Discernment Rules
 

For the last two and half years, I have been blest by the opportunity o attend a three weeks a year, three year program facilitated by the Institute of Priestly Formation concerning Contemplative Spiritual Direction. I have learned so much about prayer through this program that my relationship with God has never been stronger. I have also realized how much that I did not know about prayer despite the fact that I was blest to have nine years of seminary training under my belt. I know that there are many people out there who desire to pray but because of a lack of knowledge often find it a fruitless and useless experience. Over the next two months, I would like to devote my Spiritual Ponderings toward the topic of prayer. This week and next week, I will focus on some topics concerning prayer and then for the next seven weeks I would like to focus on St. Ignatius’s rules of spiritual discernment.

1. Acknowledge – Relate – Receive – Respond (A.R.R.R.)
I would like to start these reflections on prayer by inviting to you to simply pray and read over the Sunday Gospel and while doing so open yourself up to this process that the Institute of Priestly Formation (in bold) lays before us as a method of prayer:

You have sat with God’s Word. You have entered into the scene. Now, once you feel God is saying something to you, acknowledge what stirs within you. Pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and desires. These are important.

Once you’ve acknowledged what’s going on inside your heart, relate this to God. Don’t just think about what’s going on. Don’t simply think about God. Don’t think about how God might react. Relate to God. Tell him how you feel. Tell him what you think. Tell him what you want. Share all your thoughts, feelings, and desires with God. Share everything with Him.

Once you’ve shared everything with God, receive. Listen to what He’s telling you. It could be a subtle voice you hear. It could be a memory that pops up. Maybe He invites you to re-read the Scripture passage. Perhaps you feel something in your body. Perhaps he invites you into a still, restful, silence. Trust that God is listening to you and receive what He wants to share with you.

Now respond however you want. It could be more conversation. It could be a resolution. It could be tears or laughter. Respond to what you’re receiving.

Finally, journal. Keep a record this season of what your prayer was like. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering, it could be a sentence or two about what God told you or how that day’s reflection struck you. Regardless of how you do it—Journal.

2. Thoughts, Feelings, and Desires
While praying it is important to pay careful attention to your thoughts, feelings, and desires. These thoughts, feelings, and desires are the beginning and substance of prayer. These are the things that God wants you to communicate to Him and how He communicates to you.

3. Two methods for praying with Scripture.
Option 1
1. Find a quiet place where you focus on what you are about to do and can be silent. Try to find a place with as few distractions as possible.
2. While getting comfortable remember not to get to comfortable to where you might fall asleep.
3. Pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance. A simple prayer like “Holy Spirit, please help me be attentive to the Word of God that I am about to read. Help me to be alert to the stirrings of my heart, so that I may feel your presence and discern your will for me” or something similar is a great start.
4. Begin to slowly read the passage of Scripture until something strikes you. There is no rhyme or reason at this point to why the passage may strike you. It is something of a gut feeling that this passage for one reason or another stands out to you.
5. Begin to reread that passage of Scripture over and over again while allowing yourself to meditate/reflect/chew on the words.
6. Pay close attention to your heart, what are you feeling, what is God saying to you? Eventually you may even find yourself sitting still and in silence feeling God’s presence. Stay there as long as you can.
7. As you come to the end of your prayer, take the time to make some sort of resolution as you return to everyday life.

Option 2
1. Find a quiet place where you focus on what you are about to do and can be silent. Try to find a place with as few distractions as possible.
2. While getting comfortable remember not to get to comfortable to where you might fall asleep.
3. Pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance. A simple prayer like “Holy Spirit, please help me be attentive to the Word of God that I am about to read. Help me to be alert to the stirrings of my heart, so that I may feel your presence and discern your will for me” or something similar is a great start.
4. Slowly begin to read the passage of Scripture imagining yourself in the Biblical scene. Using your imagination try to get the story to become as real as possible to you.
5. Play close attention to the details, how does the weather feel, who is present, what are people’s reactions.
6. Play close attention to your heart, what in this scene is touching your heart or driving you to act? How are the other characters behaving? How are their behaviors affecting how you feel and what you believe?
7. As your prayer time comes to an end, compose a little prayer asking God to help you bring His love to the world.

