Lately we had a discussion about the "discernment of the spirits" as presented in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.
Personally, I've found the Rules of the Second Week quite difficult for discerning. How difficult maybe I can illustrate with an example.
I took a class in Spiritual Direction from a rather famous Jesuit whose name I won't use here. He wanted to give an example from his own life, which was: One day, he decided to relax and watch the last part of the “Super bowl”. Just as he sat down he was told that someone was at the door and wanted to meet with him. He relayed to the person that he was unavailable. Thereupon he had a huge feeling of guilt and remiss and regret. Fr. Jesuit used this example to show how the second week of the Exercises works and how the Holy Spirit works to keep us on the straight path. He was sure this was the Holy Spirit reminding him of his duty and failings.
I spoke up and said that I believe he got it wrong. This was the devil tempting him to self-hatred, despair, and to failure through overwork. Now, remember this was an older Jesuit who for years spent all day every day in service to others, even up until midnight and beyond! He nearly never relaxed. His ministry bears many fruits.
He firmly stood by his opinion of how he had done wrong and how my opinion was wrong. I couldn't move him off of it.
This shows the difficulty of the Second Week. What do the readers think was the correct interpretation - was the devil tempting or the Holy Spirit guiding this man?
---J
(The picture is of a cloister in Hungary - Photo by Peter Somogyvari)