Rules for the Discernment of Spirits – First Week – [313-322]

1. For those who go from one mortal sin to another;
2. For those who go on earnestly striving to cleanse their souls from sin and who seek to rise in the service of God our Lord to greater perfection;
3. Spiritual Consolation;
4. Spiritual Desolation;
5. In time of desolation: don’t make any change;
6. Agere contra;
7. The sufficient grace;
8. Perseverance and hope;
9. Why do we suffer from desolation?

“My dear friends, not every spirit is to be trusted, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…” (I Jn, 4, 1-2) On these spiritual exercises, St.  Ignatius wants you to put into practice this biblical truth by making a continual examination on the different movements you perceive during meditation. St. Ignatius’ Rules of Discernment presuppose three kinds of interior movements: The first type is produced by the person himself and arises from the innate powers of his own mind and affections. The other two are induced by intelligent powers outside the person, and may be good or evil. If good, the operating agent is God or one of His obedient spirits; if evil, it is the devil in some form or another. Consequently, two kinds of discernment are logically demanded in the spiritual life. We should be able to distinguish our native thoughts and sentiments from those produced by forces outside of ourselves, and among the latter know the difference between inspirations that originate with God and temptations, which come from the devil. It makes a world of difference whether these impulses are from God or the devil. 

There are two sets of rules in the Exercises, fourteen and eight, respectively. The former is more suited to the purgative stage in the spiritual life; the latter more suitable for the Second Week, or the illuminative way. In practice, they are equally valid for any level of spirituality.

Three elementary principles underlie the rules of St. Ignatius for the discernment of spirits. If these principles have been duly grasped, the rules themselves are quite simple in the light of what we know from revelation about God and the evil Spirit.

FIRST PRINCIPLE: “God and the Angels, and the Devil, act according to their respective natures.”  Catholic theology defines God as infinitely good and powerful, all pure and holy, all wise and truthful. His angels share in these perfections according to their capacity, and never contradict them. He is the father of lies who uses all his intelligence to fight against God and everything holy. Accordingly, when God acts upon the soul, His mode of operation will be characteristically different from that of the devil, and vice versa, so that each reveals his proper nature.

SECOND PRINCIPLE: “The good and evil spirits act for contrary purposes.” More than just acting according to their respective natures, the good and evil spirits operate on human souls for diametrically different ends. The good spirits, whether God directly or His angels and saints, are uniquely interested in guiding men to their eternal destiny in the beatific vision. All the light and inspiration they offer are intended to lead us closer to God. The devil and his minions intend the very opposite. Condemned to hell themselves, they envy our lot as adopted sons of God and heirs of heaven. In the permissive will of providence, they can incite us to sin and, if we allow them, cause our destruction by death in the enmity of God.

THIRD PRINCIPLE: “The Spirits adapt themselves to the persons they are trying to influence.” St. Ignatius goes into considerable detail to analyze this principle of adaptation, especially on the part of Satan in regard to his prospective victims.

But with good people, the demoniac strategy becomes more cunning and, in fact, so clever that most of the Rules of Discernment deal with this single issue. Allowing for minor differences, two kinds of good people are the object of devilish instigation: those moderately faithful in the practice of virtue, and those living in greater or less perfection. Satan’s tactics are different for each class.

The devil normally attacks good people by creating difficulties in their service of God. He seeks to “harass them with anxiety, afflict them with sadness and raise obstacles backed by fallacious thoughts to disturb their souls. Thus, he seeks to keep them from advancing.” In doing so, he invariably disquiets the soul that wants to be faithful to God, and by this sign can easily be recognized.

In this conference, we are going to consider briefly the first 9 rules.

Part one: Four First Rules

1) Persons who go from mortal sin to mortal sin.

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.

The persons St. Ignatius is talking about are those who are imprisoned by any vice or capital sin that makes them fall in greave faults very often, probably because they are not seriously working on their own conversion, or because they just started and need to work a lot. So the enemy does not perturb such soul, but on the contrary generates motions to keep them sinning. He presents slavery as utter freedom. (In the modern way of speaking, it’s the right of choice). St. Augustine describes very well these two movements in his Confessions:

“I was bound by the iron chain of my own will. The enemy held fast my will, and had made of it a chain, and had bound me tight with it. For out of the perverse will came lust, and the service of lust ended in habit, and habit, not resisted, became necessity (…) Here, I was rather an unwilling sufferer than a willing actor. And yet it was through me that habit had become an armed enemy against me, because I had willingly come to be what I unwillingly found myself to be (…) I had now no longer my accustomed excuse that, as yet, I hesitated to forsake the world and serve you because my perception of the truth was uncertain. For now it was certain. But still bound to the earth, I refused to be your soldier; and was as much afraid of being freed from all entanglements as we ought to fear to be entangled.”   VIII, 5, 10-12

2) The contrary happens to those who advance from good to better.

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.

Again, it is St. Augustine who describes this spiritual struggle with great accuracy:

“In the direction I had set my face, and yet toward which I still trembled to go, the chaste dignity of continence appeared to me (…) extending her holy hands, full of a multitude of good examples, to receive and embrace me: «Can you not do what these young men and maidens can? Or can any of them do it of themselves, and not rather in the Lord their God? The Lord their God gave me to them. Why do you stand in your own strength, and so stand not? Cast yourself on him; fear not. He will not flinch and you will not fall. Cast yourself on him without fear, for he will receive and heal you».” VIII, 11, 27.

And the Evil and his own flesh: “Are you going to part with us? And from that moment will we never be with you any more? And from that moment will not this and that be forbidden you forever? Do you think you can live without them?” VIII, 11, 26.

3) 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.

