Fr. Gallagher speaks of the Ignatian connection to the Liturgy of the Hours:

Ignatius expects— and experience confirms— that all who love and seek the Lord will undergo times of spiritual desolation: times when they do not sense God’s closeness and when they feel discouraged, without energy for prayer or service to others. Such desolation, he tells us, is a common tactic of our spiritual enemy. God in his love permits this, Ignatius says, because we grow through resisting such desolation. If we learn, therefore, to be aware of this discouraging tactic of the enemy, to understand it, and to reject it, we are set free to love and serve the Lord. The goal of Ignatius’s rules is to foster such freedom.

5 In his sixth rule, Ignatius counsels the person in desolation to “insist more upon prayer and meditation.” 6 In the discouragement of desolation, we feel a disinclination to pray. Not only, Ignatius says, should we resist the temptation to abandon prayer, but we must “insist” upon prayer and meditation even more in times of desolation. Gradually, I discovered that the Liturgy of the Hours helped me do this.

Check our here to hear the podcast referenced here by Fr. Gallagher: IP#260 Daria Sockey – The Everyday Catholic’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours

Father Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., was ordained in 1979 as a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, a religious community dedicated to retreats and spiritual formation according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Fr. Gallagher is featured on the EWTN series “Living the Discerning Life: The Spiritual Teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola”.

For the other episodes in this series check out Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s “Discerning Hearts” page

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