Norms to help us understand interior movements in the human heart
Norms especially for the FIRST WEEK of the Exercises
Two General Statements
1 – When we are in a life of sin, or who go from mortal sin to mortal sin:
The Evil Spirit
Proposes slothful complacency in the status quo
Or enticements to ever greater pleasures
The Good Spirit uses the opposite method
Tries to make us see the absurdity of the direction of our life
Uneasiness called the “sting” of conscience, and remorse comes in
2 – When we are intent upon living a good life or a better life
Tactics of the spirit are the opposite.
The Evil Spirit proposes all the problems and difficulties in living a good life.
Uses discouragement and deception to deter us from growing in Christ
Tries to bring about a false sadness about things that will be missed
Tries to instigate anxiety about persevering when we are weak
Tires to suggest many roadblocks on the way of the Lord
The Good Spirit
strengthens
encourages
consoles
inspires
establishes peace
moves to a firm resolve
Leading a good life seems a delight and a joy; no obstacles seem too much to face and to overcome with God’s grace.
For People who want to Change their lives and do good
SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION
1 – Being on fire with the love of God that we can freely give ourselves to God; no competition with any human person or created thing. We start to see everyone and everything in the context of God, Creator and Giver of all good gifts.
2 – Saddened, even to tears, for infidelity BUT ALSO thankful to know God as Savior. We realize ourselves as sinner before God of love and compassion, or before the Passion of Jesus, or when we are led to praise and thank and serve God all the more.
3 – Any increase of faith, hope or love; faith, hope and love strengthened and emboldened that the joy of serving God is foremost in our life. Peace comes from deep within, just by being “in our Father’s house.”
SPIRITUAL DESOLATION
1 – turmoil of spirit or weighed down by heavy darkness or weight
2 – Experience of a lack of faith, hope or love in distaste for prayer or any spiritual activity; restlessness or tepidity in carrying on in service of God
3 – Movement to things that are earthly and low, the unquiet of agitation and temptations, rebelliousness, despair, lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from the Lord.
Four guidelines for dealing with spiritual desolation
1. When in desolation, don’t change a previous decision or make a new decision. During this time, the evil spirit is trying to change the good direction of our life.
2. When in desolation, fight whatever is making us less than what we should be. Perhaps intensify prayer, meditation, examination of conscience and our life of faith, penance.
3. When in desolation, think about how God seems to have abandoned us. We don’t feel God’s support, and don’t feel the sweetness of divine love, we lack fervor and intensity. But the Lord leaves us enough grace for our salvation. It is as though we are living a skeletal life of the bare bones of faith. Consider how the Lord leaves us to our natural powers, and how little aware we are of God’s consolation.
4. When in desolation, be patient. It lessens the dryness or emptiness and allows us to go through it less painfully. Everything has its time: we have been consoled in the past and we will be consoled again in the future.
Three reasons we suffer desolation
1) Our own fault due to laziness, tepidity, negligent, shallowness, lack of effort in the spiritual life
2) It is a trial allowed by God for us to learn whether we love God or just love the gifts of God.
3) God allows us to experience our own poverty and need – devotion, intense love, tears or any other spiritual consolation are all gifts from God. They are not our own doing.
1) Savor the strength and grace that comes during consolation for the times when consolations are gone.
2) Be humble during consolations, and remember also how poorly you do when the consolations are withdrawn.
Three images as to how the evil spirit works.
1) Like a woman (or spoiled child), quarreling with a man, giving in when the man is resolute, becoming more stomping and aggressive if the man gives up or lessens his stance. So too the evil spirit must be opposed in a bold way, doing the opposite of what is suggested in temptation, moving the evil spirit to lose heart; but if the person begins to have fear and lose heart in resisting, the enemy becomes more wild and aggressive and more malicious.
2) Like a false lover, wanting to be secret and not revealed, for fear that duplicity will be made manifest. The evil spirit tries to keep temptations secrets but we should bring them to light with someone such as a director, confessor or other spiritual person.
3) Like a shrewd army commander who plots out the tactics of attack and finds the weak points of the defense. Weakness may be because of unpreparedness or because of our self-sufficient pride. The evil one looks for our weakest point, where we are most in need of eternal salvation.
Norms especially for the SECOND WEEK of the Exercises
(for a more subtle discernment of spirits)
When trying to follow God’s inspiration,
the Good Spirit gives support, encouragement and often delight in our efforts
the Evil Spirit arouses dissatisfaction with our efforts, raises doubts about God’s love or our own response, upsets our conscience by suggesting pride in our attempts to live a good life.
About Consolation
God alone brings consolation without any preceding cause. When there seems to be no direct cause from a person, event or thought, we can more easily attribute it to God, as if it were “a touch” or “a taste” of God. This may include peace, delight, joy.
When there is a reason for consolation, either the good or the evil spirit may be involved.
The Good Spirit brings consolation to strengthen and speed progress of Christ in our lives, to go from good to better;
The Evil Spirit arouses good feelings so we might focus on the wrong things, or pursue more selfish motives, or try to get our own way above all. Eventually, evil direction becomes clear.
Ways of Working with Spurious Consolation
The Evil Spirit appears as an angel of light in the devout soul, inspiring pious thoughts and holy desires, then gradually draws the soul into pride of our own thinking and selfishness of our desires.
Examine the path of our experiences:
if the beginning, middle and end are all good and inclined to good, it is a sign of the Good Spirit
BUT, if it ends in something bad, distracting tendency,
or something less good than originally planned
or if it weakens or disquiets the soul,
taking away previous peace and tranquility
this is a sign that it is from the Evil Spirit
If what started good has led us to be weakened spiritually or to become desolate or confused, it is a clear indication of the presence of the Evil Spirit.
When we see we have been duped by Evil Spirit, review carefully the stages of our good thoughts and how we gradually were brought into deception. This will help us be on our guard in the future.
Further insights regarding Consolations in the Spiritual Life
As we make progress, the Good Spirit is delicate, gentle and often delightful, working the way a drop of water penetrates a sponge.
When the Evil Spirit tries to interrupt us, the movement is violent, disturbing and confusing, working the way a drop of water hits a stone.
If we are going from bad to worse, the opposite is true. The disposition of the soul is contrary or like to the spirit that comes. If the good spirit or evil spirit is at home in our hearts, they come in quiet. But if they are not at home, they cause commotion and noise.
When consolation comes directly from God, there can be no deception in it. We have to distinguish, though, between the consolation and the “afterglow”, which may be exhilarating and joyful for some time. During the time of “afterglow”, we may make resolutions which may or may not be rooted in God, and so these resolutions need to be carefully examined before they are put into effect.