Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Pope Francis, Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, St. Francis Xavier — not only is this a list of some of my man crushes, it’s also a list of some of the most famous Jesuits. Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus, a religious order started by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1540.
After taking a cannonball to the leg in the battle of Pamplona, Ignatius’s recovery process gave him all kinds of time to meditate on his life and faith. After he healed, he left his soldiering gear at the foot of a religious statue and became a priest. He went on to eventually form the Society of Jesus, which became one of the largest and most influential religious orders in history.
Aeronautics, the big bang, astrophysics, geophysics, perspective art, the modern calendar — all advancements owed to the Jesuits.
The Jesuit emphasis on education, missionary work, and social justice has had an incalculable impact on the development of the modern world — both secular and religious. Even today, people still take “Ignatian Retreats” to follow Ignatius’s meditative practices. The Catholic Church eventually declared St. Ignatius to be the patron saint of soldiers, spiritual retreatants, and, of course, Jesuits.
Consolation & Desolation
A cannonball injury sounds to me like something that ought to kill a person (or at the very least turn a limb into a stump), but Ignatius apparently disagreed. After his injury, he eventually made a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands only to be sent right back home to Spain. However, he was initially bedridden for quite some time as he recovered. While laying there with nothing to do but play with his hands and think about his life, he noticed that there were distinct interior movements to his thoughts. He called the two directions “consolation” and “desolation.”
I call consolation every increase of hope, faith, and charity, and all interior joy which calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one’s soul, quieting it and giving it peace in our Creator and Lord.
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I call desolation all the contrary of [consolation], such as darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when one finds oneself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from his Creator and Lord.
It should be noted that consolation is not the same as just feeling good nor is desolation simply feeling bad. Having a good day or feeling content with life doesn’t necessarily mean that one is postured for growth, and neither does suffering or sadness necessarily mean that one is apart from God. Complacency and guilt, for example, should always be carefully recognized for what they are.
Discerning the Spirits
With consolation and desolation in mind, Ignatius says that when a thought worms its way into our brains, we ought to ask: “Where does this thought come from, and where is it leading me?”
For example, a particularly important question that I’ve been asking since my later years of college is: “What am I going to do with my life?”
That question can sound very different depending on how it’s asked. If it comes from a place of anxiety, fear, and a low view of myself due to comparison, then it is very clearly not from God. The spirit of the question has and will take me toward despair and hopelessness.
Conversely, if the question comes from God, it comes from a place of faith. It’s not about avoiding financial ruin or making something of my self-image. It would instead see my life ahead as a vehicle for goodness to be measured out. Peace and trust are woven into that kind of question.
Discerning the spirit of a thought or question enables us to reject toxic influences before they have a chance to take root and to grab ahold of inclinations from God that might otherwise get buried under anxieties and stresses.
Loyola Press gives some helpful tips on how to recognize and react to seasons of desolation and consolation.
Desolation
- Turns us in on ourselves
- Drives us down into a spiral of negative thoughts
- Cuts us off from community
- Makes us want to give up on things that were once important
- Takes over present consciousness and clouds distant vision
- Drains our energy
Consolation
- Directs our focus beyond ourselves
- Lifts us up to see joys and sorrows of others
- Bonds us with our community
- Generates inspiration and new ideas
- Restores inner balance and refreshes vision
- Shows the presence of God in our lives
When in Consolation:
- Tell God how you feel and thank Him.
- Take care to remember how you feel so that you can recall it when in desolation.
- Add this experience to your mental “life map.”
- Use the energy to enjoy the things you love/ work towards your goals
- Go back to step 1.
When in Desolation:
- Tell God how you feel and ask for help.
- Seek out companionship.
- Don’t backslide on any decisions you made while in consolation.
- Reflect on your mental “life map.”
- Try to recall a season of consolation and the mental state associated with it.
- Seek out ways to help other people.
- Go back to step 1.
Formulaic Spirituality
Not long ago, I think I would have said that it’s far too reductionistic to frame spirituality as such a formulaic sequence of steps. I would have been extremely distrustful of anyone who claimed that God told them this or that. And quite honestly, I’m still pretty skeptical of anyone who claims to have some heightened dialogue with God.
That said, Ignatian spirituality works. By my own standards, I don’t feel like it should, and I certainly don’t want it to. But it does. Consolation and desolation, though they may be outmoded terms, describe very real states of being. My experience of God has primarily been through subtext, and Ignatian spirituality not only accounts for that but is entirely based on that.
It’s not about listening for a voice from the sky, it’s about looking at the thoughts in your own mind and discerning whether they come from God or from somewhere contrary. Instead of demanding something from God, it seeks to be more aware of where God is already present.
Writings of St Ignatius of Loyola
The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius (Highly recommended)
