In his final three rules, Ignatius turns from the enemy’s desolations to his temptations (rule 12), deceits (rule 13), and attacks (rule 14). In general, Ignatius focuses on the other garden-variety tactic of the enemy, his deceptive suggestions or temptations. Temptations and spiritual desolation are the two basic tactics of the enemy that we all experience: deceptive suggestions (“Why don’t you let your prayer go till later?” “You can let yourself see that … it doesn’t have to get too far out of hand.”) and the discouraging lies of spiritual desolation. Often these two tactics will be found
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