Move­ments Pro­duced in the Soul

Excerpt from Devotional Classics

Excerpts from The Spir­i­tu­al Exer­cis­es of St. Ignatius 

Dif­fer­ent Movements

The fol­low­ing are some rules for per­ceiv­ing and under­stand­ing the dif­fer­ent move­ments that are pro­duced in the soul — the good that should be accept­ed; the bad that should be rejected.

The ene­my is accus­tomed ordi­nar­i­ly to pro­pose appar­ent plea­sure to those per­sons who go from mor­tal sin to mor­tal sin. He thus caus­es them to imag­ine sen­su­al delights and plea­sure in order to hold them more and more eas­i­ly and to increase their vices and sins. The good spir­it acts in these per­sons in a con­trary way, awak­en­ing the con­science to a sense of remorse through the good judg­ment of their reason.

This takes place in those who earnest­ly strive to puri­fy them­selves from their sins and who advance from good to bet­ter in the ser­vice of God our Lord. For these per­sons it is com­mon for the evil spir­it to cause anx­i­ety and sad­ness and to cre­ate obsta­cles based on false rea­son­ing, thus pre­vent­ing the soul from mak­ing fur­ther progress.

It is char­ac­ter­is­tic of the good spir­it to give courage and strength, con­so­la­tion, tears, inspi­ra­tion, and peace, mak­ing things easy and remov­ing all obsta­cles so that the soul may make fur­ther progress in good works.

Tears Inspired by Love

I call it con­so­la­tion when the soul is aroused by an inte­ri­or move­ment which caus­es it to be inflamed with love of its Cre­ator and Lord and con­se­quent­ly can love no cre­at­ed thing in this world for its own sake, but only in the Cre­ator of all things. It is like­wise con­so­la­tion when one sheds tears inspired by love of the Lord, whether it be sor­row for sins or because of the Pas­sion of Christ our Lord, or for any oth­er rea­son that is direct­ly con­nect­ed to his ser­vice and praise. Final­ly, I call con­so­la­tion any increase of faith, hope, and char­i­ty and any inte­ri­or joy that calls and attracts to heav­en­ly things, and to the sal­va­tion of one’s soul, inspir­ing it with peace and qui­et in Christ our Lord.

I call des­o­la­tion all that is con­trary to the third rule, as dark­ness of the soul, tur­moil of the mind, incli­na­tion to low and earth­ly things, rest­less­ness result­ing from many dis­tur­bances and temp­ta­tions which leads to loss of faith, loss of hope, loss of love. It is also des­o­la­tion when a soul finds itself com­plete­ly apa­thet­ic, tepid, sad, and sep­a­rat­ed as it were, from its Cre­ator and Lord. For just as con­so­la­tion is con­trary to des­o­la­tion, so the thoughts that spring from con­so­la­tion are the oppo­site of those that spring from desolation.

Stand Firm and Constant

In time of des­o­la­tion one should nev­er make a change, but stand firm and con­stant in the res­o­lu­tion and deci­sion which guid­ed him the day before the des­o­la­tion, or to the deci­sion which he observed in the pre­ced­ing con­so­la­tion. For just as the good spir­it guides and con­soles us in con­so­la­tion, so in des­o­la­tion the evil spir­it guides and coun­sels. Fol­low­ing the coun­sels of this lat­ter spir­it, one can nev­er find the cor­rect way to a right decision.

Although in des­o­la­tion we should not change our ear­li­er res­o­lu­tions, it will be very advan­ta­geous to inten­si­fy our activ­i­ty against the des­o­la­tion. This can be done by insist­ing more on prayer, med­i­ta­tion, fre­quent exam­i­na­tions, and by increas­ing our penance in some suit­able manner.

One who is in des­o­la­tion must strive to per­se­vere in patience which is con­trary to the vex­a­tions that have come upon him. He should con­sid­er, also, that con­so­la­tion will soon return and strive dili­gent­ly against the desolation.

Why We Are in Desolation

There are three rea­sons why we are in des­o­la­tion. The first is because we have been tepid, sloth­ful, or neg­li­gent in our Spir­i­tu­al Exer­cis­es, and so through our own fault spir­i­tu­al con­so­la­tion is with­drawn from us.

The sec­ond is that God may try to test our worth, and the progress that we have made in his ser­vice and praise when we are with­out such gen­er­ous rewards of con­so­la­tion and spe­cial graces.