As we continue to look at this thing we call prayer, I think it is important to reflect upon something that spiritual writers are calling the three levels of the heart.

The idea behind the three levels of the heart has allowed me to go deeper into my relationship with God for a couple of reasons. The first is that it reminds me that unless I quiet myself down and intentionally reflect on what is going on in my life and what I am feeling I can live a very superficial life. In the midst of my counseling for depression one of the techniques that my counselors gave me was called Mindfulness which I think is very similar. Sometimes we are moving too fast through life to really know what is happening and how we feel in order to address the issues. We tend to go from one crisis to another without pondering why the crises seem to happen. I also like the idea of comparing my need to stop and check in with myself to how I have to take my car into an auto-mechanic for a tune up. I cannot see all the interior things that may need adjusting while I am driving. It is only when I stop and look under the hood and check the tire pressure can I truly see what is going on with my car. The three levels of the heart allows me to do this with my life.

On level one, I find it is important to know whether I am sick or not. If I am not feeling well because of a fever, I know praying will not come easily. If I find myself hot and ready to pass out from a lack of water, I should get a glass of water before I sit down to pray so my thirst does not distract me. Right now what are you feeling on level 1? Are you hot or cold? Happy or Sad? Etc.

On level two, we go a little deeper to discover what might be some psychological reasons for me to feel the way I do. Maybe I am feeling hot because I am nervous about spending time with a male in authority because I have never had a good relationship with my father? This would be an example of a level two feeling.

Finally on a level three, we get to the deep spiritual thoughts, feelings and desires. An example of this is maybe I find myself being impatient with others because on level three, I am feeling unloved by God and not very special at the moment so I am trying to direct people’s attention away from myself and onto other people.

As I conclude today’s reflection on the three hearts, I would like to share with you how this worked in my prayer life once as I reflected on the story of the woman caught in adultery.
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” (John 8:1-11)

On the first level of my heart, I realized that I had read this passage many times before and I was fascinated by the fact that no one wrote down what Jesus was scribbling in the sand. It is the only reference in Scripture to Jesus actually writing and no one wrote it down.

On the second level of my heart I began to feel afraid to go deeper with the passage and as I persisted with the passage I began to realize that I felt a connection with the woman caught in adultery. I had the feeling as if I had known her from somewhere. I began to think about how Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners and so she was probably a woman that Jesus knew very well and she could have possible been at his dinner table the night before. This was even perhaps why she was chosen by the Pharisees and scribes for this attack on Jesus. I began to feel how embarrassed she must have felt knowing that what she had done was against Jesus’ teaching and how startled she must have been when Jesus did not condemn her.

On the third level of my heart, I began to realize that there was a particular sin that was bothering me because I had this feeling that “I should have known better.” I began to recognize a call from God to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and confess this sin and receive His mercy knowing that like the woman caught in adultery that God did not care whether or not I should have known better. He just wanted the opportunity to forgive me.

You can see how by peeling back each layer of the heart, I was able to receive much more from my prayer than if I just stayed on the surface level of my heart.

St. Ignatius of Loyola through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his own experience developed a set of fourteen rules for the discernment of spirits. Today let us reflect on Rules 1 & 2

1. Rule 1
St. Ignatius Rule: In the persons who go from mortal sin to mortal sin, the enemy is commonly used to propose to them apparent pleasures, making them 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 the opposite method, pricking them and biting their consciences through the process of reason. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: In a person moving away from God in his or her life by committing one mortal sin (a sin that has three of the following: grave matter, full knowledge, and full intent) after another, he or she will feel the Holy Spirit as causing discomfort to their conscience in order to get them to stop their evil ways. The evil spirit on the other hand encourages the sinner to continue sinning through providing physical and emotional pleasure.

