September 2011 Handouts

THE INTERPLAY OF CONSOLATION AND DESOLATION Harvey Egan's work entitled The Ignatian Mystical Horizon gives an unparalleled
description of the heartfelt interplay of desire and consoling and desolate affective
movements within the believer who is engaged in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
of Loyola.
The exercitant progresses during the Exercises if he receives the
"what I want and desire" graces of each particular meditation.
He must experience, during his meditations on the great truths
of salvation history, various interior movements which Ignatius
calls consolation (Sp. Ex. #316). These consolations in turn, must
become an actual state of soul . . ..
Ignatius, moreover, clearly expects more during the Exercises
than consolation. He knows that the generous exercitant will
experience consolations, desolations and be moved by various spirits
(Sp. Ex. #6).
It should be mentioned that desolations have many valuable
lessons to teach. Desolation can awaken a lax conscience (Sp. Ex.
#314), bring a person's sloth and tepidity to light (Sp. Ex. #322),
test and teach the person that consolations are strictly God's gifts.
(Sp. Ex. #322). And yet, Ignatius always has the believer fight this
experienced state of the soul (Sp. Ex. #319), understanding that the
pain of growth, as in giving birth, is always followed by a greater joy.
The special significance of consolations and desolations resides in the
existential truth that they manifest our hidden affections which either
help or hinder his/her basic anthropocentric dynamism to come to
ourselves and surrender to the loving Mystery of God in Jesus Christ
(Col. 3: 1-4). In other words, spiritual consolations and desolations are
the positive and negative echoes of a person's own being, to the
deepest demands of the true, hidden self The believer's consolations
and desolations, peace and disharmony are the profound signs of self­
surrender or self-refusal to the deepest anthropocentric drawings,
abiding and active in the human heart.
In Ignatian discernment, when a person prays over the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his or her deepest nature is evoked and
enlightened. Consolations and desolations are experienced while praying
with Christ in Sacred Scripture, and they are a measure of the soundness
or sickness of the person's human nature. Thus, desolation can be under­
stood as the inner repugnance which flows from a person's disorientation
and resistance to the deep demands of becoming more fully human, more
full oflove. Desolation highlights the praying person's hidden resistance
to full self-identity, as well as those areas in the person's being which
prevent authentic human growth. Desolation exposes a person's affective
disorder and allows him/her to work out inordinate attachments, to allow
healing in much the same way that a person works out a cramp in a
muscle. The generosity and progress the exercitant makes in knowing,
loving and serving Christ indirectly deepens and strengthens his own
human nature. i
Spiritual consolations will always be experienced in the person's heart as the
more natural, more fitting, deeper, truer experience. Desolations will be experienced as
something running counter to a person's authentic inner core. It is somehow an unnatural
experience, because our spiritual kinship within God's womb always resonates in the
depths of our being. Thomas Aquinas names this experience of resonance as a form of
"connaturality. "
The operative questions for the spiritual director and directee are:
what has been happening in our hearts, how have we experienced
the Lord's presence laboring in love, what has the Holy Spirit been
asking us, and where do we feel Christ's Spirit leading us? Again,
interior feelings, urges and movements are the "spirits" that must be
sifted out, discerned so we can recognize Christ's Spirit calling to us
in the intimate core of our being. ii
John Horn, SJ. "Ignatian Spiritual Direction and Inner Dynamics of the Heart," Mystical
Healing, New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1996, pp. 145-146.
Harvey Egan, The [gootian Mystical Horizon (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1975), 75-77.
ii George Aschenbrenner, "The Consciousness Examen," Review for Religious 31 (1972): 18.
i
ONE WAY OF PRAYING: A.R.R.R. ACKNOWLEDGE - This means becoming aware of, paying attention to, noticing, naming my
interior affective movements (thoughts, feelings and desires). It is impossible to grow in relationship with
another without fIrst coming to some self-possession. Try to grow in friendship with someone who
cannot name their preferences, their likes and dislikes, their opinions, their values or their beliefs. It
simply does not work. We are invited to encounter God as we are, and acknowledging our thoughts,
feelings and desires is the fIrst necessary dynamic of growing
intimacy with the Trinity.
