Teaching Discernment E-Book

Timothy M. Gallagher

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 463

Beschreibung

In this remarkable explanation of a pedagogic system, Fr. Tim weaves together several channels of learning—his many years of reading about Ignatian discernment and classic spiritual experience, his repeated teaching of the rules, his contact with masters of Ignatian spirituality, and his own growing awareness of how these rules applied in his own life. This volume is a careful exploration of Ignatius's own words and a methodology for exemplifying them through concrete spiritual experience. By hosting retreats for spiritual directors teaching Ignatian spirituality in their own communities, Fr. Tim is fulfilling the admonition of Paul to Timothy, "…and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well."

Leseprobe

A lucid book, learned and practical, written with grace and passion by a master teacher.

Setting out to tell how he teaches the Rules, Gallagher actually describes the experience of living them. He takes each Rule and shows how he presents it, weaving together clear explanations and illustrations from daily life. Meant as a handbook for teachers—and excellent as that—the book will be helpful to those engaged in adult formation or teaching spiritual direction. Anyone who reads it will say of the book what it says of the Rules: “Such clarity is obviously an enormous gift for the spiritual life.”

—Joseph Tetlow, SJ, Ignatian scholar, author, and retreat director

Having taught the Rules for the discernment of spirits to varied groups over many decades, Father Gallagher now generously shares his insights and pedagogical methods with a broader audience. He has witnessed the Lord “setting captives free” as listeners receive this great gift of St. Ignatius and now desires to help others offer this gift as well. In his usual clear and encouraging style, Father Gallagher provides future teachers with the essential tools, a “blueprint for this teaching.” May Father Gallagher’s generosity serve to equip a new generation of teachers who will in turn become witnesses to the Lord’s redeeming love!

—Rev. Richard J. Gabuzda, S.T.D., Executive Director, The Institute for Priestly Formation

This highly practical and lucidly written book is yet another example of why Father Timothy M. Gallagher, OMV, is America’s preeminent interpreter of and writer on Ignatian discernment and spiritual direction.

—Harvey D. Egan, S.J., Emeritus Professor of Systematic and Mystical Theology, Boston College

Through Teaching Discernment, Fr. Timothy Gallagher places in the hands of all who read, study, instruct, and implement the Fourteen Rules for the discernment of spirits an indispensable key for unlocking St. Ignatius’ teaching within the New Evangelization of the universal Church. This masterfully designed “Pedagogy for Ignatian Discernment” is certain to find great welcome among those called to the sacred task of presenting the instrumental key of discernment, which through grace, unlocks the chains of captivity found within the human heart and sets the captives free. With warmth, generosity, patience, and untiring reverence for the human heart, Fr. Gallagher’s Teaching Discernment: A Pedagogy for Presenting Ignatian Discernment of Spirits is a fruitful sign of future blessings to generations of teachers of discernment. May this book unlock within the heart of the universal Church a springtime of discernment!

—Elizabeth M. Gengle, Heart of the Interior Life Retreat Ministry, BA Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville

As one who has benefited from receiving Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s teaching on the Ignatian Rules for the discernment of spirits, I can attest that Fr. Gallagher is a renowned master in the Rules for the discernment of spirits of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He has honed decades of scholarship into his extensive writing and teaching on the Rules. Now Fr. Gallagher opens up the pedagogy that he has found to be successful in introducing others into the art of discernment. By explaining his pedagogical insights, refined and proven over many presentations on the rules, Fr. Gallagher’s latest effort equips others to be able to effectively communicate the inestimable spiritual value of the practice of the rules as teachers themselves. In this new book, Fr. Gallagher shares not just the wisdom of the content of the rules, but he also shares how to teach the rules in a way that allows the depth of Ignatius’s understanding to reach many more who desire to live discerning lives.

—Rev. James Rafferty, S.T.D., Director of Mission and Communications, The Institute for Priestly Formation

Father Gallagher is a master teacher and very few in the world today know the Rules for Discernment as well as he does. This book will be an excellent guide for all who desire to share the wisdom of St. Ignatius with those they direct and teach. I cannot recommend this book more highly for those desiring to learn and hand on the wisdom and practical examples it contains.

—Msgr. David L. Toups, STD, Rector/President, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, Florida

I am pleased to have read this new book by Fr. Timothy Gallagher before its publication. I can affirm that I read it with even greater interest than his earlier book, The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide to Everyday Living, which I found excellent. It would be difficult to find to find a more clear and practical book on Ignatian spiritual discernment. In this new book, he explains the foundations of his competence in this topic and his pedagogy. He does so, however, as a personal sharing with the reader, and this gives the book a special attraction: that of direct conversation.

In his own life, this is an author convinced of and enthusiastic for his topic, and clear and direct in his exposition. He loves St. Ignatius of Loyola and his spirituality, a richness that he understands, with reason, to be the inspiration of his own founder, Venerable Bruno Lanteri. Fr. Gallagher’s style is accessible, precise, and illuminating. Behind it lies profound study and reflection on the subject he discusses. The book reveals many years of analysis, teaching, and practical application in his own life and pastoral practice, of the Ignatian rules for the discernment of spirits.

Experience has taught Father Gallagher that a well-chosen example is worth more than many words to help a person who desires to apply the rules in the concrete practice of his life. His original way of linking each rule to examples and his pedagogical approach in doing this is, I believe, especially valuable. May God continue to help him to exercise for the good of the Church this gift he has received.

