St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, is one of the most influential spiritual leaders of all time, yet many readers find his Rules for Discernment hard to understand. What can Ignatius teach us about the discernment of spirits that lies at the very heart of Christian life? In The Discernment of Spirits , Fr. Timothy Gallagher, a talented teacher, retreat leader, and scholar, helps us understand the Rules and how their insights are essential for our spiritual growth today. By integrating the Rules and the experience of contemporary people, Gallagher shows the precision, clarity, and insight of Ignatius's Rules, as well as the relevance of his thought for spiritual life today. When we learn to read Ignatius correctly, we discover in his remarkable words our own struggles, joys, and triumphs. This book is for all who desire greater awareness of God's action in their daily spiritual lives, and is essential reading for retreat directors, spiritual directors, priests, and counselors. The Discernment of Spirits An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living By Timothy M. Gallagher The Crossroad Publishing Company Copyright © 2005 Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8245-2291-9 Contents Acknowledgments, Foreword, Introduction, The Text of the Rules, Prologue: What Is Discernment of Spirits?, 1 When a Person Moves Away from God (Rule 1), 2 When a Person Moves toward God (Rule 2), 3 Spiritual Consolation (rule 3), 4 Spiritual Desolation (Rule 4), 5 Spiritual Desolation: A Time for Fidelity (Rule 5), 6 Spiritual Desolation: A Time for Initiative (Rule 6), 7 Spiritual Desolation: A Time for Resistance (Rule 7), 8 Spiritual Desolation: A Time for Patience (Rule 8), 9 Why Does God Allow Spiritual Desolation? (Rule 9), 10 Spiritual Consolation: A Time to Prepare (Rule 10), 11 Spiritual Consolation and Spiritual Desolation: Finding Our Balance (Rule 11), 12 Standing Firm in the Beginnings (Rule 12), 13 Breaking the Spiritual Silence (Rule 13), 14 Strengthening the Weak Point (Rule 14), Conclusion: Setting Captives Free, Notes, Select Bibliography, Index of Name, CHAPTER 1 When a Person Moves Away from God (Rule 1) * * * Halts by me that footfall: Is my gloom, after all, Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly? — Francis Thompson An Experience of Spiritual Liberation Following the pattern of the previous chapter, we will once again approach Ignatius's text from the perspective of a concrete spiritual experience. As noted, because Ignatius's rules themselves arise from and describe spiritual experience, this methodology places the rules in their natural setting and more effectively permits us to uncover the full richness of the spare language Ignatius employs. In this chapter we will discuss the first of these rules. Since, however, the first and second rules are intimately related and must be understood together, we will explore one spiritual experience that incorporates both, returning to this experience in the following chapter when we examine the second rule. Perhaps the best-known conversion experience in our spiritual tradition is that of Augustine, famously described in his Confessions. This is the grace-filled moment in the garden, under the fig tree, when Augustine's long search for spiritual renewal is finally fulfilled. Through his tears he hears the chanting of the child beyond the garden wall: "Take and read, take and read." He opens the Scriptures, and finds the words of St. Paul: "The night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us, then, cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light ..." (Rom 13:12ff.). In that instant Augustine's life is remade, and he commences a spiritual journey that will lead to great holiness. Our focus here will be the complex set of interior movements in Augustine's heart that immediately precedes this moment of conversion. We will see these first in their broader context and then specifically in their actual unfolding. In a very real sense, this story originates in Augustine's adolescent years when he adopts an increasingly self-indulgent lifestyle. As he rather soberly writes: "In my youth I burned to fill myself with evil things. ... I dared to run wild in different and dark ways of passion." This process begins in the idleness of his fifteenth year in Tagaste, when his studies were interrupted for lack of economic means, and is solidified when he resumes these studies in the larger city of Carthage. All this is tellingly captured in the energypacked words: "I burned...." A powerful movement toward unrestrained self-indulgence stirs in Augustine's young heart and largely shapes the course of his life for years to come. But this movement, though dominant, is increasingly challenged by another. His life of "fruitless seedings of grief" and "restless weariness" weighs more and more on Augustine, and he yearns for a profound spiritual change in his life. Years pass as the tension bet