she has seen what she owes and to whom.”—Saint Catherine of Siena, Letter 213 to Sister Daniella of Orvieto

According to the spiritual theology of Saint Catherine of Siena, discernment is the gift of self-knowledge, from which proceeds charity, the love of God and neighbor.

“Every perfection and every virtue proceed from charity…to attain charity you must dwell constantly in the cell of self-knowledge.”—Saint Catherine of Siena, “A Treatise of Discretion,” Dialogue, 41

Discernment according to Saint Catherine of Siena is self-knowledge, in particular, knowledge of self from the standpoint of the mind of God, which in the soul is infused knowledge—the soul knows itself as God sees it, not necessarily perfect or entire knowledge, possibly in some respects imperfect, because the soul knows itself insofar as God chooses to illuminate it. From this self-knowledge springs the love of God by the soul, which is also the love whereby the soul loves itself and others in God.

Saint Catherine does not use the term “discernment” here in the Ignatian sense, strictly speaking, of “discernment of the spirits.” Saint Catherine’s discernment refers to a supernatural knowledge of a fundamental reality that operates as the basis for any judgment in the spiritual life as well as for any action that proceeds from this judgment.