—Manuel Ruiz Jurado, SJ, Emeritus Professor of Spiritual Theology, The Pontifical Gregorian University, Ignatian scholar, author, and retreat director

In our formation program for spiritual directors, we have used Fr. Gallagher’s books as our foundation for teaching the discernment of spirits. In this latest book, Teaching Discernment: A Pedagogy for Presenting Ignatian Discernment of Spirits, Fr. Gallagher has given us another treasure. The ability to discern the spirits at work within your directee is crucial for any spiritual director. Fr. Gallagher’s teachings are clear and solid. He has done a great service in making St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Rules for the discernment of spirits available and easy to understand. They are a must for any spiritual director, or any person desiring to grow closer to the Lord.

—Kay Davis, M.A., Program Director and Formator, Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality

Having learned from some of the masters, Father Gallagher has a unique perspective on Christian discernment. Father’s own reverent discernment allows him to present riveting examples of discernment that help students grasp the principles. I have referred dozens of people to Father Gallagher’s works and am happy for this new volume.

—Monsignor Daniel Trapp, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Liturgy and Sacraments, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit

Fr. Gallagher has been perfecting Ignatian pedagogy for decades. Now he shares with us—and future generations—his secrets of teaching the Rules for discernment. Spiritual Guides everywhere will give thanks for this treasure!

—Father Daniel Barron, OMV, Director of Spiritual Formation, St. John Vianney Theological Seminary

Fr. Gallagher’s book would benefit every seminary faculty. Because St. Ignatius’ Rules of discernment have a universal application, they speak to all four dimensions of formation (human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral). In particular, this book will be an essential tool in forming the formators. Whether we see the parish as a school of prayer (St. John Paul II) or a field hospital (Pope Francis), having a solid grasp of the Rules will help our faculty form our future priests to be the spiritual fathers and physicians they are called to be.

—Rev. James Mason, President-Rector, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary

This book will be a fountain of blessing for many. Father Gallagher shares his Christ-like pedagogy that he has so carefully developed over thirty-five years of fruitful ministry, with open-hearted generosity and evident passion for the redemptive quality of this material. The underlying wisdom with which he has taught these liberating rules of St. Ignatius to so many, is revealed throughout these pages with authority, humility and gentleness. For those of us who have been blessed with the hope and renewal of energy that Father Gallagher’s clear presentation of the rules for discernment has engendered in our own lives, it now seems possible that we can share it with others ourselves.

The spiritual life is lived daily in our depths, a hidden place where educated awareness and resolve can bring us freedom and hope, even as we live through the vicissitudes and heavily distracted climate of our culture. We need Spirit-filled guides to teach us how to discern the movements of our hearts, and Father Gallagher shows us a pedagogy that is accessible, charged with the love of God, and models patient reverence for every human person.

Freshly exhorted, those of us who have been blessed ourselves by these grace-filled Rules begin to hear a call to be a further instrument in bringing this transforming wisdom to as many people as possible. I deeply appreciate Father Gallagher’s willingness to share so openly his life-giving pedagogy.

—Sally Harrington Philippo, wife, mother, spiritual director, leadership of Vita Nova

Gifted teachers are first and foremost gifted listeners. This pedagogy is the fruit of Fr. Gallagher’s thirty-five years of listening to the Rules and the people who have received his reverent, insightful instruction. Paying attention to his experienced counsels will now permit more teachers and listeners to realize the hopeful power of the Rules for “setting captives free.”

My spiritual director recommended that I read Fr. Gallagher’s Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living soon after it surfaced in 2005. I was radically reoriented to how powerful, liberating and hopeful the Rules could be. Since then, I have had the privilege of teaching the Rules to priests and seminarians. With this book, I can now offer them the next step for learning the Rules by heart—teach someone and share the gift of discernment.”

—Father Paul Hoesing, S.T.L, Dean of Seminarians, Director of Human Formation, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary

In this generous new book, Teaching Discernment: A Pedagogy for Presenting Ignatian Discernment, Fr. Timothy Gallagher presents with his characteristic gentle reverence, depth and precise clarity not only Ignatius’s fourteen Rules of discernment, but also Fr. Gallagher’s masterful pedagogy developed through his many years of teaching those rules to thousands. Fr. Gallagher’s work is that of a skilled guide who illuminates the Ignatian signposts of discernment, equipping each of us to better discern the path God has laid out in our lives. His pedagogy always hues closely to the intent and words of Ignatius. Fr. Gallagher shares with us his own intent in each step he takes as a teacher. He also generously shares his carefully curated stories and apt examples and his decisions and methods as an instructor that make these Rules come alive for a contemporary audience.

As a psychologist who has worked for many years with laity, clergy and seminarians, I have seen many clients gain clarity and freedom from a basic understanding of these Rules, as have I in my own life. Now, with this fine guidebook, I find myself equipped to systematically teach those Rules as well. I strongly recommend this book to those in a position to help teach the freeing power of these Rules to others.

—Paul Ruff, M.A., Licensed Psychologist, Saint Paul Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota

The Crossroad Publishing Company

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© 2020 by Timothy M. Gallagher

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Book design by Tim Holtz

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gallagher, Timothy M., author.

Title: Teaching discernment : a pedagogy for presenting Ignatian discernment of spirits / Timothy M. Gallagher, OMV.

Description: New York : Crossroad Publishing Company, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019018398 | ISBN 9780824599355 (pbk. : alk. Paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Discernment of spirits. | Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint, 1491-1556. Exercitia spiritualia.