Reflection:
The first rule of St. Ignatius’s fourteen rules of discernment focuses on a person who’s relationship with God is falling apart. A good Scripture example of this is King Herod as he has John the Baptist killed. King Herod, who was a Jew in name only, and was known for his evil ways (John was not the first person he had murdered and he was in an unlawful marriage with his brother’s widow) is enticed by the devil to commit another sin (have John murdered) through apparent pleasures his nieces seductive dance and his desire to remain popular with his guests. He has John killed. In Mark’s Gospel we hear: “And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, ‘John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.’” (Mark 6:14). We can see therefore how the Holy Spirit is poking King Herod’s conscious. He feels so guilty that he has mistaken Jesus for John the Baptist being raised from the dead. In a similar way when we do bad things, it is because we foolishly believe that these things will bring us lasting pleasure but the Holy Spirit pains our conscious to let us know that what we are doing is evil.

2. Rule 2
St. Ignatius: In the persons who are going on intensely cleansing their sins and rising from good to better in the service of God our Lord, it is the method contrary to that in the first Rule, for then it is the way of the evil spirit to bite, sadden and put obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, that one may not go on; and it is proper to the good to give courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and quiet, easing, and putting away all obstacles, that one may go on in well doing. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: In a person who is striving to live a good and holy life by developing one’s relationship with God and trying to avoid sin the Holy Spirit encourages him or her through providing physical and emotional pleasure. The evil spirit though tries to sidetrack the individual from doing God’s will by causing discomfort to their conscience by providing doubts. The devil only has two lies: “You are not good enough” and “You are alone”. Both of these we know to be false because of the love God has for us.

Reflection: St. Ignatius of Loyola’s rule number 2 is the first rule to deal with a person who is moving closer to God. St. Ignatius was perceptive enough to see that when a person begins to follow God the Holy Spirit provides physical and emotional comfort and the evil spirit begins to attack the person by making the person doubt rather they are capable of doing what God. If we look at the temptations of Christ, we can see the devil taunting Him saying that He was not capable of doing the Father’s will. This “you are not good enough” goes directly against what Jesus heard at His baptism “You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” The “you are alone” temptation is the temptation that the devil used against Adam and Eve. The devil basically told them that God was not on their side and that God was using them. This is why one of the most important titles of the Lord is “Emmanuel” – which means “God is with us!”

Summarize: If you are moving away from God the evil spirit tempts you further by providing you physical temporary pleasures that ultimately lead you empty and the Holy Spirit stings your conscience trying to bring about conversion. If you are moving toward God then the opposite is true. The Holy Spirit provides pleasure and the devil provides stings always trying to make us think that we cannot follow God’s will.

St. Ignatius of Loyola through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his own experience developed a set of fourteen rules for the discernment of spirits. Today let us reflect on Rules 3 & 4.

1. Rule 3
St. Ignatius: Of Spiritual Consolation. I call it consolation when some interior movement in the soul is caused, through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord; and when it can in consequence love no created thing on the face of the earth in itself, but 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 connected with His service and praise.

Finally, I call consolation every increase of hope, faith and charity, and all interior joy which calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one’s soul, quieting it and giving it peace in its Creator and Lord. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: Spiritual Consolation is any movement of the heart in which one feels close to or a desire to be close to the Lord. This reaction can be one of happiness like being in the embrace of a love one or it can be one of tears when we realize that we have harmed a love one but also realize the one that we love has forgiven us. True spiritual consolation always leads to an increase in oneself of hope, faith and charity.

Reflection: In rule 3 St. Ignatius tries to give a name to the good feelings that one receives as he or she strives to follow God. These good feelings or consolations as St. Ignatius calls them only comes to one who is moving away from sin and toward God. The important thing to remember about consolation is that these good feelings always lead us closer to God and are not based on material items.

2. Rule 4
St. Ignatius: Of Spiritual Desolation. I call desolation all the contrary of the third rule, such as darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from his Creator and Lord. Because, as consolation is contrary to desolation, in the same way the thoughts which come from consolation are contrary to the thoughts which come from desolation.

My Explanation: There are times in our life when it “feels” like God is not present. It is important to remember that God is always present whether we feel Him or not. Imagine if you can being in a totally dark room and then all of a sudden being hit in the face with a spotlight. While you would no longer be in the dark you would at the same time feel like you were because of the brightness of the light. Throughout the Scripture Jesus breaks out into prayers thanking the Father for all that He has and these prayers are spoken from a place of consolation.