The third is that he may wish to give us a true knowl­edge and under­stand­ing so that we may tru­ly per­ceive that it is not with­in our pow­er to acquire or retain great devo­tion, ardent love, tears, or any oth­er spir­i­tu­al con­so­la­tion, but that all of this is a gift and a grace of God our Lord. Nor does God wish us to claim as our own what belongs to anoth­er, allow­ing our intel­lect to rise up in a spir­it of pride or vain­glo­ry, attribut­ing to our­selves the devo­tion or oth­er aspects of spir­i­tu­al consolation.

The Suf­fi­cient Grace

A per­son who is in con­so­la­tion ought to think of how he will con­duct him­self dur­ing a future des­o­la­tion and thus build up a new strength for that time.

A per­son who is in con­so­la­tion should also take care to hum­ble and abase him­self as much as pos­si­ble. He should recall how lit­tle he felt he was worth in the pre­vi­ous time of des­o­la­tion when he was with­out such grace or consolation.

On the oth­er hand, a per­son who is in des­o­la­tion should recall that he can do much to with­stand all of his ene­mies by using the suf­fi­cient grace that he has and tak­ing strength in his Cre­ator and Lord.

A Show of Determination

The ene­my is weak in the pres­ence of strength, but strong if he has our will. He will lose courage and take flight when we make a show of deter­mi­na­tion. In like man­ner, if we lose courage and begin to retreat, the anger, rage, and vin­dic­tive­ness of the ene­my becomes great beyond all bounds.

The ene­my will lose courage and take flight as soon as a per­son who is fol­low­ing the spir­i­tu­al life stands coura­geous­ly against his temp­ta­tions and does exact­ly the oppo­site of what the ene­my sug­gests. On the con­trary, if a per­son begins to take flight and los­es courage in the midst of fight­ing temp­ta­tion, no wild beast on earth is more fierce than the ene­my as he pur­sues his evil inten­tion with ever-increas­ing malice.

A False Lover

The ene­my also behaves like a false lover who wish­es to remain hid­den and does not want to be revealed. For when this deceit­ful man pays court, with evil intent, to the daugh­ter of some good father or the wife of a good hus­band, he wants his words and sug­ges­tions to be kept secret. He is great­ly dis­pleased if the girl reveals to her father, or the wife to her hus­band, his deceit­ful words and depraved inten­tions, for he then clear­ly per­ceives that his plan can­not succeed.

In like man­ner, when the ene­my tempts a just soul with his wiles and deceits, he wish­es and desires that they be received and kept in secret. When they are revealed to a con­fes­sor or some oth­er spir­i­tu­al per­son who under­stands his deceits and evil designs, the ene­my is great­ly dis­pleased for he knows that he can­not suc­ceed in his evil design once his obvi­ous deceits have been discovered.

The enemy’s behav­ior is also like that of a mil­i­tary leader who wish­es to con­quer and plun­der the object of his desires. Just as the com­man­der of an army pitch­es his camp, stud­ies the strength and defens­es of a fortress, and then attacks it on its weak­est side, in like man­ner, the ene­my of our souls stud­ies from all sides our the­o­log­i­cal, car­di­nal, and moral virtues. Wher­ev­er he finds us weak­est and most in need regard­ing our eter­nal sal­va­tion, he attacks and tries to take us by storm.

An Angel of Light

It belongs to God and his angels to bring true hap­pi­ness and spir­i­tu­al joy to the soul and to free it from the sad­ness and dis­tur­bance which the ene­my caus­es. It is the nature of the ene­my to fight against such joy and spir­i­tu­al con­so­la­tion by propos­ing (seem­ing­ly) seri­ous rea­sons, sub­tleties, and con­tin­u­al deceptions.

Also, it is char­ac­ter­is­tic of the evil one to trans­form him­self into an angel of light, to work with the soul in the begin­ning, but in the end work for him­self. At first he will sug­gest good and holy thoughts, and then, lit­tle by lit­tle he strives to gain his own ends by draw­ing the soul into his hid­den deceits.

It is well for a per­son who has been tempt­ed to exam­ine after­ward the course of the good thoughts that were sug­gest­ed to him. Let him con­sid­er their begin­ning and how the ene­my con­trived, lit­tle by lit­tle, to make him fall from the state of sweet­ness and spir­i­tu­al delight that he was enjoy­ing until he final­ly brought him to per­verse designs. With the expe­ri­ence and knowl­edge thus acquired and not­ed, one may bet­ter guard him­self in the future against the cus­tom­ary deceits of the enemy.

An Open Door

In those who are mak­ing spir­i­tu­al progress, the action of the good angel is gen­tle, light, and sweet, as a drop of water enter­ing a sponge. The action of the evil spir­it is sharp, noisy, and dis­turb­ing, like a drop of water falling upon a rock. In those souls that are going from bad to worse, the action of these two spir­its is the reverse.