Classification: LCC BV5083 .G353 2019 | DDC 248.3—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019018398

ISBN 978-0-8245-9935-5

EPUB ISBN 978-0-8245-9971-3

MOBI ISBN 978-0-8245-9972-0

Books published by The Crossroad Publishing Company may be purchased at special quantity discount rates for classes and institutional use. For information, please email [email protected].

Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Text of the Rules

Part One

Preparing to Teach

1 How This Pedagogy Developed

2 The Fruit of This Pedagogy

3 The Heart of the Pedagogy

4 Getting to Know the Text

5 Choosing Examples

6 Living the Rules Personally

Part Two

Teaching the Rules

7 General Principles

8 Start with the Basics—the Title Statement

9 The Spirits in Persons Far from God: Clarity for Your Listeners—Rule 1

10 The Spirits in Persons Growing Toward God: Addressing Your Listeners’ Experience—Rule 2

11 Helping Your Listeners Recognize Spiritual Consolation—Rule 3

12 Helping Your Listeners Recognize Spiritual Desolation—Rule 4

13 The Advice That Your Listeners Never Forget—Rule 5

14 Liberating Your Listeners: Never Be Passive in Desolation!—Rule 6

15 Understanding Desolation: A Trial, Its Reason, and Its Fruit—Rule 7

16 Giving Hope to Your Listeners: Consolation Will Return Soon—Rule 8

17 Answering the Question: Why Does God Permit Desolation?—Rule 9

18 To Listeners in Consolation: Prepare for the Future—Rule 10

19 Living the Discerning Life: Humble in Consolation, Trusting in Desolation—Rule 11

20 Teaching Your Listeners to Resist Temptation—Rule 12

21 A Key Counsel: In Time of Trouble, Do Not Keep Silent!—Rule 13

22 Hope Where Your Listeners Have the Least Hope—Rule 14

23 Concluding the Teaching

Part Three

The Context of the Teaching

24 The Proximate Preparation for the Teaching

25 Tools for the Teaching

26 What about the Second Set of Rules?

27 Resources for Learning the Rules

Notes

Index

Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful to the many who have helped me in the writing of this book, and in particular: to Roy Carlisle, whose editorial expertise and accompaniment contributed greatly to this book; to Emily Wichland, whose competence in copyediting and whose creative suggestions enhanced the book; to Denise Forlow of Crossroad Publishing whose sure direction guided the process of publication; to Lynda Fitzsimmons for her invaluable help with details of publication; and to Gwendolin Herder, president, and all at Crossroad Publishing for another book in what is now a long-standing, ongoing, and fruitful relationship.

Finally, I thank the following for permission to reprint copyrighted material:

Excerpts from the New American Bible, Revised Edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

From Story of a Soul, translated by John Clarke, O.C.D. Copyright (c) 1975, 1976, 1996 by Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites ICS Publications, 2131 Lincoln Road, N.E. Washington, DC 20002-1199 U.S.A. www.icspublications.org.

From St. Therese of Lisieux: Her Last Conversations translated by John Clarke, O.C.D. Copyright (c) 1977 Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites ICS Publications 2131 Lincoln Road, N.E. Washington, DC 20002-1199 U.S.A. www.icspublications.org.

Excerpts from St. Francis of Assisi, Writings and Early Biographies: English Omnibus of the Sources for the Life of St. Francis, ed. Marion Habig, Franciscan Press, 1973. Used with permission of Franciscan Media. www.franciscanmedia.org.

Excerpts from Spirit of Light or Darkness: A Casebook for Studying Discernment of Spirits, by Jules Toner, SJ, 1995. Used with permission. Copyright Boston College, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies. All rights reserved.

Excerpted from Letters of St. Ignatius of Loyola, by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, translated by William J. Young, SJ, (Loyola Press 1959). Reprinted with permission of Loyola Press. To order copies visit www.loyolapress.com.

Introduction

I write this book to share a pedagogy. As I will tell in the book, this pedagogy developed over thirty-five years, and much of my life has been dedicated to shaping and sharing it. I know it is effective. I know, from long experience, that it imparts clarity and engenders hope. That is why I want to share it.

This pedagogy serves to teach Ignatius of Loyola’s rules for the discernment of spirits (SpirEx 313–327).1 I base it on close examination of Ignatius’s own words and their illustration through abundant examples—“ordinary” examples, the kind we all experience, though often without understanding or knowing how to respond to them. Ignatius supplies the key.

When I teach the rules, or when others learn them through the books and digital resources in which I share this pedagogy, energy is awakened. With Ignatius’s help, people understand their daily spiritual experience. They perceive more clearly in it what is of God and what is not of God. That clarity sets them doubly free, free from the discouraging lies of the “enemy” (Ignatius’s word) and free, above all, to follow the Lord they love.

When people learn Ignatius’s rules, often a desire is born to share them with others. This is already occurring in parishes, seminaries, religious institutions, among friends, and in many other settings. To do this, teachers, presenters, are needed. If you are among them, or if you desire to be among them, this book is for you. It offers a blueprint for this teaching.

You need not be an Ignatian scholar. You need only a certain—I would say “ordinary”—ability to present, a willingness to learn the material, a readiness to organize the group, and, above all, a love for the material and conviction of its value. If you find this disposition in yourself, then this book will supply the rest. In it, you will find the tools you need.

