Discernment of Spirits - Part II

St. Ignatius Loyola gave us a great gift in his 14 rules for the discernment of spirits. The rules are intended for personal use to discern when the voices we hear are of God and when they are of the Evil One. Through this series, we are applying the rules to parish life. We are looking at the first two rules today. The rules for practical advice for the discernment of spirits come in pairs. They are usually two sides of the same coin. The rules complement each other and give us a fuller understanding of how to discern spirits.

The first rule:  In the person who go from mortal sin to mortal sin, the enemy is commonly used to propose them apparent pleasures, making them imagine sensual delight and pleasures in order to hold them more and make them grow in vices and sins. In these persons the spirit uses the opposite method, pricking them and biting their consciences through the process of reason.

For people going from mortal sin to mortal sin or headed in the wrong direction in life, the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil sound very pleasant. A person living a life of deep sin easily keeps on sinning. He or she goes with the flow of temptation. The good spirits often feel like an annoyance. They feel like a buzz kill to the person far from God.

How do we apply this first rule to a parish? What is the equivalent of a parish that is going from mortal sin to mortal sin? I’d argue that it’s a parish that has been corrupted in its mission that it like the person living in mortal sin. It’s the parish that has become a consumer exercise where the focus and the goal is solely about keeping the people in the pews happy and content, but not really growing in discipleship. It’s a pastor or leadership team than just wants to be comfortable. A parish culture that simply wants to maintain the status quo and protect itself, rather than reaching the lost, impacting the next generation and challenging people in the pews to grow as disciples. It can be a parish culture that fulfills religious rituals but doesn’t work on the mission Jesus gave us to go and make disciples. In short, it is any parish that loses its focus on going deeper in faith and growing wider.

In a culture or leadership off mission, then the call to make changes and do more to build God’s kingdom will feel like an imposition, like an annoyance. The good spirits in that culture will “prick and bite at the consciences” of leaders and/or the members of the parish.

In the early days at Nativity, we had to prick and bite at the consciences of people in the pews. We had to challenge the notion that they were already fully formed disciples. We had to challenge them to go deeper into their faith. Some people did not want to hear that challenge, so they left - or wrote letters to the diocese and then left. In some places, the lay leadership needs to prick and bite at the pastor and/or staff to get the parish moving in the direction of discipleship and evangelization.

The second rule:  In the persons who are going on intensely cleansing their sins and rising from good to better in the service of God our Lord, it is the method contrary to that in the First Rule, for them it is in the way of the evil spirit to bite, sadden and put obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, that one may not go on; and its proper to the good to give courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and quiet, easing and putting away all obstacles that one may go on in well doing.

So, how does this rule apply to a parish? When a pastor or leaders in a parish start making changes, not just for change sake but for the purpose of creating a parish culture of evangelization and discipleship, there will be spiritual push back. The world, the flesh and the devil will attack them. In a parish, it is the voices of people who criticize this change in direction and new initiatives. There will be voices that belittle your efforts or make fun of preaching in a message series. When you challenge people to connect giving and discipleship, often it is people who have made money an idol that will get upset. When you invite people to serve, it is often people who are selfish with their time that will criticize the effort or message. When you stop promoting a pet fellowship program and promote small groups, you will get attacked.

Just because someone goes to Mass or has even served in the parish for a long time does not mean they are coming with God’s voice or God’s motives. There is a naïveté that thinks that everyone in the parish has pure motives and intentions. Believe it or not, church people can be just as motivated by their own selfish desires as people in the world- shocking, I know. They can put their personal wishes above building up the body of Christ. This is why we need to do a discernment of spirits. To lead well, we must be learning to discern if a voice is leading us in God’s direction or away from it. We need to learn to discern honest feedback and the evil spirits that put obstacles in the way of positive change.

The good news when making changes is that there will be voices of God that are going to give you courage and strength to keep going in God’s direction. You will experience consolations of seeing people’s lives being changed. You will have moments where you see your vision coming to life. You will have times when you cry tears of joy because people are experiencing life change in Christ.

You know that there has been a culture shift when challenging people to grow becomes the normal part of parish life. You know there is a culture shift when people start making invitations and sacrifices to reach the lost or people disconnected from Christ and his Church.

Recently, I intended a fundraising event for research into glioblastoma put together by my friend Pete. (You can find out more about it here https://www.morizzofoundation.org) As part of the event, he invited people to come to Nativity for Mass. The MC (another Nativity parishioner) reminded attendees that Mass was part of the weekend’s festivities and not to worry if they hadn’t been to Church in a long time because “Nativity is a church that people who don’t like church like.” He used language we use all the time to describe our parish as a way to both welcome people disconnected from Christ and His Church and to remind parishioners to make invitations to unchurched friends, family members and co-workers. That’s a great example of a consolation we can expect to receive when we are moving in the direction of God’s will and fulfilling the Great Commission.

Rooting for you,
Tom