November 15, 2004

"The Spirits of Discernment"

There are always three spirits that we are discerning: the Holy Spirit, the evil spirit, and our own human spirit.  Our human spirit attaches very quickly to either the Holy Spirit or the evil spirit.  It's going to gravitate so we have to be careful of the human spirit.  It can be very deceptive.  St. Ignatius said that the most difficult spirit to discern is the human spirit.  We're so close to ourselves that we can't see.  St. Ignatius said that for good discernment, we need to come into a neutral position.  We need to come to the point where we are "disinterested"-whatever God says is fine with us.  That's not always easy, especially if it's something to do with ourselves.  This is one of the reasons why we never, under any conditions, discern alone.  We always discern with others.  If it's about ourselves, we usually have other people confirm our discernment. 

St. Ignatius tells us the first principle of discernment for us as Catholics is to discern always in the light of the teachings of Jesus and of the Church.  If the Church has spoken on something, there isn't anything to discern.  The Church has discerned it already.  The Church has spoken through the popes and especially through Jesus.  So if you're discerning something, and you feel that God is saying something that goes against the teachings of the Church even in the smallest way, then it's not the Lord.  He will not contradict His own Spirit or His own teachings.  We always watch to see, "Is this in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church?"  This is very important for us.

Be aware of the movements of your heart.  This is where we need to know our heart.  We need to kind of "put our head in our heart."  We need to learn how the heart speaks and feels.  Ignatius says there are movements of the heart that are going to help us discern.  He said there are movements called consolation.  These are feelings that will draw us closer to God: feelings of peace, joy, gladness, praise, tears, deep quietness,  and resting in His presence.  These are consolation gifts.  There are also movements of the heart that will move us away from God, which Ignatius calls desolation.  They will be feelings of sadness, deep confusion, loss of peace, anxiety, fear, terrible sadness, hopelessness, and despair.  During times of desolation, Ignatius tells us to never make a decision.  We are to stop the discernment totally.  In other words, he says to never turn the ship around in the middle of a storm.  Never.  We haven't the peace.  It's too stormy inside.  We need to wait until peace is restored before resuming the discernment process, or we may not pick up the Lord correctly.  Sometimes when things get rough and the waters get choppy, we want to change course.  We may think, "I think I made the wrong decision.  I'd better change right now."  But don't do it then.  Wait until it's calm within yourself.  And then, if the Lord wants you to change, He'll let you know, but it will be done in peace. 

Excerpt from "Informed Prayer: Discernment," Topeka, KS, 2001.