Alex Goulet

RELI 370
Final Paper
12/4/2017

Ignatian Spirituality

For St. Ignatius the purpose of the Spiritual Exercises is to serve as a, “systematic way

to come to a deep spiritual conversion” (Feldmeier, 177). The Spiritual Exercises help one

become aware of their disordered affections and uproot them, so they can be free to use their

gifts to serve God and others. In these exercises one should use methods such as: the

examination of conscience, meditation, contemplation, vocal and mental prayer.

The exercises take place during a month long silent retreat that consists of a four week

model and are rooted in the, “principle that persons are created to love, praise and serve God”

(Feldmeier, 177). The main components of the first week of the retreat consist of exploring the

history of sin and understanding that God loves us even though we are sinners. During the

second week of the retreat we focus on making a choice to follow Jesus. We decide to choose

Christ’s vision and value system, one of virtue, and turning away from the vision and value

system of the enemy, Lucifer. The third week continues with choosing the follow Jesus, but that

choice is now put to the test. Christ’s passion and death on the cross are explored and during

these exercises we continue to choose to be with Jesus in this time by being with the poor of the

world. Finally, in the fourth week of the retreat we contemplate on the resurrection of Christ and

his victory over sin. During this week, we focus on becoming a Contemplative in action and

realize we unite with God not only in prayer, but in everything we do.

Ignatius understands Divine Union as this place where we have come to understand that

God loves us completely, regardless of our sinfulness, and we have chosen to follow Christ

because of it. When this love is realized we also realize that it must be reflected in more than

words between us and God, but in actions as well. Also, this Divine Union rooted in love is built

on mutual communication between us and God. Christ communicates and gives himself to us
totally, in Jesus, and because of that love we must reciprocate, a mutual sharing between the

lover and the beloved (The Spiritual Exercises, 95).

Ignatian Divine Union differs from the Carmelite view because it focuses on a mutual

exchange between two persons (you and God), where the Carmelite view emphasizes the

joining of our soul to God and becoming one. John of the Cross describes this joining as two

flames becoming a single fire and Teresa of Avila talks about it in her 7th Dwelling as a mystical

marriage between the soul and God. For me, the Ignatian view of Divine Union is most

appealing because this Divine Union is easier to grasp because in ways it’s similar to the way

we already have relationships with people. Ignatius’ focus on this mutual communication

between you and God is like friendship, which I like. God gives to us and because we love him

we give back to him with all we have.

Ignatian discernment is comprised of consolation and desolation. Consolation is the

spiritual movement of the soul toward God or the good. This movement generates deep peace,

faith, hope and love. On the contrary, desolation is the spiritual movement toward the devil, or

evil. This movement brings about a disturbance to peace and a lack of faith, hope and love.

For Ignatius there are a couple of things that can cause a state of desolation. The first

thing he feels can cause desolation is a lack of prayer and cultivation of one’s spiritual life. The

second reason is that God might be allowing this time of desolation as a test to teach one

humility and reliance on God for their spiritual development. When in a state of desolation

Ignatius advises us to do a few things. The first is to not make any new decisions or change

decisions that you’ve already made. Secondly, be patient; continue to pray and trust that this is

temporary and consolation will return. Lastly, know that is this time of desolation God’s grace is

sufficient and will see you through it.

I can say that I’ve experienced both consolation and desolation. When, I first came to

Gonzaga I struggled with a period of desolation that lasted a couple years. I had fallen away

from my faith and was no longer going to church. As a result, I became depressed and really
lost who I was during that time and became convinced that God didn't care about me anymore

and I was beyond hope. A time I can recall being in a state of consolation was during my first

year of mission work, especially my own 8-day silent retreat. It was a time of peace and intimate

time with God. He was continuously reminding me how much he loved me, how he saw me as

his Beloved and even showing me that he was there in previous times of desolation. I journaled

during that retreat so in times of desolation I will read excerpts from that time, and be reminded

of God’s grace and that those feelings of consolation will return.

Ignatius’ rules on spiritual discernment definitely resonate, mostly because the

missionary community I was in followed these rules. Since practicing them I can say that they

really do work especially when in a time of desolation. Most people, when in a time of

desolation, would immediately think they need to make a change, prayer more, etc. Ignatius’

rule that you should avoid making decisions makes sense because those decisions may be

oriented toward evil, because that’s the state you’re in. His rules on being vigilant in consolation

is especially poignant. We can get so caught up in how good everything is that we forget all

about desolation, and the minute it creeps back in we lose all hope, doubt God and forget about

the consolation.

For Ignatius, discernment of God’s Will is based on three different modes. The first mode

is derived of only consolation, revelation is clear and unmistakable in this mode. The second

mode is all about listening to our most authentic desires. In this mode one needs to recognize

whether they are in a state of consolation or desolation. If experiencing consolation our desires

are free of disorder and can be trusted in aligning with God’s will. If in a state of desolation

desires can’t be trusted because they are disordered. There is a discernment strategy when in

this mode, “(1) meditating on the life of Christ; (2) when in consolation, observing what God

moves you to; (3) meditating on the alternatives of the choice and seeing how inspired you are

with each alternative; (4) after a choice has been made, offering it back to God and asking for

confirmation,” (Feldmeier, 185). The third mode is using reason to sort through a discernment,
weighing all the options, especially when one isn’t experiencing profound spiritual movement. In

this mode Ignatius recommends using the following method, “(1) identify the decision to be

made; (2) ask God to enlighten one’s mind; (3) list the assets and liabilities of each alternative;

(4) consider which option is more reasonable and which carries weightier motivations; (5) after

making a decision, return to God and seek confirmation,” (Feldmeier, 186). In this mode Ignatius

also invites one to consider what they would recommend a friend to do if they asked them about

the situation or if reflecting back on their life which choice would they wish they made.

The first mode is advantageous because you don’t dwell on the decision long, the

discernment process and clear and unmistakable. Unfortunately, with this mode there is greater

chance of misinterpretation. If a discernment is weighing heavily on your mind and and you are

overwhelmed by God, it can be challenging to figure out if God is just overwhelming you and

you happened to be thinking about a decision or if he’s directing you toward a particular choice.

The other two modes since they go through a set of steps seem to make for a more thorough

discernment process.

The benefits of the second mode is that we look at Christ’s own life before we make a

decision. This gives us insight into the types of decisions Christ made and even his desires, so

in a way we can gauge if our own are aligned based on scripture. However, since it relies on our

desires aligning with God’s, which can be a challenge because we can believe that our desires

are aligned when they aren’t, because we desire something so intensely. This is especially

challenging when our psyche can be in both consolation and desolation. It can be difficult to

know whether our desolation is overwhelming our consolation while discerning.

The third mode of reason is probably the most appealing to people, especially if they’re

unsure about consolation or desolation, because it takes those movements out of the equation.

This mode allows you to look at all the options you have and consider the pros and cons of

each. With this mode though the hang up can be in what we think God wants us to choose. This

idea of the more challenging option looking the best in God’s eyes. Throughout all these
discernment processes we have to keep in mind that God doesn’t always want us to be

challenged, sometimes the simpler, maybe “easier”, or comfortable thing is what he wants for us

at that moment. What I find the most challenging about this discernment in general is that we’re

not supposed to make any big decisions during times of desolation and I think that can be

difficult at times, especially when one is experiencing prolonged desolation. It seems that

sometimes it may be unavoidable to make decisions in those times. One can’t simply say “I’m

sorry I can’t make a decision right now because I’m experiencing desolation,” unfortunately, I

don’t think most people would accept that as a reasonable answer.