The cause for this dif­fer­ence of action is the dis­po­si­tion of the soul which is either con­trary or sim­i­lar to the spir­its men­tioned above. When the dis­po­si­tion of the soul is con­trary to that of the spir­its, they enter it with noise and dis­tur­bances that are eas­i­ly per­ceived. When the dis­po­si­tion of the soul and that of the spir­its are sim­i­lar, they enter silent­ly as one com­ing into his own house through an open door.

BIBLE SELEC­TION: 1 PETER 5:6 – 11

Hum­ble your­selves there­fore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anx­i­ety on him, because he cares for you. Dis­ci­pline your­selves, keep alert. Like a roar­ing lion your adver­sary the dev­il prowls around, look­ing for some­one to devour. Resist him, stead­fast in your faith, for you know that your broth­ers and sis­ters in all the world are under­go­ing the same kinds of suf­fer­ing. And after you have suf­fered for a lit­tle while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eter­nal glo­ry in Christ, will him­self restore, sup­port, strength­en, and estab­lish you. To him be the pow­er for­ev­er and ever. Amen.

REFLEC­TION QUESTIONS

The fol­low­ing ques­tions can be used for dis­cus­sion with­in a small group, or used for jour­nal reflec­tions by individuals.

1. There has always been a lot of dis­cus­sion (some good, some bad) about the spir­i­tu­al realms of good and evil. How do you under­stand the pres­ence and work of angels and demons? How did Ignatius of Loy­ola clar­i­fy or con­fuse your pre­vi­ous under­stand­ing?
   

2. Feel­ings of con­so­la­tion and des­o­la­tion are one of the main top­ics of this selec­tion on dis­cern­ing the spir­its. Have you ever expe­ri­enced either of these in the man­ner Ignatius describes? Share your expe­ri­ences.
   

3. What are the three rea­sons Ignatius gives for a soul enter­ing into a state of des­o­la­tion? (See sec­tion 4.) Have any of these three been a part of your expe­ri­ence? How did the Spir­it move in order to help you grow in that sit­u­a­tion?
   

4. In sec­tion 7, the author reveals the enemy’s one great fear. What is it? What can we do to ensure that the ene­my has that fear? 

5. In 1 Peter 5:6 – 11, espe­cial­ly verse 8, Peter offers us both a warn­ing and some advice when we face temp­ta­tion. What are they? Com­pare this coun­sel with the teach­ings of Ignatius.

SUG­GEST­ED EXERCISES

The fol­low­ing exer­cis­es can be done by indi­vid­u­als, shared between spir­i­tu­al friends, or used in the con­text of a small group. Choose one or more of the following.

1. The dev­il will attack our weak­est side, writes Ignatius. How­ev­er, we can com­bat this attack by know­ing where we are weak and mak­ing a move to strength­en that side. This week make it your goal to dis­cov­er your weak­est areas, and resolve to strength­en that side.
   

2. Pay close atten­tion this week to the inner move­ments in your soul. Dis­cern the source of your thoughts and feel­ings by using Ignatius’s descrip­tions.
   

3. “The ene­my is weak in the pres­ence of strength,” writes Ignatius. Stand firm in the pres­ence of temp­ta­tions this week, rely­ing not on your own strength but on the strength of God.
   

4. 1 Peter 5:7 encour­ages, ​“Cast all your anx­i­ety on him, because he cares for you.” Be bold this week as you pray, cast­ing all your anx­i­eties on God, know­ing that he cares deeply about each of them.

REFLEC­TIONS

There is a four-part struc­ture to the Igna­t­ian spir­i­tu­al retreat. The first week is giv­en to the con­tem­pla­tion of our sin in the light of God’s love. The sec­ond week cen­ters on the life of Christ, the third week on the death of Christ, and the fourth week on the res­ur­rec­tion of Christ.

Many read­ers would be uncom­fort­able with var­i­ous details of The Spir­i­tu­al Exer­cis­es, but I want to com­mend this four-part rhythm to you. We need a deep­er mus­ing upon our peren­ni­al knack for dis­obe­di­ence and God’s unbound­ed habit of mer­cy. We need a rich­er con­tem­pla­tion upon that Life that shows us the way so we may fol­low ​“in his steps.” We need a fuller med­i­ta­tion upon that Death that sets us free. We need a more pro­found expe­ri­ence of that Res­ur­rec­tion that empow­ers us to obey Christ in all things.

—Richard J. Foster