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Ignatius’ Rules for Discernment Journey to God II
https://karen-early.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ignatius-Rules-for-Spiritual-Discernment-II.m4a
The classic source is the Rules for the Discernment of Spirits in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Even today these rules, written 450 years ago, are the Church’s canonical locus on discernment. What Augustine has done for the problem of evil, or St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross for the phenomenology of prayer, St. Ignatius, by the grace of God, has done for the art of discernment.[2]
Capable of weight of 450 years of thought, stood test of time. It is accessible to the everyday person. Fr. Gallagher allows to see how discernment looks like in individuals. Profound but not challenging, like St. Therese Little Way. Engage the text very accessible.
Ignatius of Loyola (l. 1491-1556) was a Basque soldier who became a Catholic priest and theologian after a mystical experience convinced him he was called to the service of Christ. He founded the Society of Jesus(Jesuits) to defend the Church and spread its message and was one of the leading figures of the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
In his youth, he was significantly influenced by chivalric literature and became a courtier and soldier, serving in the army until 1521, when he was severely wounded at the Battle of Pamplona. While convalescing at his father’s house, he read books on the life of Jesus Christ and the acts of the saints and became convinced he was called to serve God.
[So far Ignatius had shown none but the ordinary virtues of the Spanish officer. His dangers and sufferings has doubtless done much to purge his soul, but there was no idea yet of remodelling his life on any higher ideals. Then, in order to divert the weary hours of convalescence, he asked for the romances of chivalry, his favourite reading, but there were none in the castle, and instead they brought him the lives of Christ and of the saints, and he read them in the same quasi-competitive spirit with which he read the achievements of knights and warriors. “Suppose I were to rival this saint in fasting, that one in endurance, that other in pilgrimages.” He would then wander off into thoughts of chivalry, and service to fair ladies, especially to one of high rank, whose name is unknown. Then all of a sudden, he became conscious that the after-effect of these dreams was to make him dry and dissatisfied, while the ideas of falling into rank among the saints braced and strengthened him, and left him full of joy and peace.
…
One night as he lay awake, pondering these new lights, “he saw clearly”, so says his autobiography, “the image of Our Lady with the Holy Child Jesus”, at whose sight for a notable time he felt a reassuring sweetness, which eventually left him with such a loathing of his past sins, and especially for those of the flesh, that every unclean imagination seemed blotted out from his soul, and never again was there the least consent to any carnal thought. His conversion was now complete. ][3]
After his recovery, he renounced his former life and dedicated himself to poverty and Christian service.
He devoted himself to study, prayer, and fasting, traveled to Jerusalem, and returned to study theology formally in Spain and France. At the University of Paris, he met six friends who would form the core of what would become the Jesuit order, which was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540. The Jesuit motto “Go, Set the World on Fire,” coined by Loyola, was (and still is) the central directive in defending the tenets of the Catholic Church and spreading its message of universal salvation.[4]
No books in his father’s home Ignatius liked. His father had foresight to have prudence to keep a home that brings true joy. Father saw flirtation with inappropriate literature. St Therese said her sister never let any literature come to her that would hinder her vocation. Keep books that elevate the mind.
[1] Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living (Crossroad :New York 2005)
[2] Thomas Green SJ, Weeds Among the Wheat: Discernment Where Prayer and Action Meet (Ave Maria Press: 1984) 14
[3] https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/ignatius-of-loyola-612 accessed Feb 23, 2024
[4] https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16015/saint-ignatius-of-loyola/ accessed Feb 23, 2024
The post Ignatius’ Rules for Discernment Journey to God II appeared first on Fides et Ratio.
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https://karen-early.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ignatius-Rules-for-Spiritual-Discernment-II.m4a
The classic source is the Rules for the Discernment of Spirits in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Even today these rules, written 450 years ago, are the Church’s canonical locus on discernment. What Augustine has done for the problem of evil, or St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross for the phenomenology of prayer, St. Ignatius, by the grace of God, has done for the art of discernment.[2]
Capable of weight of 450 years of thought, stood test of time. It is accessible to the everyday person. Fr. Gallagher allows to see how discernment looks like in individuals. Profound but not challenging, like St. Therese Little Way. Engage the text very accessible.
Ignatius of Loyola (l. 1491-1556) was a Basque soldier who became a Catholic priest and theologian after a mystical experience convinced him he was called to the service of Christ. He founded the Society of Jesus(Jesuits) to defend the Church and spread its message and was one of the leading figures of the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
In his youth, he was significantly influenced by chivalric literature and became a courtier and soldier, serving in the army until 1521, when he was severely wounded at the Battle of Pamplona. While convalescing at his father’s house, he read books on the life of Jesus Christ and the acts of the saints and became convinced he was called to serve God.
[So far Ignatius had shown none but the ordinary virtues of the Spanish officer. His dangers and sufferings has doubtless done much to purge his soul, but there was no idea yet of remodelling his life on any higher ideals. Then, in order to divert the weary hours of convalescence, he asked for the romances of chivalry, his favourite reading, but there were none in the castle, and instead they brought him the lives of Christ and of the saints, and he read them in the same quasi-competitive spirit with which he read the achievements of knights and warriors. “Suppose I were to rival this saint in fasting, that one in endurance, that other in pilgrimages.” He would then wander off into thoughts of chivalry, and service to fair ladies, especially to one of high rank, whose name is unknown. Then all of a sudden, he became conscious that the after-effect of these dreams was to make him dry and dissatisfied, while the ideas of falling into rank among the saints braced and strengthened him, and left him full of joy and peace.
…
One night as he lay awake, pondering these new lights, “he saw clearly”, so says his autobiography, “the image of Our Lady with the Holy Child Jesus”, at whose sight for a notable time he felt a reassuring sweetness, which eventually left him with such a loathing of his past sins, and especially for those of the flesh, that every unclean imagination seemed blotted out from his soul, and never again was there the least consent to any carnal thought. His conversion was now complete. ][3]
After his recovery, he renounced his former life and dedicated himself to poverty and Christian service.
He devoted himself to study, prayer, and fasting, traveled to Jerusalem, and returned to study theology formally in Spain and France. At the University of Paris, he met six friends who would form the core of what would become the Jesuit order, which was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540. The Jesuit motto “Go, Set the World on Fire,” coined by Loyola, was (and still is) the central directive in defending the tenets of the Catholic Church and spreading its message of universal salvation.[4]
No books in his father’s home Ignatius liked. His father had foresight to have prudence to keep a home that brings true joy. Father saw flirtation with inappropriate literature. St Therese said her sister never let any literature come to her that would hinder her vocation. Keep books that elevate the mind.
[1] Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living (Crossroad :New York 2005)
[2] Thomas Green SJ, Weeds Among the Wheat: Discernment Where Prayer and Action Meet (Ave Maria Press: 1984) 14
[3] https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/ignatius-of-loyola-612 accessed Feb 23, 2024
[4] https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16015/saint-ignatius-of-loyola/ accessed Feb 23, 2024
The post Ignatius’ Rules for Discernment Journey to God II appeared first on Fides et Ratio.