Reflection: In Rule 4 St. Ignatius gives name to the biting or stinging feeling the devil uses to make us doubt our ability to follow God’s rule. It feels very much like God is absent even though He is actually present. The best example of desolation in the Gospel is the Agony in the Garden and the Crucifixion. In both places Jesus felt that the Father was absent but in reality the Father was there sustaining Him through these horrible ordeals. The important thing to realize about desolation is that God is always present. If God stopped thinking about a part of the universe (no matter how big or how small) it would no longer exist. God has to be closer to us than our very breath for us to exist.

Summarize: To summarize rule 3 &4 I would like to turn to the famous “Footprints in the Sand” prayer by Mary Stevenson: One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. - Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there were one set of footprints. This bothered me because I noticed - that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints. So I said to the Lord, "You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?" The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you." The moments in which we see two sets of footprints are times of consolation and the moments that we see only one set of footprints are times of desolation. We believe God to be absent but He is actually carrying us.

It is hard for me to believe that September is already here. As we continue looking at St. Ignatius’s rules of discernment, I invite you to go back and look over rules 3-4 so that we can have a good handle of what spiritual “consolation” and “desolation” are in regards to the Rules of St. Ignatius. Today let us reflect on Rules 5&6

1. Rule 5
St. Ignatius: In time of desolation never to make a change; but to be firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which he was in the preceding consolation. Because, as in consolation it is rather the good spirit who guides and counsels us, so in desolation it is the bad, with whose counsels we cannot take a course to decide rightly. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: It is important to realize that God never causes desolation. He permits it but does not cause it. If we are feeling desolation it is important to realize that it is the devil trying to persuade us to give up our good resolutions and faith in God. It is kind of like an athlete who is preparing to run a race. As he prepares there are days in which he loves doing his training routine and there are days in which he would rather sleep in. If he is going to win the race (or at least be at his best) he must remain faithful to his training regimen.

Reflection: The important thing about Rule 5 is to realize that we are talking about spiritual desolation and not physical desolation. For example if you are unhappy (desolate) because you are in a miserable job and you are offered a new one feel free to take it even though you are feeling desolate because your desolation is physical not spiritual. You can still feel God’s presence in your life even if you have a miserable job. If however you do not feel God’s presence in your life it is important not to change any of your spiritual routines. For example in a moment of prayer, I feel God calling me to go to an extra Mass during the week and I start doing so and I feel God is with me. A few weeks later when I do not feel God in my life, I should not stop going to that extra Mass. I really like the image of the athlete above.

2. Rule 6
St. Ignatius: Although in desolation we ought not to change our first resolutions, it is very helpful intensely to change ourselves against the same desolation, as by insisting more on prayer, meditation, on much examination, and by giving ourselves more scope in some suitable way of doing penance. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: One must not simply try to wait out one’s feelings of desolation, but rather one should, rely on God’s grace, fight against it by doing more prayer, meditation, and self-examination. To use the example of the athlete from Rule #5; when he does not feel like running, then he should not only run but also push himself to do a little more.

Reflection: The length of the desolation is really up to God but there are some things that we can do to shorten its length with God’s grace. The first thing is to simply maintain course and keep doing the good things that we have been doing. The second thing is that we can also do a little more. I have a couple of friends who are not always the best at communicating and when I want to get in touch with them and they do not return my phone calls, I begin to text message, Facebook, and E-mail them. Eventually, I wear them down and they are reading to talk. By praying more, St. Ignatius noticed that God often ends the desolation sooner.

Summarize: Rule 5 & 6 in St. Ignatius’s rules of discernment are all about what a person should do when they do not feel God’s presence in their life. The first thing they should do is not make any life altering decisions (once again this has to be spiritual desolation) and following that advice St. Ignatius tells us that we should not simply sit around and wait but rather we should fight against desolation by committing to more prayer, Examen, and meditation. The result being similar to that of an athlete who does not want to do his practice run of five miles so he runs five and half miles to improve his dedication.