This is the third book I have written on these rules.2 The first, The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide to Everyday Living, provides a systematic presentation of the fourteen rules according to the pedagogy just mentioned: text and examples. The second, Setting Captives Free: Personal Reflections on Ignatian Discernment of Spirits, allowed me to explore further aspects of the rules and to share my own thoughts on various issues in the rules and especially what they mean in my own life.

In this book I return to these fourteen rules for a third time. The rules are the same, but the perspective is different. In this book I am speaking to teachers and prospective teachers of the rules. The focus is on how to present these rules, how to teach them to others.

The book contains three parts. In the first, I describe the pedagogy itself. In the second, I recount in some detail how I present each of the fourteen rules according to this pedagogy. In the third, I discuss various tools and resources for the teaching.

Because this book examines the same rules discussed in the two earlier books, some overlap with them is unavoidable. I have judged, however, that the present book will aid you more if it is complete in itself, without requiring constant reference to the earlier books. These earlier books can also help you, and they develop some points in greater detail. But this book provides the essential content you need to present the rules.

Teaching Discernment provides a model for presenting the rules. In it I share the various examples and metaphors—for example, the snowball at the top of the mountain and halfway down the mountainside to illustrate rule 12—that I find helpful in presenting the rules. You may use these same examples and metaphors if you choose. I presume, however, that you will find your own examples and metaphors as well. Mine are not prescriptive!

When supplying Ignatius’s rules or examples of them in life, I have often inserted commentary into the text. This written commentary reflects the spoken commentary I offer as I read through these texts. What may appear somewhat cumbersome here on the written page is alive and, I believe, helpful to listeners in the actual presentation.

When I teach these rules, I employ handouts and a PowerPoint presentation, as I explain in this book. Both are available to prospective teachers, and the links are found in chapter 25 where I discuss these aids for the teaching.

I have entitled this book Teaching Discernment: A Pedagogy for Presenting Ignatian Discernment of Spirits. Teaching discernment—this teaching requires learning the rules and shaping an effective way to present them. It entails more, however, than a simple transmission of information. It is teaching in the sense that one teaches faith or prayer to another: instruction in a spiritual reality, yes, but one conveyed with both mind and heart, born of the conviction, life, and love of the teacher. Our listeners readily perceive this quality in us. They sense the difference. Such conviction, personal practice of discernment, and love are graces to be sought through prayer.

I have very much desired to write this book. I am glad to share this pedagogy with you and hope that it will assist your teaching of the rules. I have long understood these fourteen rules in the light of Jesus’s words in Luke 4, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives … to let the oppressed go free” (Lk 4:18).3 Ignatius’s rules set captives free. It is beautiful to see this happen and blessed to be the instrument of this freedom. May this book contribute to the number of those who serve as such instruments.

Text of the Rules

Rules for becoming aware and understanding to some extent the different movements which are caused in the soul, the good, to receive them, and the bad to reject them. And these rules are more proper for the first week. (313)

First Rule. The first rule: In persons who are going from mortal sin to mortal sin, the enemy is ordinarily accustomed to propose apparent pleasures to them, leading them to imagine sensual delights and pleasures in order to hold them more and make them grow in their vices and sins. In these persons the good spirit uses a contrary method, stinging and biting their consciences through their rational power of moral judgment. (314)

Second Rule. The second: In persons who are going on intensely purifying their sins and rising from good to better in the service of God our Lord, the method is contrary to that in the first rule. For then it is proper to the evil spirit to bite, sadden, and place obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, so that the person may not go forward. And it is proper to the good spirit to give courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and quiet, easing and taking away all obstacles, so that the person may go forward in doing good. (315)

Third Rule. The third is of spiritual consolation. I call it consolation when some interior movement is caused in the soul, through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord, and, consequently when it can love no created thing on the face of the earth in itself, but only in the Creator of them all. Likewise when it sheds tears that move to love of its Lord, whether out of sorrow for one’s sins, or for the passion of Christ our Lord, or because of other things directly ordered to his service and praise. Finally, I call consolation every increase of hope, faith and charity, and all interior joy that calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one’s soul, quieting it and giving it peace in its Creator and Lord. (316)

Fourth Rule. The fourth is of spiritual desolation. I call desolation all the contrary of the third rule, such as darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to low and earthly things, disquiet from various agitations and temptations, moving to lack of confidence, without hope, without love, finding oneself totally slothful, tepid, sad and, as if separated from one’s Creator and Lord. For just as consolation is contrary to desolation, in the same way the thoughts that come from consolation are contrary to the thoughts that come from desolation. (317)

Fifth Rule. The fifth: In time of desolation never make a change, but be firm and constant in the proposals and determination in which one was the day preceding such desolation, or in the determination in which one was in the preceding consolation. Because, as in consolation the good spirit guides and counsels us more, so in desolation the bad spirit, with whose counsels we cannot find the way to a right decision. (318)

Sixth Rule. The sixth: Although in desolation we should not change our first proposals, it is very advantageous to change ourselves intensely against the desolation itself, as by insisting more upon prayer, meditation, upon much examination, and upon extending ourselves in some suitable way of doing penance. (319)

Seventh Rule. The seventh: Let one who is in desolation consider how the Lord has left him in trial in his natural powers, so that he may resist the various agitations and temptations of the enemy; since he can resist with the divine help, which always remains with him, though he does not clearly feel it; for the Lord has taken away from him his great fervor, abundant love and intense grace, leaving him, however, sufficient grace for eternal salvation. (320)

