Kindle Notes & Highlights
Such spiritual consolations are great gifts that God gives souls, much greater than all the riches and honors of the world. —St. Alphonsus de Liguori
Ignatius invites us to think, to live the reflective spiritual life.
Maybe some of the thinking is just feeling and experiencing consolation and being aware of this is what it feels like and now I know how to find us and get back here more quickly
lovely practice: when in consolation, she writes herself a letter and places it in a box. When desolation has returned, she goes to the box and reads the letter.
it is not enough simply to learn these rules. We also need a way to keep them fresh in our consciousness if
reviewing this consolation
Could it be myself examining myself in consolation. Like you do in desolation.
“think that he can do much with God’s sufficient grace to resist all his enemies.”
We will receive the gift and avoid the pitfall.
Acting manically with mania from the high of consolation
Little and much: in times of spiritual consolation, we are to think of how little we can do without this grace; in times of spiritual desolation, we are to think of how much we can do with God’s ever-sufficient grace.
St. Gregory the Great, commenting on Sirach 11:25 (“On the day of prosperity do not forget affliction, and on the day of affliction do not forget prosperity”), writes, “For if a man receives God’s gifts, but forgets his affliction, he can fall through his own excessive joy. On the other hand, when a man is bruised by the scourges, but is not at all consoled by the thought of the blessings he has been fortunate to receive, he is completely cast down.” Gregory concludes, “Thus both attitudes must be united so that the one may be supported by the other: the memory of the gift can temper the pain
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St. Pierre Favre: “Sometimes we happen to take notice of benefits and favors that possibly come and can come to us; sometimes the opposite happens: we take notice of evils that only possibly threaten us. In the first state, we must beware of being overelated; in the second, let us not be overmuch cast down.”
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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“Weak When Faced with Strength” In Scripture, we read, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas 4:7).
Thus the evil enemy, a little at a time, gains complete entry, because he was not resisted in the beginning.
The tempter approaches Jesus in the desert (Mt 4), “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” Jesus’s response is immediate, based on the Word of God, and definitive, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’” And the temptation is over. Jesus responds in a similar immediate and decisive fashion to the subsequent temptations, and the tempter is vanquished and departs from him.
devotion alone does not qualify them to be recipients of the sharing Ignatius intends.
knowledgeable: they must possess a solid understanding of and practical familiarity with the enemy’s “deceits and malicious designs”—the ways in which the enemy seeks to burden the hearts of dedicated people—so that when they receive this sharing, they will understand well what they hear.
The enemy’s urging to secrecy will always involve an imagined scenario, and that scenario will always be painful.
Genuinely competent guides will love and reverence your courage in speaking about this burden. Their respect for you will increase.
Benedict XVI writes that “to advance toward the Lord, we always have need of a guide, of a dialogue. We cannot do it with just with our own reflections. And finding this guide is part of the ecclesial nature of our faith.”
Of the difficulties we may encounter in finding a director, another author writes: We believe, nonetheless, that . . . at times it is not possible, at least not immediately, to find the ideal person. In such cases, we must continue trying until we find this person . . . since the act itself of manifesting our temptations weakens their grip and renders them more intelligible to the one who so manifests them. . . . We should never cease to search for such a person and to ask the Lord that he grant us to find a good confessor or a spiritual person who “knows the deceits and malicious designs (of
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It is not good to be alone. Finding ways to be accompanied is a primary need for the discerning life in general and specifically in regard to rule 13.
Once the spiritual silence is broken, “the tempter’s game is up.”
Ignatius saves the best for last.
[the enemy] conducts himself as a leader, intent upon conquering and robbing what he desires.
at the weakest point . . . ” Again the unnatural, antihuman quality is evident.
This leader is intent only upon “conquering and robbing” according to “what he desires,” that is, his lust for possession.
looks in turn at all our theological, cardinal, and moral virtues;
The Enemy Is Harsh, Christ Is Gentle “Where he finds us weakest and most in need for our eternal salvation, there he attacks us and attempts to take us.” There, where we feel weakest, where we are held captive and see little hope of change, right there Ignatius wishes to bring clarity, hope, and freedom.
There is no shame in having a weakest point.
What does matter is to know that weakest point and to strengthen it.
Hope
burdens of the enemy may persist, even for years. Rule 14 tells us that right there, where we feel most vulnerable to the enemy’s burdens, captives can be set free.
The key word here is frequently,
Are there circumstances in which you often become afraid?
circumstances in which you frequently feel worn out and spiritually helpless?
Keeping up with life
repeating pattern of these experiences?
Prayer “Ask and it will be given to you. . . . For everyone who asks, receives” (Mt 7:7–8).
God, can I have good sleep? Can you help me keep up with life?
In rule 6, we saw Ignatius call the person in desolation to “much examination.” Jesuit author William Broderick comments, “If we take rules 6 and 14 together, what Ignatius seems to be saying is that a thorough self-knowledge is essential if we are to cope successfully with desolation and the attacks of the enemy. Prayer and reliance on God by themselves are not sufficient. Ignatius did not neglect ordinary human means. A thorough self-knowledge would count as such a means. By reflecting on ourselves, on our previous successes and failures, on the circumstances in which we succeeded and the
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The daily examen prayer raises this “ordinary human means,” this search for “a thorough self-knowledge” to the level of our relationship with the God who loves us, the level of faith and grace.
Prayerful reading of scriptural texts that express God’s love and fidelity, and of classic and recent works on confidence in God, will further assist this growth. Relevant podcasts, videos, and the wide variety of digital resources may also strengthen this process.
A saying has it that we are condemned to repeat what we do not know.
because he thus depends more fully on the One who loves him.