St. Ignatius of Loyola through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his own experience developed a set of fourteen rules for the discernment of spirits. Today let us reflect on Rules 7 & 8

1. Rule 7
St. Ignatius: Let him who is in desolation consider how the Lord has left him in trial in his natural powers, in order to resist the different agitations and temptations of the enemy; since he can with the Divine help, which always remains to him, though he does not clearly perceive it: because the Lord has taken from him his great fervor, great love and intense grace, leaving him, however, grace enough for eternal salvation. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: Remembering that God never causes desolation and admitting that God does permits desolation. It becomes important to ask oneself “why is God allowing in me to be tested this way?” After a while a parent must take off her child’s training wheels, if her child is to master riding a bike even if that means the child may fall a couple of times in the process.

Reflection: We must always remember that God does not cause desolation. He does not sit around thinking of ways to torture us. He does however permit desolation so that we can grow, learn, and/or mature. We know that bad things happen in the world because God respects our free will and He wants us to freely choose Him. This means two things one is that He has to allow us to choose things that are not Him (sin) and second He has to allow us to grow and mature. I like the image of a father teaching his son how to play baseball. When the father begins to teach his son how to hit he does so by pitching underhanded to him. The father gives him a good slow ball that the son can hit with his big red wiffle ball bat. This not only gives the son joy at succeeding (hitting the ball) but the boy has also learned the valuable skill of trying to hit the ball with the bat. If the boy is going to get better though, the father will eventually have to throw harder stuff at his son. Once again this is not because the father loves his son less now that he is older but rather because he wants his son to advance in skill level and love of the game. St. Ignatius encourages us in rule 7 to think about why God has allowed us to go through a period of feeling as if he is absent despite the fact that He is very much present. It is easy to follow through if we know that there is a purpose for what we are suffering.

2. Rule 8
St. Ignatius: Let him who is in desolation labor to be in patience, which is contrary to the vexations which come to him: and let him think that he will soon be consoled, employing against the desolation the devices, as is said in the sixth Rule. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: When we are feeling desolate we can become very impatient with ourselves and with others. At the same time we need to never take the devil lightly so when we feel tempted to become slothful or neglectful in our prayer life we must resist these temptations to the best of our ability. Never forgetting to rely on God despite the feeling that God is absent.

Reflection: St. Ignatius in Rule 8 informs us that it is important for us to be patient with ourselves and not to become frustrated, annoyed, and aggravated with ourselves in periods of desolation. When we feel that God is absent in our lives we can feel as if we have done something bad but remember there is nothing we can do that can separate us from God. We must simply wait out the devil’s illusion that God is absent.

Summarize: When we are in desolation we should remember that it is a trick from the devil and that there is nothing that can separate us from God. We need to keep moving forward with our spiritual life. I like this passage from Romans 8:31-39: What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? It is written: “For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39.

St. Ignatius of Loyola through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his own experience developed a set of fourteen rules for the discernment of spirits. Today let us reflect on Rules 9 & 10

1. Rule 9
St. Ignatius: There are three principal reasons why we find ourselves desolate.

The first is, because of our being tepid, lazy or negligent in our spiritual exercises; and so through our faults, spiritual consolation withdraws from us.

The second, to try us and see how much we are and how much we let ourselves out in His service and praise without such great pay of consolation and great graces.

The third, to give us true acquaintance and knowledge, that we may interiorly feel that it is not ours to get or keep great devotion, intense love, tears, or any other spiritual consolation, but that all is the gift and grace of God our Lord, and that we may not build a nest in a thing not ours, raising our intellect into some pride or vainglory, attributing to us devotion or the other things of the spiritual consolation. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: Why does desolation happen? The first God allows desolation to respect our freewill. God will not force Himself upon us. The second reason is that God wants to make sure that we will persevere in prayer despite not receiving warm feelings from Him. The third and final reason God allows desolation is to prevent us from being to prideful and reminding us that all we have is a grace (“a gift”).

Reflection: In Rule 7 St. Ignatius encourages us to find the meaning behind the times that we are in desolation. In Rule 9, St. Ignatius gives us three reasons why God permits desolation. The first reason is because God respects our free will. If we are making no effort to develop a relationship with Him and then He will not force Himself upon us. The second is that He wishes to make sure we love Him and not the good feelings that we receive when we pray. By continuing to pray when it is hard shows us and Him our love for Him is something that lasts in good times and in bad. Finally the third reason is so that we can remain humble and realize that consolations are not a reward for doing good. Something we can feel that if I do good things I can make God magically appear and God corrects this attitude by sometimes letting us feel desolation even though we have done nothing but good things.

