Discernment of Spirits
Our parish priest recently started a youth group, and asked me to be one of the patrons, so I have been attending their meetings. At the meetings, we watch videos by young Catholic influencers. The most recent video was by Amanda Azeredo who has the Youtube channel “Journey to Holiness.”
Here is the link in case anyone is interested.
Now I first read these about ten years ago, when I first started studying St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. The purpose of these exercises, which the new initiate or uninitiated may not realize, is to help establish in the person who does them the practice of meditation on the scriptures. By God’s grace, this practice has been established in my life, so even though I don’t think about the specific details which St. Ignatius presented in his work, they have become a part of my regular prayer and bible study habit, thanks be to God. Azeredo presents the information having just discovered it, so I thought I would present the viewpoint of someone who has had some time to work with it.
The most important aspect of it in my mind is that when we read the scriptures, we can’t just read them. Instead, we must think about them. In particular, we should ask ourselves, especially whenever we encounter something that’s hard to explain: “Why did God do that?” Most of us think we understand God, but the truth is very few really do understand Him to any depth. The situations in the bible are told to us because they show how God responds in a wide variety of circumstances. These circumstances are applicable to every circumstance that arrives in our lives. The key though is that God doesn’t necessarily respond how we think He will. By meditating on His responses, we understand His nature, and therefore, what He wants in our lives. So this is essential to the spiritual life, and why St. Ignatius focused on it in his spiritual exercises. We cannot do what God wants if we don’t know what He wants, and most people don’t know what He wants. Meditation is the key. Abraham only had a couple of scrolls from Genesis, but he came to know God well because of meditation. Similarly, most of Moses’ education came from secular Egyptian sources, but he came to know God thoroughly through meditation. So if we wish to be beatiful servants of God like they were, we need to educate ourselves using the same school that educated them; meditation.
When I talked to my family about discernment of spirits, the first thing they asked me is: What’s that? So I think it’s a good idea to start by explaining it somewhat. The first aspect of it is “what is a spirit?” Everything that God created that has life has a soul or spirit in it. This is the motivating principle. Without that spirit, living things can’t have the abilities that we know they have. This is what differentiates something that is alive, from that same thing when it is dead. The Hebrew word for this is “ruah” which can also be translated as “wind” or “breath.” So this communicates an essential aspect of the spirit, which is that while it exists, it is generally undetectable (or detectable by its effects, like wind). While all that lives has a spirit, in general when we discuss these we are talking about God’s spirit, or the angelic spirits. Many people think that angels and demons are immaterial, but that is not true. They are created beings just like we are, and they are composed of matter, we just can’t detect it. It’s rather like microwaves. When we heat something up in the microwave, microwaves are generated, and they heat the food, even though they are invisible. So it is with the angelic spirits, they are composed of matter, we just can’t ordinarily detect them. In the bible, whenever humans are permitted to look at what angels or demons look like, they appear to be like fire. For instance, the bible says that there was an angel in the burning bush, and that it looked like it was on fire. When Elijah was picked up by angels by the Jordan, it looked like it was on fire (angels make use of sorts of angelic “horses” to move around, that’s why it looked like a chariot to Elijah and Elisha). When Elisha and Gehazi were shown the angels surrounding them for battle, they looked like they were made of fire. This is why St. John the Baptist says that Jesus will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” A better translation is actually “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit’s fire.” When the tongues of fire descended on the apostles at pentecost, they were just allowed to see what The Holy Spirit actually looked like, which is like fire. The Holy Spirit is an angel just like Jesus was a human like us, only God somehow created His Spirit into it, just like He created His spirit into Jesus. These have physicial existence, like microwaves, but like microwaves we are ordinarily unable to detect them.
So when we talk about discernment of spirits, it is primarily the angelic spirits that we are talking about. At every moment, there are one or more angels and one or more demons trying to influence each person. This is often represented as the angel or demon by the ear. There are many who don’t believe that angels or demons exist (as I used to), but this is a foolish belief, as it renders the person vulnerable to demonic influence. Indeed those people end up doing what the demons suggest, thinking it was their own idea. This is primarily what St. Ignatius is talking about when it comes to discernment of spirits. We need consolations and comfort, because without it we wouldn’t be able to understand the feeling of peace God wishes us to have, and we wouldn’t be attracted to Him. However, we also need desolations, because we do not show true love for God in consolation, and because without desolations we would not be tested, and we need to be tested to be suitable for heaven. Indeed, though God did not necessarily want the demons to rebel and reject His rule, He foresaw that would happen, and permitted it, because that would permit us to be tested. So the demons, by doing what comes naturally to them, in a way do what God created them to do. So while they are our enemies, we should be grateful for them, because without them we could not be sufficiently prepared to serve God in heaven for eternity. Indeed this is also true of suffering. If we were not to suffer, we could not be saved, and God permits us only the least amount of suffering necessary for our salvation, and never more.