"We must be in line with the truth about our interior state ... It is this divine self-giving and the
positive human response to accept such that healing is known. Trust, vulnerability, rapt listening,
integrity all precede the fullness of healing; otherwise God could incorrectly be seen as entering a
magic relationship and not one of human freedom and fullness. We must present ourselves in such a way
that Christ can enter our hearts with truth."
---Deacon Jim Keating, Ph.D., The Eucharist & Healing ofAffection for Sin
RELATE - The second fundamental relational dynamic for growing Trinitarian intimacy is to
relate what I fInd in my heart to God, and to do so honestly and consistently. Tell God all about it--the
good, the bad and the ugly. Entrust what is in the heart to God. God does not need a news update, but
knows that if we open our hearts to Him in honesty and trust, we will be maximally receptive to what He
wants to give. It is a huge interior leap to move from awareness of the thoughts, feelings and desire to
actually relating them to God. Good contemplative spiritual direction will always be helping the directee
to notice and say more about interior affective movements, and will be checking to see if the directee has
related these to God.
"Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing
between friends"
---Saint Teresa ofAvila
RECEIVE - Honest and consistent acknowledging and relating of the movements of the heart
will dispose the disciple to receive fully and generously all that God desires to give.
Reception of
divine love is the most fruitful human activity. Think of the Annunciation--Mary does not say "I'll do it"
but "Be it done unto me." In reality we are always in a position to
receive from God, because we
are radically dependent on Him for our very being and for every good thing. Mary is a great model of
fruitful receptivity because she is the fIrst and greatest disciple of Jesus who receives everything from
the heavenly Father.
" ... the 'Marian' dimension of the Church precedes the 'Petrine.'"
---Cathechism ofthe Catholic Church, no. 773
"The most fruitful human activity is to receive God. " ---Jean Corbon, OP., The Wellspring of Worship RESPOND - What we receive from God calls for a response. Our response will be free,
virtuous, effective and fruitful if it is inspired, directed, empowered and sustained by the grace we
have received. Our response to God must be on the basis of the gift of communion received from Him
for, as Jesus teaches in the parable of the vine and the branches, "apart from me you can do nothing."
"Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the
Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. "
---Catechism ofthe Catholic Church, no. 2705
Prayer, Discernment and Personal Vocation - Fr. David Graham
September 10, 2011
1. Introduction - Discernment is a gift given at baptism /
- More of an art than a science / '
- Presuppositions
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"[Christians need] a spirit of discernment between good and evil so that they have the necessary strength
and knowledge to withstand the temptations to evil."
--Cardinal Ratzinger, Response to the book Harry Potter
liThe Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man, and
temptation, which leads to sin and death. We must also discern between being tempted and consenting
to temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a
'delight to the eyes' and desirable, when in reality its fruit is death."
--Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2847
"Even when we have to struggle continually with the same failings, it is important to resist the coarsening
of our souls and the indifference which would simply accept that this is the way we are. It is important to
keep pressing forward."
--Pope Benedict XVI, Letter to Seminarians
-
Desires, Thoughts, and Feelings - Grist for the Discernment Mill
A. It's a matter of the Heart
"Saint Augustine, in a homily on the First Letter of John, describes very beautifully the intimate
relationship between prayer and hope. He defines prayer as an exercise of desire. Man was created for
greatness--for God Himself; he was created to be filled by God. But His heart is too small for the
greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. 'By delaying [His gift], God strengthens our desire;
through desire He enlarges our soul and by expanding it He increases its capacity [for receiving Him]' ."
---Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, no. 33
"Only by remaining in intimate communion with the Lord of the harvest, by living immersed as it were in
His 'heart' full of love and compassion for humanity, can we bring other laborers to share in the work of
the Kingdom of God. ... The laborers in God's harvest are those who follow in the footsteps of Christ. This
requires self-detachment and being fully 'attuned' to His will. This task is not easy, for it goes against a
'force of gravity' deep within us, leading us to become self-centered. We can only overcome this force if
we undertake an Easter journey of death and resurrection ." ---Pope Benedict SVI, Address to Priests and Deacons / " B. Theological Anthropology of the Heart
-see handout
"The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression,
the heart is the place 'to which I withdraw.' The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our
reason and of others; the heart is the place of decision, it is the place of truth, where we choose life or
death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of
covenant."
---Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2563
"The organ for seeing God is the heart. The intellect alone is not enough. In order for man to become
capable of perceiving God, the energies of His existence have to work in harmony. His will must be pure
and so too must the underlying affective dimension of his sou" which gives intelligence and will their
direction ."
---Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting with the Clergy, May 2006
/3.
One Mode of Prayer: A.R.R.R.
-see handout
"God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or
accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that
mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first
step is always a response."
---Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2563
"Time spent in direct encounter with God in prayer can rightly be described as the pastoral priority par
excellence; it is the soul's breath, without which the priest necessarily remains breathless, deprived of the
oxygen ... which he needs if he is to allow himself to be sent ... as a worker into the lord's harvest."
---Pope Benedict XVI, Address to Clergy, 2006
"So it is important that our day should begin and end with prayer ... that we shore with Him our desires
and our hopes, our joys and our troubles, our failures and our thanks for all His blessings, and thus keep
Him ever before us as the point of reference for our lives."
---Pope Benedict XVI, Letter to Seminarians
4. Consolation and Desolation -Spiritual Senses - Interplay of consolation and desolation -see handout - Rules of St. Ignatius -see handout A. SPIRITUAL SENSES - Capacities on the rational, spiritual level, which by analogy with the
five physical and imaginative senses are called senses. Through these capacities a person is
enabled to "see," "hear," "taste," "touch," and "breathe in the fragrance," of "the Divinity, of the
soul, and of its virtues, and of all, according to the person who is being contemplated" (Spiritual
Exercises, 121-126). For example, a person might simply "taste" or "breathe in the spiritual
fragrance" of the Father's deep love for Jesus or of Mary's unshakeable faith on Good Friday. In
this case the person is employing the spiritual senses of taste and smell.
"The human mind does not journey into God, it is God who journeys into the mind--and body--of the
human being ...The spiritual senses function as the epistemological bridge between the natural and the
supernatural orders ...the spiritual senses function as the epistemological bridge between the natural
capacities of the human being and the revelation of the divine in the mystical encounter."
--Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord
B. Distinguishing between Spiritual and Non-Spiritual Consolations and Desolations
NON-SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION - An uplifting affective movement (love, hope, joy, peace, etc.) on
the
natural, psychological level. For example, person spends time with a friend or with nature and feels his
heart uplifted.
NON-SPIRITUAL DESOLATION - A heavy affective movement (sadness, hopelessness, disturbance,
discouragement, etc.) on the natural, psychological level. For example, a person is worried about an
academic project or struggling in a family relationship, and feels anxious and depressed.
SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION - An uplifting affective movement (love, hope, joy, peace, etc.)
on the spiritual
level, that is, on the level of a person's faith and relationship with God. For example, a person prays with
the words of Psalm 23, "The Lord is shepherd, I shall not want," and feels his heart lift up with a warm
sense of God's closeness and faithful protection.
SPIRITUAL DESOLATION - A heavy affective movement (sadness, hopelessness, disturbance,
discouragement, etc.) on the spiritual level, that is, on the level of a person's faith and relationship with
God. For example, a person tries to pray but does not feel God's presence, feels alone and discouraged,
that his prayer is useless, that there is no point in continuing.