Eighth Rule. The eighth: Let one who is in desolation work to be in patience, which is contrary to the vexations which come to him, and let him think that he will soon be consoled, diligently using the means against such desolation, as is said in the sixth rule. (321)

Ninth Rule. The ninth: There are three principal causes for which we find ourselves desolate. The first is because we are tepid, slothful or negligent in our spiritual exercises, and so through our faults spiritual consolation withdraws from us. The second, to try us and see how much we are and how much we extend ourselves in his service and praise without so much payment of consolations and increased graces. The third, to give us true recognition and understanding so that we may interiorly feel that it is not ours to attain or maintain increased devotion, intense love, tears or any other spiritual consolation, but that all is the gift and grace of God our Lord, and so that we may not build a nest in something belonging to another, raising our mind in some pride or vainglory, attributing to ourselves the devotion or the other parts of the spiritual consolation. (322)

Tenth Rule. The tenth: Let the one who is in consolation think how he will conduct himself in the desolation which will come after, taking new strength for that time. (323)

Eleventh Rule. The eleventh: Let one who is consoled seek to humble himself and lower himself as much as he can, thinking of how little he is capable in the time of desolation without such grace or consolation. On the contrary, let one who is in desolation think that he can do much with God’s sufficient grace to resist all his enemies, taking strength in his Creator and Lord. (324)

Twelfth Rule. The twelfth: The enemy acts like a woman in being weak when faced with strength and strong when faced with weakness. For, as it is proper to a woman, when she is fighting with some man, to lose heart and to flee when the man confronts her firmly, and, on the contrary, if the man begins to flee, losing heart, the anger, vengeance, and ferocity of the woman grow greatly and know no bounds, in the same way, it is proper to the enemy to weaken and lose heart, fleeing and ceasing his temptations when the person who is exercising himself in spiritual things confronts the temptations of the enemy firmly, doing what is diametrically opposed to them; and, on the contrary, if the person who is exercising himself begins to be afraid and lose heart in suffering the temptations, there is no beast so fierce on the face of the earth as the enemy of human nature in following out his damnable intention with such growing malice. (325)

Thirteenth Rule. The thirteenth: Likewise he conducts himself as a false lover in wishing to remain secret and not be revealed. For a dissolute man who, speaking with evil intention, makes dishonorable advances to a daughter of a good father or a wife of a good husband, wishes his words and persuasions to be secret, and the contrary displeases him very much, when the daughter reveals to her father or the wife to her husband his false words and depraved intention, because he easily perceives that he will not be able to succeed with the undertaking begun. In the same way, when the enemy of human nature brings his wiles and persuasions to the just soul, he wishes and desires that they be received and kept in secret; but when one reveals them to one’s good confessor or to another spiritual person, who knows his deceits and malicious designs, it weighs on him very much, because he perceives that he will not be able to succeed with the malicious undertaking he has begun, since his manifest deceits have been revealed. (326)

Fourteenth Rule. The fourteenth: Likewise he conducts himself as a leader, intent upon conquering and robbing what he desires. For, just as a captain and leader of an army in the field, pitching his camp and exploring the fortifications and defenses of a stronghold, attacks it at the weakest point, in the same way the enemy of human nature, roving about, looks in turn at all our theological, cardinal, and moral virtues; and where he finds us weakest and most in need for our eternal salvation, there he attacks us and attempts to take us. (327)

Author’s translation in The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Life (New York: Crossroad, 2005), 7–10. The numbers in parentheses are standard usage for citing paragraphs from the Spiritual Exercises. Thus, “(313)” indicates paragraph 313 in the Spiritual Exercises. Elsewhere in this book, these paragraphs will be given together with the abbreviation “SpirEx.”

PART ONE

Preparing to Teach

1

How This Pedagogy Developed

I first encountered the Spiritual Exercises in my seminary years through retreats based upon them. In particular, I remember one six-day retreat led by Father Claude Boudreaux, SJ, then serving at the Jesuit General Curia in Rome. Our seminary residence was outside Rome, and Father Boudreaux spent the week with us, giving daily conferences based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

I remember him seated before us in the seminary library and his calm delivery as he spoke on the Principle and Foundation, the First Week with its invitation to freedom from sinfulness, the key meditations of the Second Week—the Call of the King, the Two Standards, the Three Classes, and the Three Degrees of Humility—the contemplation of the life of Jesus and of his passion and resurrection, with the concluding Contemplation to Attain Love. Through this retreat and others like it, I and my companions were introduced to the Spiritual Exercises.

During those same years, I grew closer to the founder of my religious community, the Venerable Bruno Lanteri.1 As I learned more about him, I increasingly perceived his love and esteem for the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

Then, in the summer after my second year of theology, one of the seminarians made the thirty-day Spiritual Exercises. When we met in the fall, he spoke of this experience, and a deep desire awoke in me to do the same. I went to the library and attempted to read the book of the Spiritual Exercises. As is often true of first contact with the book, it simply confused me with its many points, rules, notes, meditations, contemplations, repetitions, and the like. I did not persist in the effort to read.

But my interest was strong. That year, the Jesuit who had directed my companion’s Exercises, Father Engelbert Lacasse, visited our residence in Rome. I spoke with him of my desire to make the thirty-day retreat, and after our conversation he told me that he would accept me for the following summer. My superior approved, and we made the necessary plans.