Having covered the “spirits” part, we should turn our attention next to the discernment. God gave each of us our mind, and He did so intending us to use it. However, it is also very common that humans begin to rely on their intellect too much, leading them to pride and irrepentance. So there is always a balance; we should use our mind to discern things, but never depend on it too much. As I mentioned before regarding meditation, it is used to help us come to know God and what He wants. But just as there are four evangelists, there are four primary ways in which we come to know God. These four are prayer, meditation, reading scripture, and fasting/abstinence. Discernment is a gift, but it is a gift given in proportion to our achievements regarding these four means of increasing knowledge. Prayer has a wide variety of effects, indeed if we were aware of them all, we would be afraid to pray, because of its great power. Among its other effects, it helps God and the angels to know what we need, and where we are at interiorly, which helps them tailor their assistance. It also helps reorient our inner selves toward God. Spontaneous prayer is beautiful, but there is pride in thinking this should be the only prayer one should do, particularly because some are gifted in its execution more than others. In times of desolation in particular, the inspiration towards spontaneous prayer is difficult to come by, and that is why previously composed prayers are useful. Among the most beautiful brief forms of previously composed prayers are the “Jesus prayer” (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner”), and the rosary. By frequently praying these, they effectively reorient the inner self towards God, and towards repentance, and make progress in the spiritual life much easier. Then making use of the breviary, and the parts of the bible which are recorded prayers, is also very beautiful and efficacious, because they cover a wide range of inner states and situations, and communicate the nature of God more comprehensively. It is possible to meditate on these prayers, but the subject of meditation in general is more the stories of the bible, and things like proverbs and the laws, where we can come to know what God wants more directly (they are less about the influence on our inner selves as the composed prayers are). Fasting/abstinence is also important, because aside from making limitations and regulating our environment, we will be hopelessly entangled in sin and controlled by our appetites. So once a person has established habits in doing all of these, they will come to better know what God wants, and that will guide their discernment (aside from also perfecting their soul). The spiritual exercises, though obviously focused on meditation, hope to establish all these habits, but intend to use meditation as the door. Indeed though, any of these can be the door by which holiness (being set apart for God) can be achieved, once the person makes the decision that they want to be God’s servant, and devote their lives entirely to God (be set apart for God, this is the definition of holiness).
All that being said, none of this makes discernment of spirits any easier at first. Indeed, as mentioned in the bible, it is also a spiritual gift, and some humans will always be better at it than others. That being said though, all humans can develop some measure of this skill, though for many it takes years of engagement with things that bring a person closer to God, as I mentioned above. There are always some matters where discernment is easier than others, and these vary from person to person. There are always also some matters (like those relating to vocation) that are usually a challenge for everyone (but particularly for young people). I don’t propose to be an expert at discerning spirits, but I have made some progress along these lines, because of God’s grace, and now having had years of experience wrestling with the matters. St. Ignatius’ words are a useful starting point, but the subject of deep meditation on the scripture is a very deep one, and as I said to another at the meeting, they serve as training wheels for the development of meditation on the scriptures. Once you develop the practice, then the training wheels are no longer needed.
Since all this came up in the context of discernment for young people, I also say a bit about discernment of vocations, since that is relevant to the audience of the meeting, and because discernment of vocation is an essential part of the discernment of spirits. What most Catholic young people seem to struggle with (and indeed I struggled with) is whether they should be married or single, or relgious, or a priest. It’s not that they often don’t have a preference, in general there is one particular preference they seem to have, but they struggle because they can’t achieve it. This is particularly difficult because Jesus said that if we ask God for anything in His Name (if it be in accord with God’s will), then it will be granted. Of course, St. John says that we don’t receive what we ask for, because we ask wrongly. But is it wrong to ask for a spouse, or to be a particular vocation such as a priest? Truly, if God puts such a noble desire in our hearts, then He also wills it for us, so if we have that desire and we ask Him for it, then if we do not receive it, it is reasonable to assume there’s some obstacle in the way.
In most cases, the obstacle is the spiritual development of the person, or the lack of available candidates. Just because someone is an active member of The Catholic Church, Christ’s own assembly, and regularly attends the sacraments as they should doesn’t mean that their inner self is properly disposed to be a spouse. These people are set apart and special to God, so God and His angels cannot permit them to set up an arrangement of their life that will not result in His desire for them, and for society. This is particularly because society tends to instill evil habits in people, such as addiction to pornography, and that these habits in the context of marriage will often destroy it, harming children if they are present, that God and the angels are very careful about permitting young Catholic men and women who desire marriage to enter into it. In those cases, there may be someone who God and the angels feel would be a right fit, but they are not introduced to the person, or circumstances are not arranged until both of them are in the correct disposition for the matter. If this takes too long, then in general it is better for them not to get married, as having children too late in life is difficult. The same extends to the priesthood or religious life, as these same habits are also obstacles to proper living out of that vocation. As mentioned, once a person becomes part of God’s assembly, and devotes their life to Him, then it is better for them not to marry someone who does not have this same focus of their life, as they will tend to lead the children astray. So this limits the pool of potential partners. This does not limit God, however, but it does happen that those who desire marriage since their youth do not end up married to someone because of the circumstances. God does not limit such people, but after age 40, it probably doesn’t make sense to pursue marriage any longer, since the difficulties of having chilldren increase tremendously after that age, and God’s purpose for marriage is primarily toward it producing children. As the person who is devoted to God ages, they will become less lonely as they develop an interior life and grow closer to God, so marriage as a cure for loneliness becomes less desirable over time. Indeed though, no one should ever marry because they are lonely, but because they feel that’s what God wants them to do. Even in marriage there is frequent loneliness, for a variety of reasons, but persevering among difficulty and desolation shows love. So we see some of the reasons why God permits these difficulties for those pursuing their vocations. Even if one is married or a priest though, that does not mean that difficulties regarding their vocation are over. Rather they take on a different character, that of trying to discern God’s will among the difficulties particular to whatever state the person finds themselves in. So we see that married or unmarried is really equivalent to God in a sense, and particularly because no matter the person’s state, we should try to overcome the difficulties of that state and in so doing grow closer to God.
So I hope this essay helps whoever reads it with the discernment of spirits, and the understanding and application of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. It is a beautiful tool for learning to grow closer to God through meditation on the scriptures, and I can eagerly recommend it. But there is much more to the discernment of spirits than what it can teach, and surely there are other ways to develop the practice of meditation, in case its particular method doesn’t work for some people. But may God bless who reads this, and may they through every means choose God above the things of this land and grow to be closer to Him and do His desire through prayer, meditation, reading of scripture, and fasting/abstinence.