C. The Rules of St. Ignatius - see handout
[On the Cross] Amidst extreme anguish, Jesus knows deep psychological desolation: however, He
remains in spiritual consolation, although painful, because He is always in union with His Father, pouring
out self-emptying love in utter trust."
--Kathleen Kanavy, Dispelling Desolation: Pastoral Diagnostics for the Spiritual Physician
II
liThe term hard consolation describes this common human experience: on Level II of the heart there is
deep psychological pain but in the depths of t~e human heart a person is fundamentally in union with
God and acting out of the true self."
--Kathleen Kanavy, Dispelling Desolation: Pastoral Diagnostics for the Spiritual Physician
"During the time they had him in prison, St. John of the Cross suffered great inner dryness and affliction .
... {However,}in the midst of obscurity, John speaks of a 'kind of companionship and inner strength which
walks with the soul and gives her strength, a presence that is gently, imperceptible, 'dark'. His poems
were born ... of encounter, he says with Christ, and of what Christ gave him there to 'know' and to lee/'
and to 'desire' ... In his darkness, there was disclosed to him Christ's unpaid-for desire to love him."
--lain Matthew, The Impact of God
5. Personal Vocation - Fr. Herbert Alfonso
A. The Name by which God calls me
B. Review of Prayer
C. Consciousness Examen
6. Discerning the Will of God - Fr. Timothy Gallagher
A. Three times or modes for making a Christian choice - see handout
B. Necessary Prerequisites
"Even when we have to struggle continually with the same failings, it is important to resist the coarsening of our
souls and the indifference which would simply accept that this is the way we are. It is important to keep pressing
forward." --Pope Benedict XVI, Letter to Seminarians
Good Books about Discernment and Prayer
4
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Herbert Alphonso, S.J., "Discovering Your Personal Vocation,"2001.
Paulist Press
C.S. Lewis, "The Screwtape Letters," 1959.
'-4- Thomas
Green, S.J., "Weeds Among the Wheat," 1984. Ave Maria
Press.
-*
William Barry, S.J.
"God and You; Prayer as Personal Relationship," 1987. Paulist
Press.
-7 "Paying Attention to God; Discernment in Prayer," 1990. Ave
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Maria Press.
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Richard J. Hauser, "Moving in the Spirit; Becoming a Contemplative
in Action," 1986. Paulist Press.
Bishop Alfred Hughes, "Spiritual Masters; Living a Life of Prayer in
the Catholic Tradition," 1998. Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Ann & Barry Ulanov, "Primary Speech; A Psychology of Prayer,"
1982. John Knox Press.
James Keating, "Listening for Truth,"2002. Liguori Press
*
Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V.
~"Discerning the Will of God", 2009. The Crossroad Publishing
Company.
-.k --'''The Discernment of Spirits", 2005. The Crossroad Publishing
Company.
~~~~
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A Christian Anthropology of the Heart
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LEVEL I
INDWELLING t\oi 50 L..ee...­
Surface Feelings, Thoughts,
Desires
HOLY SPIRIT
LEVEL II
LEVEL III
Fundamentally Psychological
houghts, Desires
Feelin o
Psychological consolations
Psychological Desolations
-
Fundamentally Spiritual
Spiritual fonsolations
Spiritual Desolations -
~
•
•
Family Relationships
Ethnic Temperaments
•
•
•
•
DNA
Sexual Desires
Deep Moods
Cultural Assumptions
(i.e. economic, beauty, customs, mj1hs, ethos,
'--
----­
•
Affective Movements
I
etc~
,
= spirits
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Intellect
Emotion
Will
(thoughts)
(feelings)
(choices)
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PleasurelPain Principle
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SEVEN OPERATING THEOLOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS: • God is utterly near (Is 55:16, Jn 15:1-11)
• God is actively pursuing each of us, desiring a deeper relationship
(Heb 4:11-13)
• Personal subjective experiences that claim to be God's voice are
always governed by the objective spiritual authority of Scripture and
the Church's living tradition as spoken through the Magisterium (Acts
20:17-32)
• The Father's Spirit desires only to give consoling love as we live the
paschal mystery at the cross with Jesus (2 Cor 1:3-7)
• It is in weakness with Jesus the Christ that we experience the strength
of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 1:26-31,2 Cor 12:9-10)
• True discipleship depends upon a desire to seek after and do the will
of God (Lk 1:34-38, Mk 14:32-37)
• The reign of God is at hand (Mt 10:5-8, Lk 4:42-43)
THE REVIEW OF PRAYER 1. Prayer is Communion with God: We cannot commune with God as equal partners in dialogue - we remain ourselves, God remains God. 2. If Prayer is not so much talking to God as listening to Him, not so much our giving to
God as being actively disposed to receive from Him (His gifts, His love, His life) - then
it is necessary to REVIEW OUR PRAYER, i.e., to gather up the "action of God in us",
to avert to what He has done in us and profit by this experience.