That next summer, I and three of my companions made the month of retreat under Father Lacasse’s direction. The retreat was hosted in a convent in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada. Father Lacasse did not speak English well, nor did I French, though both of us understood the other language well. That was how we communicated, each speaking his own language! We never had any difficulty in conversing.

Father Lacasse’s approach was a mixture of old-school preaching and the more recent emphasis on personal prayer with regular meetings between retreatant and director. Father gave five conferences a day, each followed by forty-five minutes of personal prayer. He met with us every other day.

What could have been a heavy daily schedule was not so because we found Father Lacasse so inspiring. In his daily talks he simply commented on the text of the Spiritual Exercises, exposing us to the book and in a way that motivated prayer. I loved the whole experience. I remember that when we finished the month, I said to myself, “Someone has finally taught me how to pray.”

That thirty-day retreat was my first encounter with Ignatius’s rules for the discernment of spirits (SpirEx 313–336). They made no particular impression on me at the time; they were a part of a larger text that I now esteem, but they did not draw my attention in any special way. Father Lacasse had explained each, and I had learned from his explanation. The matter rested there.

After the retreat I continued to learn more about the Spiritual Exercises. When studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University, I met Father Manuel Ruiz Jurado, SJ. I attended his classes at the university, and he later served as director of my licentiate and doctoral theses. At his suggestion, I focused my academic writing on Venerable Bruno Lanteri’s understanding of the Spiritual Exercises and the place he gave them in the work of my congregation.2 My perception of their centrality in our ministry grew.

Father Ruiz Jurado is a leading Ignatian scholar and was well qualified to guide my studies. The licentiate and doctoral theses were solid exercises in learning. At the same time, I attended classes and conferences on the Spiritual Exercises by other leading Ignatian figures: Charles Bernard, SJ, Herbert Alphonso, SJ, Clemente Espinosa, SJ, and others.

When I finished my studies and prepared to return to the United States, I asked Father Ruiz Jurado for suggestions on Ignatian reading. Among his recommendations was Daniel Gil, SJ’s recently published commentary on the rules for discernment.3 I will be forever grateful to Father for this recommendation. I purchased the book, brought it with me to the United States, placed it on my shelf, and, at the time, left it there without reading it.

A year earlier, Jules Toner, SJ, published his commentary on the rules for discernment.4 I was aware of this book, but likewise did not then read it. In retrospect, I find it remarkable that, to my mind, the two best commentaries on these rules in their five-hundred-year history were written within a year of each other.

Certainly busyness was involved in my slowness to read these books. I had just returned to the United States after eleven years in Italy and was absorbed in my new work with our seminarians. But that was not all. At that time I had no awareness that the rules for discernment might merit more attention than, for example, the talks Father Lacasse had given on them in the thirty-day retreat.

At this point, a classmate who had been working in Argentina returned to visit. In Argentina he had come to know Father Miguel Ángel Fiorito, SJ, another master of Ignatian discernment.5 As we spoke, my classmate mentioned talks that he gave on the rules for discernment. One simple comment struck me and stayed with me. He told of how he would speak for a half hour on the title statement to the rules: “Rules for becoming aware and understanding to some extent the different movements which are caused in the soul, the good, to receive them, and the bad to reject them. And these rules are more proper for the first week.”6

I had no idea how anyone could speak for a half hour on this brief text of thirty-four words (in the original Spanish), simply a title to the rules that follow. I realized that if this text could be explained for thirty minutes, it contained much more than I knew. For the first time, I felt a need to learn more about these rules.

I was teaching at the time, and it happened that a month opened for me during the fall semester. I decided that this was my opportunity to study Ignatius’s rules for discernment more in depth. I took Daniel Gil’s commentary on them and went to a quiet part of the house. Day after day, with Gil’s guidance, I explored the rules. I can still see myself, walking up and down the corridor outside the office, wrestling with the questions that arose as I studied. I grew familiar with the original text in Spanish. Gil’s phrase-by-phrase explanation of the text opened my eyes to a richness I had never seen. I began to understand how one could give a half-hour talk on the title statement or any of the rules.

From time to time I was asked to give retreats to our seminarians. In these retreats I began giving simple talks on the rules. The turning point came when I was asked to give an eight-day retreat to a group of sisters. Each morning I spoke for thirty minutes on the rules, and over the eight days presented all fourteen (SpirEx 313–327).7 Something electric occurred in the transmission and reception of these rules; both the retreatants and I knew that something significant had happened.

This was the moment when I first understood that these rules contained a treasure. The study I had done and would do in subsequent years contributed further to this understanding. But that was not the primary factor. What really opened my eyes to the power in these rules was the response of people when they were explained. With varying nuances, people would say, “For the first time, I understand what is happening in my spiritual life. I can already see the difference these practical guidelines will make in my life. I feel a whole new sense of hope. Why didn’t anyone tell us about this before? I wish I had known this ten (twenty, thirty, forty) years ago. Everyone should know this teaching.”

That retreat with the sisters was the first time I experienced this response to the rules. It was only the first experience of an enthusiasm that I have witnessed consistently in the twenty-five years since whenever the rules were presented with the pedagogy I will discuss in this book.

After that retreat, for the next eleven years, I gave three retreats a year to these sisters, each time explaining the rules for discernment. At the end of one retreat, a sister told me that she had watched the groundskeeper go into a shed and come out carrying the tools he needed. She said, “I feel like St. Ignatius has done the same for me. His rules give me the spiritual tools I need to live my spiritual life.”

