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    E3 Discernment of Spirits PDF

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    Occult O
    This document discusses discernment of spirits, which is the practice of reflecting on one's feelings and thoughts to understand whether they indicate movements of God drawing one toward life or countermovements away from God. It provides guidelines from St. Ignatius for discernment, distinguishing between spiritual consolation, where one feels peace and inspiration from being in tune with the Holy Spirit, and spiritual desolation, where one feels fear, sadness, or self-centeredness, paralyzing action. The document advises being patient and continuing to pray during desolation, as consolation will return in time.

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    E3 Discernment of Spirits PDF

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    Occult O
    53 views3 pages
    This document discusses discernment of spirits, which is the practice of reflecting on one's feelings and thoughts to understand whether they indicate movements of God drawing one toward life or countermovements away from God. It provides guidelines from St. Ignatius for discernment, distinguishing between spiritual consolation, where one feels peace and inspiration from being in tune with the Holy Spirit, and spiritual desolation, where one feels fear, sadness, or self-centeredness, paralyzing action. The document advises being patient and continuing to pray during desolation, as consolation will return in time.

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    E3 Discernment of spirits.pdf

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    This document discusses discernment of spirits, which is the practice of reflecting on one's feelings and thoughts to understand whether they indicate movements of God drawing one toward life or countermovements away from God. It provides guidelines from St. Ignatius for discernment, distinguishing between spiritual consolation, where one feels peace and inspiration from being in tune with the Holy Spirit, and spiritual desolation, where one feels fear, sadness, or self-centeredness, paralyzing action. The document advises being patient and continuing to pray during desolation, as consolation will return in time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    53 views3 pages

    E3 Discernment of Spirits PDF

    Uploaded by

    Occult O
    This document discusses discernment of spirits, which is the practice of reflecting on one's feelings and thoughts to understand whether they indicate movements of God drawing one toward life or countermovements away from God. It provides guidelines from St. Ignatius for discernment, distinguishing between spiritual consolation, where one feels peace and inspiration from being in tune with the Holy Spirit, and spiritual desolation, where one feels fear, sadness, or self-centeredness, paralyzing action. The document advises being patient and continuing to pray during desolation, as consolation will return in time.

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    of 3

    DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS

    Seeking and finding God in our experience

    If we believe that God is acting in the world through the Holy Spirit, it makes sense to try to follow
    the movements of that Spirit in our lives. This does not only happen in peak moments of prayer or
    liturgy, but throughout our experience. Discernment of spirits is the reflective exercise of trying to
    sift through our feelings and thoughts, to see which could indicate the movements of God as he
    draws us to life, and which could indicate a countermovement, getting in the way of our
    relationship with God. The following are guidelines for such reflection, based on a long tradition of
    discernment and given particular shape by Ignatius of Loyola.

    GUIDELINES FOR DISCERNMENT - BASED ON ST IGNATIUS

    Ignatius distinguishes between people who are trying to live a life of love, in relationship with God
    and those people who, as he says, are going from bad to worse, meaning their lives are totally self
    focussed with no regard for others or God. He indicates that the Holy Spirit acts differently in each
    case. These guidelines are for those who are trying to be open to the Spirit.

    For these people of good will, the moods, thoughts and feelings that come from our lives being in
    tune with the Holy Spirit tend to be things like love, gentle inspiration, peace, courage, hope,
    openness, strength or repentance. (See the list of fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22). These
    feelings help the person to engage in life, to ’choose life’, so they are welcomed and appreciated.

    On the other hand the moods, thoughts and feelings that indicate a countermovement, going in a
    direction away from the prompting of the Holy Spirit tend to be things like nameless fear, anxiety,
    inappropriate sadness, self-centredness, seeing endless snags ahead, lack of hope. These latter
    feelings tend to paralyse, to prevent a person acting in a way they might wish, so as far as possible
    they are identified but not allowed to take centre stage, however fascinating they are.

    When we are under the influence of a countermovement we call it 'spiritual desolation', when the
    Spirit is more clearly present we call it 'spiritual consolation'. The thoughts and feelings we are
    talking about here are not just superficial, fleeting sensations, but deeper streams within our heart
    and mind.

    Jesuit Institute
    SPIRITUAL DESOLATION

    Perhaps we are not living in a way we would like, not giving God any time, so busy rushing there is
    no time to pause, pray, be quiet. Perhaps it is time to make changes, to move on and we won't see
    it. Perhaps there is no obvious reason, BUT we can use the experience to try to be faithful, trusting
    God even though we don't feel like it.

    (NB Spiritual Desolation is not the same as depression, care must be taken to distinguish the two.)

     In desolation, try not to change major plans that were made at a time of consolation.
     Go against the desolation if possible, God is still there even if it does not feel like it. Try to pray.
     It usually helps if we can share our thoughts and feelings with someone we can trust and has
    some experience of the ways of God and faith.
     Desolation usually goes for our weakest points, this can help us to identify it.
     Be patient, hang on, consolation will return.

    SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION

     Be thankful! Recognise the real gifts in your life and give thanks to God for them.
     'Store it up', remember this experience and what it tells you about God, so that you can draw on
    the memories in difficult times. (Desolation will return!)
     Don't become too proud, or certain that you have life sorted out, remember how helpless you
    can feel when in desolation.
     Sometimes we have an experience of God that comes out of the blue, there seems to be no
    reason for it, but we know it is God. When this happens, it is good to still be aware of our
    actions, noting what was in the experience itself and what comes afterwards which may or may
    not be from God.

    Is this spiritual desolation? Is this spiritual consolation?

     God is not part of my consciousness  The experience is moving me towards


     Turned in on self God
     I feel sad, separated from God  Delicate and gentle
     Lack of caring, everything seems hard  Leading to an interior acceptance of
     Feel hyper & happy, but a lack of others and of self
    delicacy, a fanatical quality, with my  Leading to a realistic knowledge of self
    disordered tendencies influencing  A sense of God’s presence
    actions  Meaningfulness and a sense of hope
     I feel alone & separated while at the  Not turned in on self
    same time desiring to be with God  If painful/ dry/sad it is because of God,
     It is a cover-up for seeking myself there is a sense of faith, hope or love
     The experience is moving me away  Tension may still exist but at depth
    from God there is a sense of God’s presence

    Jesuit Institute
    Jesuit Institute Page 3

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