And now, it serves to read the end of St. Augustine’s struggle:

“Now when deep reflection had drawn up out of the secret depths of my soul all my misery and had heaped it up before the sight of my heart, there arose a mighty storm, accompanied by a mighty rain of tears. That I might give way fully to my tears and lamentations, (…) and, not indeed in these words, but to this effect, I cried to you: «And you, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Oh, remember not against us our former iniquities. How long, how long? Tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why not this very hour make an end to my uncleanness? (…) Instantly…there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.” VIII, 12, 28-29.

4) 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.

Not only consolations, but also desolations are part of our spiritual training. Saint Faustina Kowalska, in her diary, recalls different moments of desolation at the time she was already a professed nun:

“When people spoke to me about God, my heart was like a rock. I could not draw from it a single sentiment of love for Him…It was absolutely impossible for me to meditate as I had been accustomed to do in the past. I felt in my soul a great void, and there was nothing with which I could fill it…The abyss of my misery was constantly before my eyes. Every time I entered the chapel for some spiritual exercise, I experienced even worse torments and temptations. More than once, all through Holy Mass, I had to struggle against blasphemous thoughts, which were forcing themselves to my lips. I felt an aversion for the Holy Sacraments, and it seemed to me that I was not profiting from them in any way.” [77]

What should we do in time of desolation?

Part Two: On the Way of Dealing with Desolations

5) “In time of desolation one should never make a change.”

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.

That is, one should not change resolutions. And you know, that was the only resolution a very good priest did after a month of spiritual exercises: “In time of desolation I will never make a change.” And he is a wonderful priest indeed. We should not make decisions based on our mood or spiritual feelings. In her diary, Saint Faustina continues her story saying:

“It was only out of obedience to my confessor that I frequented [the Holy Sacraments], and this blind obedience was for me the only path I could follow and my very last hope of survival.”

6) And even more, Saint Ignatius says, we must intensify our activity against the desolation.

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.

That is what Saint Faustina used to do in such occasions:

“(She says) I would then fall on my face before the Blessed Sacrament repeating these words: «Even if You kill me, still will I trust in You! [cf. Job 13:15] …Do what You will with me, O Jesus; I will adore You in everything. May Your will be done in me, O my Lord and my God».” [77-78]

The time of desolation is a time of combat. And St. Ignatius, as good commander as he was, presents us the precise weapon for our defense: AGERE CONTRA: To turn against the desolation. That means MORE prayer, MORE meditation, MORE examination and MORE penance.

7) One should not lose heart, says the seventh rule.

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.

It seems to the one who is under the desolation that he cannot endure this sort of temptation; or that he is away from God; or that he is going backwards in the way of God. God has withdrawn the sensible help from him. His natural faculties are left, although sustained with sufficient grace, without the experience of fervor. God has never abandoned our souls. His grace is enough for us to overcome any desolation.

We must have the strong spirit of St Teresa de Avila and her strong resolution: “We ought to have the resolve of, no matter what kind of hardships lay ahead of us, come what may, whatever happened.”

8) Patience (Fortitude)

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.

The counsel of Saint Ignatius is: ‘be patient, encourage yourself thinking that CONSOLATION is coming back. If we fight faithfully, using these rules that St. Ignatius gives us, then consolation will come soon. The devil will try to persuade us that for us the time of consolation is over and, at least, it will take a long time for it to come again. The Bible always has so encouraging words for those who are experiencing desolation:

Isaias 40:1-2 “Console my people, console them,’ says your God. ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and cry to her that her period of service is ended, that her guilt has been atoned for, that, from the hand of Yahweh, she has received double punishment for all her sins… Go up on a high mountain, messenger of Zion. Shout as loud as you can, messenger of Jerusalem! Shout fearlessly, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God.”

Isaias 49:14-16 “Zion was saying, ‘Yahweh has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a woman forget her baby at the breast; feel no pity for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you. Look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

Ps. 27 “Yahweh is my light and my salvation, whom should, I fear? Yahweh is the fortress of my life, whom should I dread? …Though my father and mother forsake me, Yahweh will gather me up… This I believe: I shall see the goodness of Yahweh, in the land of the living. Put your hope in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in Yahweh.”

Even if we are enduring the most dreadful desolation, (as Jesus in Gethsemane) the sun of consolation will rise for us. So, Saint Faustina concludes her narrative:

“Through this act of submission, these terrible torments left me. Suddenly I saw Jesus, who said to me, «I am always in your heart». An inconceivable joy entered my soul, and a great love of God set my heart aflame. I see that God never tries us beyond what we are able to suffer.” [78]

9) Reasons for Desolation: Now, take care, because somebody could pass from a mental depression to a proud self-exaltation. Somebody does so, when he believes to be a mystic experience what in reality is a consequence of our tepidity.

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.

Having in mind this same doctrine, St. Louis the Montfort wrote to the Friends of the Cross: “Do not be like those proud and self-conceited churchgoers, imagining that your crosses are heavy, that they are proofs of your fidelity and marks of God’s exceptional love for you. This temptation, arising from spiritual pride, is most deceptive, subtle and full of poison. You must believe that your pride and sensitiveness make you magnify splinters into planks, scratches into wounds, molehills into mountains, a passing word meaning nothing into a outrageous insult or a cruel slight…”

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Last year, it was held in Rome a three-day conference focus on mental depression, a problem that can lead to suicide. According to the statistics, 340 million people suffer from that illness in today’s world. Cardinal Lozano, who is the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers called it “the most serious illness of our day.” Recent reports declare that about 5,000 people commit suicide every day, and the tendency is increasing specially among young people in those countries with a high standard of living.  They have a great difficulty to face disappointments, conflicts, interior and spiritual emptiness, lack of ideals and life plans.

As religious, we are called to be a shining example of mental equilibrium in a world which is always more crazy. You will only success in such tremendous task, if you apply these precious rules to your daily lives.