Fr. Ian presents a gospel reflection and spiritual exercises on the Gospel reading options for Easter ( 20:1-9, Mk. 16:1-7, and Lk. 24:13-35). Using the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, we examine how to discern between authentic feelings of consolation and the ego traps of selfish “good feelings.”
We invite you to watch Father’s video, then prayerfully read the Gospel and reflection, and work your way through the Exercises. We pray that this might help you in your apostolate, your family, your classroom, or personally… to prepare for and more deeply experience Sunday’s Mass, and to better integrate the Sacrament and the readings into your daily life.
Is Your Consolation Authentic?
How to Discern Between Authentic and False Consolation
Happy Easter! Truly He is risen! Surely this is a time for rejoicing. But happiness and good feelings are not a trustworthy standard for our confidence that we are growing in the spiritual life. How can we tell if our good feelings are authentically from God, or if they are turning us away from Him?
Turning one last time to St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, we consider Discernment between Consolation and Desolation, The Second Week.
*Direct quotes of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises taken from the Louis J. Puhl, SJ Translation.*
You may wish to refer back to weeks 1-6, as the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises are meant to be a progression:
- Week 1: Praying on the Ten Commandments and the Seven Capital (or Deadly) Sins
- Week 2: Particular Examination of Conscience
- Week 3: General Examination of Conscience
- Week 4: The Powers of the Soul & the ‘Suscipe’ Prayer of Surrender
- Week 5: Discernment of Spirits of Consolation and Desolation, The First Week
- Week 6 (Palm Sunday): Discernment of Spirits, The First Week (revisited).
Rules for Discernment of Spirits | The Second Week
Further rules for understanding the different movements produced in the soul. They serve for a more accurate discernment of spirits and are more suitable for the second week
Rule I.
It is characteristic of God and His Angels, when they act upon the soul, to give true happiness and spiritual joy, and to banish all the sadness and disturbances which are caused by the enemy.
It is characteristic of the evil one to fight against such happiness and consolation by proposing fallacious reasonings, subtleties, and continual deceptions.
Rule II.
God alone can give consolation to the soul without any previous cause. It belongs solely to the Creator to come into a soul, to leave it, to act upon it, to draw it wholly to the love of His Divine Majesty. I said without previous cause, that is, without any preceding perception or knowledge of any subject by which a soul might be led to such a consolation through its own acts of intellect and will.
Rule III.
If a cause precedes, both the good angel and the evil spirit can give consolation to a soul, but for a quite different purpose. The good angel consoles for the progress of the soul, that it may advance and rise to what is more perfect. The evil spirit consoles for purposes that are the contrary, and that afterwards he might draw the soul to his own perverse intentions and wickedness.
Rule IV.
It is a mark of the evil spirit to assume the appearance of an angel of light. He begins by suggesting thoughts that are suited to a devout soul and ends by suggesting his own. For example, he will suggest holy and pious thoughts that are wholly in conformity with the sanctity of the soul. Afterward, he will endeavor little by little to end by drawing the soul into his hidden snares and evil designs.
Rule V.
We must carefully observe the whole course of our thoughts. If the beginning and middle and end of the course of thoughts are wholly good and directed to what is entirely right, it is a sign that they are from the good angel. But the course of thoughts suggested to us may terminate in something evil, or distracting, or less good than the soul had formerly proposed to do. Again, it may end in what weakens the soul, or disquiets it; or by destroying the peace, tranquillity, and quiet which it had before, it may cause disturbance to the soul. These things are a clear sign that the thoughts are proceeding from the evil spirit, the enemy of our progress and eternal salvation.
Rule VI.
When the enemy of our human nature has been detected and recognized by the trail of evil marking his course and by the wicked end to which he leads us, it will be profitable for one who has been tempted to review immediately the whole course of the temptation. Let him consider the series of good thoughts, how they arose, how the evil one gradually attempted to make him step down from the state of spiritual delight and joy in which he was, till finally he drew him to his wicked designs. The purpose of this review is that once such an experience has been understood and carefully observed, we may guard ourselves for the future against the customary deceits of the enemy.
Rule VII.
In souls that are progressing to greater perfection, the action of the good angel is delicate, gentle, delightful. It may be compared to a drop of water penetrating a sponge.
The action of the evil spirit upon such souls is violent, noisy, and disturbing. It may be compared to a drop of water falling upon a stone.
In souls that are going from bad to worse, the action of the spirits mentioned above is just the reverse. The reason for this is to be sought in the opposition or similarity of these souls to the different kinds of spirits. When the disposition is contrary to that of the spirits, they enter with noise and commotion that are easily perceived. When the disposition is similar to that of the spirits, they enter silently, as one coming into his own house when the doors are open.
Rule VIII.
When consolation is without previous cause, as was said, there can be no deception in it, since it can proceed from God our Lord only. But a spiritual person who has received such a consolation must consider it very attentively, and must cautiously distinguish the actual time of the consolation from the period which follows it. At such a time the soul is still fervent and favored with the grace and aftereffects of the consolation which has passed. In this second period the soul frequently forms various resolutions and plans which are not granted directly by God our Lord. They may come from our own reasoning on the relations of our concepts and on the consequences of our judgments, or they may come from the good or evil spirit. Hence, they must be carefully examined before they are given full approval and put into execution.
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