Every time I prepared and then presented the rules, I learned more about them. My grasp of the pedagogy and my understanding of why it was effective continued to develop.

Requests for this teaching arrived from other groups as well, and I found myself presenting the rules often throughout the year. By now my interest in the rules was deeply awakened, and I began to read everything I could find on them. This encompassed their five-hundred-year history and included various languages. It involved all of Ignatius’s writings; Jesuit writings about Ignatius’s life and spirituality; early commentaries on how to give the Spiritual Exercises; writings by more recent authors such as José Calveras, SJ, Ignacio Casanovas, SJ, Ignacio Iparraguirre, SJ, Manuel Ruiz Jurado, SJ, Daniel Gil, SJ, Jules Toner, SJ, Miguel Ángel Fiorito, SJ, and Thomas Green, SJ; the many articles on discernment in Manresa and The Way; and a wide variety of contemporary writing on discernment. The reading led me deeper into the wisdom of Ignatius’s rules.

During these years I made another decision that, as I realized later, contributed significantly to this developing pedagogy. Endless volumes are written on the spiritual life, and I realized that I could not read everything. Some approach to prioritizing my reading was necessary. I decided that I would focus primarily on the classics of the spiritual life, the writings, for example, of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales, St. Bonaventure, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Bl. John Henry Newman, Julian of Norwich, St. Catherine of Siena, and other classic authors.

As these two streams of reading mingled—writing on Ignatius’s rules for discernment and classic writing on the spiritual life—I began to see a link between them. Ignatius’s text described what occurs in spiritual experience, and the classic sources supplied lived examples of that experience. Taken together, something powerful emerged.

I realized that Ignatius’s text is Ignatian only in its formulation—in the structure of the fourteen rules and the words he employed to express each; the experience he illustrates in that text is universal. Any person of faith who seeks to love and follow Christ will undergo the spiritual experience Ignatius describes in his rules.

St. Augustine’s spiritual struggles before and during his conversion, for example, perfectly exemplify Ignatius’s first two rules.8 A page in the spiritual diary of Raïssa Maritain, wife of the philosopher Jacques Maritain, author, and a woman of deep love of God, supplies a clear example of rule 3.9 Again, an experience of Julian of Norwich incarnates the spiritual presupposition underlying Ignatius’s rule 8.10 The words of St. Francis of Assisi to one who was discouraged illustrate Ignatius’s rule 9.11 Examples multiplied endlessly as I read.

In my religious community, each year we make an eight-day Ignatian retreat. The days are spent in silence, praying repeatedly with Scripture as the day unfolds. Each day, the retreatant meets with a director to share the experience of prayer and receive help in discerning where God is leading. I chose to make these retreats with masters of Ignatian spirituality: Manuel Ruiz Jurado, SJ, George Aschenbrenner, SJ, Jules Toner, SJ, Dominic Maruca, SJ, and others. From these retreats I learned in a practical way about Ignatius’s rules and how they apply in lived experience. I remember in particular my conversations with Jules Toner, then in his later years. Rarely have I encountered so sharp a mind. It was a delight to discuss discernment of spirits with one who understood the questions so clearly and who could offer such clear answers.

As the years passed, the convergence of these several channels of learning—reading about Ignatian discernment and about classic spiritual experience, the repeated teaching of the rules, contact with masters of Ignatian spirituality, the experience of the rules that many shared with me, and my own growing awareness of how these rules applied in my own life—coalesced in the pedagogy that is the subject of this book. It consists essentially in this: a careful exploration of Ignatius’s own words in his text and an abundant exemplification of them through concrete spiritual experience. I will return to this methodology in subsequent chapters.

Eventually I was invited to teach the rules to a group of spiritual directors in training. At that point, the teaching moved beyond the context of retreats and became a teaching in its own right. Further invitations followed, and I began presenting the rules in many settings: parishes, seminaries, programs of spiritual formation, professional groups, and similar venues. After some time, my superior asked me to formulate this presentation as a book. A series of Ignatian books resulted, as one book required another for completeness.

Now, some thirty-five years since I began to explore Ignatian discernment, this pedagogy has reached thousands. For much of this time, I have traveled nationally and internationally teaching Ignatius’s rules according to this pedagogy. I have shared it with people of different nationalities, cultures, ethnicities, languages, and educational backgrounds. I have seen that when the rules are taught in this way, all understand them and perceive how to apply them in their lives. One thing only is presupposed: that this person is trying, or at the very least has tried in the past, to live as a true follower of Christ—that is, that this person is making some sincere effort to pray and to live according to Christ’s Word. If so, then the person has already experienced what Ignatius describes in his fourteen rules and will readily understand how to apply them in the future. And not only will these rules be understood, but they will also awaken joy, enthusiasm, and hope.

The books I have written on these rules have amplified the radius of this pedagogy.12 At present, The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide to Everyday Living is published in a number of languages.13 I hear continually from people who tell me how this pedagogy has helped them understand, often for the first time, Ignatian discernment.14 I have presented this pedagogy on television and through podcasts with the same response.15

I know now from experience that this approach to the rules widely expands the number of those who can apply them. The rules cease to be the sole property of a retreat master, Jesuit or otherwise, in a remote retreat house, and become the common possession of all who love Christ. Without exaggeration and because so many tell me this, I can say that these rules, so explained, are life changing.