3. Now, since God is God, He works consistently within us: He traces in us a definite line,
direction, orientation of His will for us. This we shall find only if we are faithful and
regular in "collecting and recollecting" day after day the experience of His action within
us - in other words, if we are faithful and regular in REVIEWING OUR PRAYER.
(NB: What is said of 'prayer' can be extended to the whole day as God remains active in
our lives right through the day. In fact, this is what an EXAMINAnON OF
CONSCIENCE [or Consciousness Examen] IS - the REVIEW of God's presence and
activity in us during the day. If 'formal prayer' is singled out for REVIEW, it is only
because it is a privileged moment and area of communion with God.)
And so 'REVIEW' becomes a powerful and indispensable means for the discovery of
God's will and of one's personal vocation.
4. If we have any experience of the spiritual world, we know that the more God is at work,
the more His action is liable to be interfered with by the counter-spirits. Hence the
REVIEW OF PRAYER that seeks to gather up and 'record' the experience of God's
action will perforce have to 'record' as well the struggle against God's action by the
action of the counter-spirits.
In this way 'REVIEW' becomes the great TRAINING SCHOOL FOR DISCERNMENT... Reviewing the Period of Prayer:
After an exercise is finished, I will consider for the space of
a quarter ofan hour how I succeeded in the meditation or
contemplation. Ifpoorly, I will seek the cause ofthe
failure; and after I have found it, I will be sorry, so that I
may do better in the future. If I have succeeded, I will give
thanks to God our Lord, and the next time try to follow the
same method.
(Fhe Spiritual Exercises ofSt. Ignatius Loyola, #77)
"How I succeeded" means 'how things went with me'. It does not refer to how I
made the preparatory prayer, the various preludes, or how in general I applied myself to
the hour of prayer. Nor does it mean that the review is a brief repetition of the main
points of the preceding exercise. Their expression refers to what happened to me while I
was praying, how I was moved and agitated, whether I experienced consolation or
desolation, what spiritual insights I received, whether I was things with greater clarity,
how God worked in me and how I cooperated.
I am not only to recall these various interior movements, these feelings, impulses,
attractions, desires, revulsions, moments of recoil, flinching, shrinking back; I have to
examine where they came from, because it is by no means certain that they were caused
by God.
This review means that St. Ignatius does not want me to be concerned with these
inner moods or feelings while they are actually occurring during the hour of prayer.
Introspection during the prayer itself would put a quick end to any receptivity or
spontaneity. St. Ignatius and anyone making the Exercises can afford to banish self­
examination and self-reflection from meditation and contemplation as long as the prayer
will be followed by a period of time when the various moods and feelings and desires
will be sorted out. And, of course, if nothing happened in my prayer, I must ask myself
why.
THE REVIEW OF PRAYER 1. Prayer is Communion with God: We cannot commune with God as equal partners in dialogue - we remain ourselves, God remains God. 2. If Prayer is not so much talking to God as listening to Him, not so much our giving to
God as being actively disposed to receive from Him (His gifts, His love, His life) - then
it is necessary to REVIEW OUR PRAYER, i.e., to gather up the "action of God in us",
to avert to what He has done in us and profit by this experience.
