IS THIS REALLY GOD OR NOT?

IS THIS REALLY GOD OR NOT?
April 2023

Last month we reviewed St. Ignatius Loyola's 14 Rules for Discernment of Spirits for Week One of The Spiritual Exercises. This month we consider the 8 Rules for Week Two. Once again, I have attempted to be faithful to St. Ignatius' thought and intent while putting these Rules in understandable language and concepts. And also, once again this month, I respectfully dedicate this to the Memory of Fr. Harold Cohen, SJ, who taught me and directed me in the Rules for Discernment of Spirits. Here are the Rules for the Second Week:

1. God and his angels move in the soul to give true spiritual gladness and joy, taking away all sadness and disturbance which the enemy brings. The enemy fights against spiritual gladness and consolation, presenting apparent reasons, subtleties and fallacies. (My note...remember that in John 8:44 Jesus called the devil "a liar and the father of lies...he has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.") 

2. God gives consolation to the soul without any preceding cause. God comes in and out of the soul to bring it to love Him. "Without cause" means without anything that we might do to achieve consolation.

3. Both good spirits and evil spirits can console the soul for opposite purposes: good spirits so that the soul can grow from good to better; the evil spirits for the contrary, and eventually, to lead the soul to wickedness and damnation.

4. The evil spirit, who disguises himself as an "angel of light" (cf. 2 Cor. 11:14), enters in through our door and goes out through his own: that is to say, he might initially bring good and holy thoughts but gradually change them in order to draw the soul to his perverse intentions.

5. Pay close attention to your thoughts. If the beginning, middle, and end are all good, that is a sign that they are inspired by the good spirit. However, if the course of your thoughts ends in something bad or less good, or if your thoughts bring disturbance, upset, lack of peace and calmness which you had before, that is a clear sign that it comes from the evil spirit, enemy of our salvation.

6. When you perceive that the enemy has been working in you, examine the course of the good thoughts he suggested at the beginning and how gradually you changed from sweetness and joy to a bad intention. Note this experience so as to be on guard against future deceits.

7. In those persons going from good to better, the good spirit touches the soul sweetly, lightly, gently - like a drop of water upon a sponge. The evil spirit, on the other hand, touches it sharply, with noise and disquiet - like water falling on a stone. With those persons going from bad to worse, it is just the opposite: the evil spirit enters quietly and peacefully while the good spirit causes turmoil and upset. The reason for this is the disposition of the soul. If the soul is inclined to good, to God - the movements of the good spirit enter there peacefully. If the soul is disposed toward evil - the movements of the evil spirit are at home there.
8. When a consolation is without a direct cause, God alone is the source of it and there is no deceit in it. However, the person receiving such consolation still needs to pay close attention to distinguish the consolation from the "afterglow" that follows it. During this "afterglow" period, the person might form resolutions or make decisions that cannot be attributed to the Lord's inspiration. Therefore, they must be examined carefully before being carried out or put into action.