Increasingly I learn of people who have themselves become teachers of Ignatius’s rules. Having benefitted from these rules personally, they wish to share them with others. May their numbers grow! This book is for them and all who will join them as teachers of Ignatian discernment. It is also for those who would like to teach the rules, wonder if they have the prerequisites to attempt this, and if so, how to proceed. To all these, this book offers a blueprint.

2

The Fruit of This Pedagogy

Is it worth teaching the rules? Does this teaching merit the time and effort involved? Can Ignatius’s rules for discernment really make a difference in people’s lives—enough to justify the energy required to prepare and teach them? Obviously the answers to these questions matter. How a person answers these questions will determine whether or not that person will decide to teach these rules.

I imagine that anyone reading this book has most likely answered these questions affirmatively. I know from decades of experience and beyond doubt that the answers to these questions are affirmative. The only question is the pedagogy. If that is effective, great fruit will follow from teaching the rules for discernment.

All people of faith who seek to love Jesus experience the spiritual ups and downs Ignatius describes in his rules. At times they find themselves full of spiritual energy. God feels close, and they sense his love. Prayer is alive; they look forward to it and come from it with new hope and joy. They are grateful for their callings to marriage, priesthood, the consecrated life, or some other form of service in the world, and their daily activity feels blessed with meaning. These may also be times of creativity and new initiatives in prayer or service.

At other times, and for reasons they do not always understand, their spiritual energy seems to disappear. Now God feels distant, and it is hard to sense his love. Prayer is difficult; they struggle even to be faithful to the time of prayer, and little seems to change when they do pray. They feel little joy in their callings and daily service, and find themselves beset with doubts and disquiet.

All of us, with different individual nuances, experience this ebb and flow in our daily spiritual lives. Most of us never talk about this. We do not even have a vocabulary to describe it. When we undergo the more troubling times, we bear them in silence and with some sense of shame: our lack of energy for prayer, our sense of distance from God; the doubts, anxieties, burdens, and urgings to abandon our spiritual efforts we experience indicate to us that we are less than we ought to be—less than God wants us to be—in our spiritual lives. We feel different from others who, it appears to us, never seem to go through this. A gray sense of diminished hope or even hopelessness results. We may live our spiritual lives this way for days, weeks, months, years, or decades.

Who will set the captives free? In the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus proclaims, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. … He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and … to let the oppressed go free” (Lk 4:18).1 Jesus did not come that we might be held captive to spiritual anxiety, shame, and hopelessness. He came to set captives free. Ignatius, in his rules for discernment, is simply an instrument of that freedom.

Simply! Ignatius is not the only one to describe these spiritual ups and downs, but no one has written about them with the same clarity, practicality, and usability. When the rules are taught to people who love Jesus and yet carry such spiritual burdens, the chains of captivity begin to break. A path toward freedom opens and with it a release of hope and energy. To pursue the metaphor, the sun shines through the grayness, and the grayness dissipates.

When I was in the seminary, I read The Hidden Treasure by St. Leonard of Port Maurice.2 In this little book, St. Leonard speaks of the Mass as a treasure at the disposal of all but whose depths and richness many do not know; the treasure is hidden. I often think of Ignatius’s rules in this way, as a hidden treasure, a powerful and rich resource available to all but unknown to many. I have seen this change in recent years, but still too many do not know of this spiritual treasure.

Hardly a day passes that I do not hear from one or more persons—at this point, thousands of such persons throughout the English-speaking world and in other languages as well—about the difference Ignatius’s rules has made in their lives. Whether in person or through digital means, I repeatedly hear comments such as these:

“I never even knew how to talk about this spiritual experience. Now I have a way to understand and talk about it. It is such a relief.”

“It’s so wonderful to know that I’m not the only one.”

“I’m so glad to know that what I experience is normal in the spiritual life.”

“I am amazed that five hundred years ago someone described so exactly what I experience.”

“It is so good to know that there is no shame in experiencing these spiritual burdens, that all of us do, and that what matters is to resist and reject them.”

“I never knew what to do about this, and now I have a way to deal with it.”

“I thought that all I could say was that I’m having a bad day. Now I know that I can reject these discouraging lies.”

“I thought that I just had to wait for this to end. Now I see that I don’t have to be passive, that I can take action to resist this.”

Almost invariably, when I teach the rules, people say, “I wish I had known this ten, twenty, thirty years ago.” I love this comment when I hear it, because it tells me that these people have deeply assimilated the teaching and that the rules are now likely to make a positive difference in their lives.

One woman, who may stand for many, told me that before learning the rules she thought that the discouraging lies of the enemy—“You are not what you should be. You do not pray well. You do not love God very much. Your service is less than it ought to be.”—were the voice of God telling her the truth about her spiritual life. We can easily understand the deep discouragement this entailed. And she had carried this burden for years. To know now, with Ignatius’s help, how to distinguish these lies from the true voice of God set her free to love and serve the Lord.

I often hear these and similar comments after people have learned the rules. But most of all, I hear this: “Everyone should know this! Every Christian should know this. These rules should be taught to everyone. If they were, it would make such a difference in living our faith.” They are right. So many pitfalls, so many harmful decisions, and so much “gray” suffering would be eliminated if all knew and practiced Ignatius’s rules for discernment.

For that to happen, teachers of these rules are needed. You, reader, can be one of them. Whether you are single, married, ordained, or consecrated, you can learn and help others learn these rules. The tools are available. The pedagogy exists. The fruit is enormous. The following chapters will supply the means to teach a discernment that can set captives free.