3. Now, since God is God, He works consistently within us: He traces in us a definite line,
direction, orientation of His will for us. This we shall find only if we are faithful and
regular in "collecting and recollecting" day after day the experience of His action within
us - in other words, if we are faithful and regular in REVIEWING OUR PRAYER.
(NB: What is said of 'prayer' can be extended to the whole day as God remains active in
our lives right through the day. In fact, this is what an EXAMINATION OF
CONSCIENCE [or Consciousness Examen] IS - the REVIEW of God's presence and
activity in us during the day. If 'formal prayer' is singled out for REVIEW, it is only
because it is a privileged moment and area of communion with God.)
And so 'REVIEW' becomes a powerful and indispensable means for the discovery of
God's will and of one's personal vocation.
4. If we have any experience of the spiritual world, we know that the more God is at work,
the more His action is liable to be interfered with by the counter-spirits. Hence the
REVIEW OF PRAYER that seeks to gather up and 'record' the experience of God's
action will perforce have to 'record' as well the struggle against God's action by the
action of the counter-spirits.
In this way 'REVIEW' becomes the great TRAINING SCHOOL FOR DISCERNMENT... RULES FOR THE DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS ?he Spiritual Exercises ofSaint Ignatius Loyola
.
The Text of the Rules, Part I
?he numbers following each rule designate the number in the text ofthe Spiritual Exercises
@
(l)
Rules for ~ec?ming aware and understanding to some extent the different movements which are caused in
the soul, the good, to receive them, and the bad to reject them. And these rules are more proper for the first
week.
(3~3)
~
FIRST RULE. The first rule: in persons who are going from mortal sin to mortal sin, the enemy is ordinarily
accustomed to propose apparent pleasures to them, leading them to imagine sensual delights and pleasures in
order to hold them more and make them grow in their vices and sins. In these persons the good spirit uses a
contrary method, stinging and biting their consciences thro~gh their rational power of moral judgment. (314)
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t.o-nsc./et/Se
SECOND RULE. The second: in persons who are going on intensely purifying their sins and rising from good
to
better in the service of God our Lord, the method is contrary to that in the first rule. For then it is proper
to the evil spirit to bite, sadden, and place obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, so that the person may not
go forward. And it is proper to the good spirit to give courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations
and quiet, easing and taking away all obstacles, so that the person may go forward in doing good. (315)
THIRD RULE. The third is of spiritual consolation. I call it consolation when some interior movement,is
caused in the soul, through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord, and,
consequently when it can love no created thing on the face of the earth in itself, but only in the Creator of
them all. Likewise when it sheds tears that move to love of its Lord, whether out of sorrow for one's sins,
or for the passion of Christ our Lord, or because of other things directly ordered to his service and praise.
Finally, I call consolation every increase of hope, faith and charity, and all interior joy that calls and attracts to
heavenly things and
'2
the salvation of one's soul, quieting it and giving it peace in its Creator and Lord. (316)
FOURTH RULE. The fourth is of spiricual desolation. I call desolation all the contrary of the third rule, such
as darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to low and earthly things, disquiet from various agitations and
temptations, moving to lack of confidence, without hope, without love, finding oneself totally slothful, tepid,
sad and, as if separated from one's Creator and Lord. For just as consolation is contrary to desolation, in the
same way the thoughts that come from consolation are contrary to the thoughts that come from desolation.
