Discernment of Spirits

Prayer can be hard! Some days it may be easy and we have good feelings and strongly desire to follow God, but other times it seems like everything in us is trying to keep us from connecting to God in prayer. That's because there's an actual spiritual battle going on for our souls. God & His angels want to encourage us in our journey to heaven. And our enemy, Satan and his demons, want to keep us from that goal. St. Ignatius of Loyola gives us "Rules for Discernment of Spirits", so we can know who's at work (God or the devil) and know how to respond.  

The first step is to become aware of whether we are experiencing Consolation or Desolation in our prayer. That way we can understand what is going on, so that we can then take action.

Consolation: Joy in prayer

St Ignatius describes it as "Some interior movement in the soul causes the soul to come inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord...Every increase of hope, faith, and charity, and all interior joy that calls and attracts the soul to heavenly things and to salvation."

During consolation, you can trust that God is at work, guiding, and inspiring you in prayer.

What to do in Consolation?

• Be thankful, journal it
• Receive! You can even return to what you're praying with as the consolation lasts. (Like sucking all the juice out of a Popsicle until it's gone). 
• Prepare for the next time of desolation. 

Desolation: Discouragement in prayer

St. Ignatius describes desolation as, "darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to low and earthly things, disquiet from various agitations and temptations, moving to a lack of confidence, without hope, without love, finding oneself totally slothful, tepid, sad as if separated from one's Creator and Lord." 

Desolation is never from God, but God allows it for our good. In desolation, it is the evil spirit who is guiding and influencing. 

Reasons for Desolation:

• Sin, lukewarmness/negligent prayer (aka, you stopped praying, or started turning away from God) --> Return to God! Begin again!
• To test our will or purify our motive for serving God. --> Persevere!
• To teach us humility. --> Unite our suffering to Christ & trust Him!

What to do in Desolation?

• Do not change a decision you made during consolation; stick with it
• Do more, not less (prayer, sacraments, service; specifically move against whatever the desolation makes you want to do. ex: if you're tempted to skip prayer or pray less, add an extra 5 minutes to your prayer)
• Be patient. Remember that consolation will come again soon, remember past times of God's faithfulness. 

For a more in depth explanation, see https://lifeteen.com/blog/praising-consolation-praying-desolation/ 

Also, you can read Ignatius' 14 Rules for Discernment yourself here 

This is a great book on Discernment of Spirits!