2. Rule 10
St. Ignatius: Let him who is in consolation think how he will be in the desolation which will come after, taking new strength for then. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: When we feel God’s presence in our life, it is good to prepare ourselves for our next experience of desolation.

Reflection: In Rule 10 we receive the first advice that St. Ignatius gives to someone who is feeling consolation (the joy of feeling God presence in one’s life) and that piece of advice is to plan for a time in which we don’t feel God’s presence (a time of desolation). How many times do we receive warnings from officials about things we should do to prepare for emergencies like stock up on water, flash lights and batteries, etc and we ignore them? I am thinking right now of the number of people who pay no attention to flight attendants who are giving safety instructions. St. Ignatius is very forthright with this point prepare for a time of desolation in a time of consolation.

Summarize: If we take the advice in Rule 10 to heart and prepare for a time of desolation while we are in consolation, it might be a good place to start preparing by looking at rule 9 and seeing the three reasons why God allows desolation. Our spiritual desolation to do list that we create in a time of consolation may start off with 1) examine my prayer life, 2) say a prayer for thanksgiving, 3) read favorite Scripture passages. Most importantly know that times of desolation will always come no matter what you do as the seasons come and so the best we can do is be prepared to deal with them with God’s grace.

St. Ignatius of Loyola through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his own experience developed a set of fourteen rules for the discernment of spirits. Today let us reflect on Rules 11 & 12

1. Rule 11
St. Ignatius: Let him who is consoled see to humbling himself and lowering himself as much as he can, thinking how little he is able for in the time of desolation without such grace or consolation.

On the contrary, let him who is in desolation think that he can do much with the grace sufficient to resist all his enemies, taking strength in his Creator and Lord. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: When we find ourselves being consoled (feeling God’s presence) we need to think to ourselves “except for the grace of God there go I,” and remain humble. When we find ourselves as being desolate (feeling as if God is absent) we need to remind ourselves that with God all things are possible.

Reflection: Rule 11 encourages us to live a balance life. When we find ourselves filling good because we feel God’s presence (consolation) we should not get to prideful because we are not the cause of our time of consolation. God is. When we find ourselves filling bad/low because we cannot feel God’s presence (desolation) we should not be to hard on ourselves for once again we are not the cause of our desolation. I like to think of this rule in terms of the virtue of humility and for me the most important thing to remember is that all virtues are in the middle of two vices. For me the visual image for me is that of a soccer goal. If I shoot too far one way (pride) then I am sinning and if I shoot to far the other way (self-hate) then I am sinning. It is only when I shoot between the poles and hit the net have I scored the goal (the virtue of humility).

2. Rule 12
St. Ignatius: The enemy acts like a woman, in being weak against vigor and strong of will. Because, as it is the way of the woman when she is quarrelling with some man to lose heart, taking flight when the man shows her much courage: and on the contrary, if the man, losing heart, begins to fly, the wrath, revenge, and ferocity of the woman is very great, and so without bounds; in the same manner, it is the way of the enemy to weaken and lose heart, his temptations taking flight, when the person who is exercising himself in spiritual things opposes a bold front against the temptations of the enemy, doing diametrically the opposite. And on the contrary, if the person who is exercising himself commences to have fear and lose heart in suffering the temptations, there is no beast so wild on the face of the earth as the enemy of human nature in following out his damnable intention with so great malice. – St. Ignatius

My Explanation: Remembering that St. Ignatius was a product of his time period, it might be better to think of the enemy as a bully instead of a weak woman. Often bullies appear scary but when confronted directly back down immediately because they are acting out of fear.

Reflection: Starting with Rule 12, St. Ignatius gives three rules on the different tactics of the devil. Please do not get caught up on his term “acts like a woman.” I encourage you to think in terms of the devil being like a big bully. A bully gets his or her power from the amount of fear they inspire. If they bully is unable to inspire fear then they have no power and run away. In Scripture look at how the devils flea from Jesus for they know that they cannot intimidate Him. Jesus does not even lift a finger to dismiss them because He simply tells them to leave and they do.