(317)
FifTH RULE. The fifth: in time of desolation never make a change, but be firm and constant in the proposals
p
=
and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which one
was in the preceding consolation. Because, as in consolation the good spirit guides and counsels us more, so
in desolation the bad spirit, with whose counsels we cannot find the way to a right decision. (318)
@ixth rule] The sixth: although in desolation we should not change our first proposals, it is very advantageous
to
change ourselves intensely against the desolation itself, as by insisting more upon prayer, meditation, upon
much examination, and upon extending ourselves in some suitable way of doing pena~ce. (319)
SEVENTH RULE. The seventh: let one who is in desolation consider how the Lord has left him in trial in his
natural powers, so that he may resist the various agitations and temptations of the enemy; since he can resist
with the divine help, which always remains with him, though he does not clearly feel it; for the Lord has taken
away from him his great fervor, abundant love and intense grace, leaving him, however, sufficient grace for
eternal salvation. (320)
EIGHTH RULE. The eighth: let one who is in desolation work to be in patienc<;, which is contrary to the vexa­
tions which come to him, and ler him think that he will soon be consoled, diligendyusing the means against
such desolation, as is said in the sixth rule. (321)
NINTH RULE. The ninth: there are three principal causes for which we find ourselves desolate. The first is
because we are tepid, slothful or negligent in our spiritual exercises, and so through our fauhs spiritual conso­
lation withdraws from us. The second, to try us and see how much we are and how much we extend ourselves
in his service and praise without so much payment of consolations and increased graces. The. think to give us
true recognition and understanding so that we may interiorly feel that it is not ours
to
attain or maintain in­
creased devotion, intense love, tears or any other spiritual consolation, but that all is the gift and grace of God
..o ur Lo~, and so that we may not build a nest in something belonging
to
another, raising our mind in some
pride or vainglory, attributing to ourselves the devotion or the other parts of the spiritual consolation. (322)
TENTH RULE. The tenth: let the one who is in consolation think how he will conduct himself in the desola­
tion which will come after, taking new strength for that time. (323)
ELEVENTH RULE. The eleventh: let on~ who is consoled seek to humble himself and lower himself as much
as he can, thinking of how little he is capable in the time of desolation without such grace or consolation. On
the contrary, let one who is in desolation think that he can do much with God's sufficient grace to resist all his
enemies, taking strength in his Creator and Lord. (324)
TWELFTH RULE. The twelfth: the enemy acts like a woman in being weak when faced with strength and
strong when faced with weakness. For, as it is proper to a woman, when she is fighting with some man, to
lose heart and to flee when the man confronts her firmly, and, on the contrary, if the man begins to flee, losing
heart, the anger, vengeance and ferocity of the woman grow greatly and know no bounds, in the same way,A
is proper to the enemy to~n and lose heart, fleeing and ceasing his temptations when the person who is
exercising himself in spiritual things confronts the temptations of the enemy firmly, doing what is diametrical­
ly opposed to them; and, on the contrary, if the person who is exercising himself begins to be afraid and lose
heart in suffering the temptations, there is no beast so fierce on the face of the earth as the enemy of human
nature in following out his damnable intention with sucr growing malice. (325)
THIRTEENTH RULE. The thirteenth: likewise he conducts himself as a false lover in wishing
to
remain secret
and not be revealed. For a dissolute man who, speaking with evil intention, makes dishonorable advances
to
a
daughter of a good father or a wife of a good husband, wishes his words and persuasions to be secret, and the
contrary displeases him very much, when the daughter reveals to her father or the wife to her husband his false
words and depraved intention, because he easily perceives that he will not be able
to
succeed with the under­
taking begun. In the same way, when the enemy of human nature brings his wiles and persuasions to the just
soul, he wishes and desires that they be received and kept in secret; but when one reveals them to one's goo~
~onfessor
or to another spiritual person, who knows his deceits and malicious designs, it weighs on him very
much, because he perceives that he will not be able
to
succeed with the malicious undertaking he has begun,
.since his manifest deceits have been revealed. (326)
FOURTEENTH RULE. The fourteenth: likewise he conducts himself as a leader, intent upon conquering and
robbing what he desires. For, jyst as a ca£Eain and leader of an army in the field, pitching his camp and
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exploring the fortifications and defenses of a stronghold, attacks it at the weakest point, in the same way the
enemy of human nature, roving about, looks in turn at all our theological, cardinal and moral virtues; and
where he finds us weakest and most in need for our eternal salvation, there he attacks us and attempts 1:0 take
us. (327)
Translation, Fr. Timothy Gallagher, O.M.
v.,
The Discernment o/Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living.
New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2005. Used with permission.
Text of st. Ignatius Three Times in Which a Sound and Good Choice May Be Made * The first time is when God Our Lord so moves and attracts the
will that, without doubting or being able to doubt, the devout
soul follows what is shown to it, as St. Paul and St. Matthew
did in following Christ our Lord.
The second time is when sufficient clarity and understanding
is received through experience of consolations and desolations,
and through experience of discernment of different spirits.
The third time is one of tranquility, when one considers first for
what purpose man is born - that is, to praise God our Lord
and save his soul- and, desiring this, chooses as a means to this
end some life or state~ithiQ. the bounds of the Church, so that
he may be helped in the service of his Lord and the salvation of
his soul. I said a "tranquil time," that is, when the soul is not
agitated by different spirits, and uses its natural powers freely
and tranquilly.
·SpirEx, 175-77. Author's translation, foJJowing the original Spanish. For Ignatius's complete
text (SpirEx, 175-88), and for a note on the translation, see the Appendix.
9
Summary of "CONSCIOUSNESS" EXAMEN"
(George Aschenbrenner, S.J.)
1. PRAYER FOR LIGHT:
Spirit-guided insight into my life, and courageously re~ponsi\'e sensitivity to God's call in
my heart ... not possible without the Father's grace; therefore I pray that the Spirit may
hdp me to see mysdf a bit more as He sees me.
2. REFLECTIVE THANKSGIVING:
My stance: a poor person, possessing nothing, not e\'en myself, yet being gifted in every
instant in and through everything. Only the truly poor person can appreciate the slightest
gift and feel genuine gratitude. Center on the concrete, uniquely personal gifts I've been
blessed with, whether obviously important or apparently insignificant, with the deep
realization that ALL IS GIFT.
3. PRACTICAL SURVEY OF ACTIONS:
Operative questions:
What has been happening in me? How has the Lord been working in me? What
has He been asking of me? (Interior moods, feelings, urges and movements are the
"spirits" which must be sifted out, discerned, so I can recognize the Lord's call at
this intimate core of my being. This presumes that life is first listening, then acting
in response.)
First concern:
With the subtle, intimate, affective ways in which the Lord has been
dealing with mc.
Secollci.1ril\':
My actions, insofar as they were responses to His calling. (In the
light of faith it is the QUALITY of responsiveness of the activity.
rather than the activity itself, \""hich make the differeIlce.)
PARTICULAR EXAMEN (\\'ithin the general):
Meant to be a reverenently honest, personalmceting "lth the Lord in my
own heart.
In what area of my (mind) is He especially calling for conversion
(always the beginning of ncw life)? Here He is reminding me that if
I'm really serious about Him, this one aspect of mysel f must be
changed . . . a personal challeilge to me, which may express itself in
a good healthy guilt! This can be seen as a personal experience
of His love for me.
A deep sense of sinfulness depends
gnl\\1h in faith: and is a dynamic reali7.ation which
always ends in thanksgiving ... the song of the "saved sitmer." But this can be quite
superficial unless it is genuinely touched with a sense of wonder-full sorrow in the presence
of my Savior.
4. Oil
CONTRITIO~:
This sorrow will especially spring from the lack of honesty and courage in responding to
the Lord's call . .. not a shame nor a depression at weakness, but a/aitll e.'perience as I
grow in my realization of the Father's awesome desire that 1 love Him with all my being.
5. HOPEFUL RESOLUTION FOR FUTURE:
At this point, am I discouraged or despondent, or fearful ofthe future? If so, I must
wonder why, and try to interpret this, and not repress it by hoping it will go away. Rather
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