Summarize: Rule 11 reminds us that following God is at one time scary because we know there will be good times and bad times ahead but at the same time is not scary because we know that God is with us. When I think of rule 11 I think of the Israelites in the Desert when they felt too proud they forgot all that God had done for them and built the golden calf and when they felt too low they forgot all that God had done for them and complained to Moses and Aaron about God. The most important thing is to remember what God has done for us how He has consoled us in the past and how He has led us out of desolation in the past. Rule 12 is the first of three rules that demonstrate different insights St. Ignatius had into the ways the devil work. The first being that devil is a bully and that if directly confronted with the grace of God the devil flees.

St. Ignatius of Loyola through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his own experience developed a set of fourteen rules for the discernment of spirits. Today let us reflect on Rules 13 & 14

1. Rule 13
St. Ignatius: Likewise, he acts as a licentious lover in wanting to be secret and not revealed. For, as the licentious man who, speaking for an evil purpose, solicits a daughter of a good father or a wife of a good husband, wants his words and persuasions to be secret, and the contrary displeases him much, when the daughter reveals to her father or the wife to her husband his licentious words and depraved intention, because he easily gathers that he will not be able to succeed with the undertaking begun: in the same way, when the enemy of human nature brings his wiles and persuasions to the just soul, he wants and desires that they be received and kept in secret; but when one reveals them to his good Confessor or to another spiritual person that knows his deceits and evil ends, it is very grievous to him, because he gathers, from his manifest deceits being discovered, that he will not be able to succeed with his wickedness begun. – St. Ignatius of Loyola

My Explanation: There is often a feeling of a need to be secretive with the devil’s temptations as if one needs to be sneaky and not get caught because others would not approve of the actions he is suggesting morally and/or this action he is proposing will produce shame when completed. The best way one can fight this is to be forthright and honest with a trusted individual (a spiritual director or counselor) or a trusted group of individuals (a support group or accountability group.

Reflection: In Rule 13 St. Ignatius once again gives us an insight into how the devil works. He uses the image of the devil being a licentious lover because for the devil to keep you wrapped up in sin he makes you feel guilty about it and tries to in some ways spiritually blackmail you into keeping up this same sin or worse for fear that your sins will be made public. By making your sins public though would take away the temptation of sin. I think this is one of the reasons why God gives us the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation for we always have a place to go to tell someone (the priest who serves as God’s instrument) and know that he will not share it to others. If one does not feel comfortable with a priest or sometimes for long term avoidance of a sin support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous can be a great help in fighting the devil and all his temptations.

2. Rule 14
St. Ignatius: Likewise, he behaves as a chief bent on conquering and robbing what he desires: for, as a captain and chief of the army, pitching his camp, and looking at the forces or defenses of a stronghold, attacks it on the weakest side, in like manner the enemy of human nature, roaming about, looks in turn at all our virtues, theological, cardinal and moral; and where he finds us weakest and most in need for our eternal salvation, there he attacks us and aims at taking us. – St. Ignatius of Loyola

My Explanation: The devil in his temptations does not attack us where we are strong but instead he attacks us and temps us at our weakest point as a good military leader would. It is therefore important for us to be honest with ourselves and take a personal invitatory (examination of conscience) to see where we are weak (where we are constantly giving into the devil’s temptations). We should then work to strengthen those areas of our life but also being aware at this time that the devil will then begin looking for our next weakest spot.

Reflection: St. Ignatius in his last rule in this series reminds us that the devil is in this for the long haul and that the devil will not attach us where we are strong but rather where we are weakest. If therefore I am a very humble person the devil may attack me with temptations of avarice and greed. The point is that no matter how holy I am and how much good I am doing, I have a spiritual enemy that is seeking out my weakest point to tempt me away from God. It is therefore important to take my spiritual life seriously and to do a daily examination of conscience.

Summarize: Rules 13 and 14 show us the importance of being radically honest with ourselves and with God in regard to our spiritual lives. The devil’s best weapon it seems is dishonesty. When we dismiss our sins lightly or do not invite God in to heal our wounds we create opening for the devil to temp us away from God.

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