Discernment of Spirits - Part VIII

We are wrapping up our series on rules for the discernment of spirits given to us by St. Ignatius of Loyola. We took these rules, which were given for individual spiritual discernment and applied them to parish renewal. In reflecting on these rules, we have really just scratched the surface in how they can help us in leadership of a local parish. So it might be worth going back and reading over the rules again, or reading Dan Burke’s brief book on the subject called Spiritual Warfare and the Discernment of Spirits.

Today, we will look at the final two rules.

The thirteenth rule: Likewise, he acts as a licentious lover in wanting to be secret and not revealed. For, as the licentious man who, speaking for an evil purpose, solicits a daughter of a good father or a wife of a good husband, wants his words and persuasions to be secret, and the contrary displeases him much, when the daughter reveals to her father or the wife to her husband his licentious words and depraved intention, because he easily gathers that he will not be able to succeed with the undertaking begun: in the same way, when the enemy of human nature brings his wiles and persuasions to the just soul, he wants and desires that they be received and kept in secret; but when one reveals them to his good Confessor or to another spiritual person that knows his deceits and evil ends, it is very grievous to him, because he gathers, from his manifest deceits being discovered, that he will not be able to succeed with his wickedness begun.

St. Ignatius uses this analogy of a lusty and licentious man working to seduce a young or married woman. He will keep his intentions in the dark as much as possible. In the same way, evil spirits like the dark, and they like secrets. We only have to look at the clergy abuse scandal to see a more modern example. While evil that priests abused people under their care, the greater sin was covering it up. What drove many, many, many people away from the faith was not the abuse but the cover-up of the abuse.

It is so easy to criticize church authorities (valid criticism by the way), but we fool ourselves if we do not think we experience a similar temptation. We may not cover up such heinous acts, but we are tempted to cover up our mistakes. We are tempted to sweep our failures under the rug and just go on. Every leader will be tempted to hide unpleasant facts from staff or key leaders – even if we bear no culpability or blame for those unpleasant realities. We will be tempted to bury our heads in the sand and ignore a problem that we don’t feel like handling. In other words, we can be tempted to keep ourselves in the dark. I’d argue one of the greatest enemies of parish renewal is a refusal to bring facts to light and honestly deal with them.

Facts are your friends; darkness is your enemy. We can bring things to light first of all by being honest with ourselves. Then we share the problem with our team and trusted advisors. 80 percent of solving problems can be just acknowledging them, dragging them into the light and clearly defining them. That’s easier if we invite others into it. Often, what seemed like such an insurmountable problem or big issue in the darkness, as we worried about it at 3am, doesn’t seem so big in the light of day, especially if we share it with others.

Now, onto the Fourteenth and final rule, which is closely connected to the thirteenth.

The fourteenth rule: Likewise, he behaves as a chief bent on conquering and robbing what he desires: for, as a captain and chief of the army, pitching his camp, and looking at the forces or defenses of a stronghold, attacks it on the weakest side, in like manner the enemy of human nature, roaming about, looks in turn at all our virtues, theological, cardinal and moral; and where he finds us weakest and most in need for our eternal salvation, there he attacks us and aims at taking us.

Rather than hiding in the darkness and ignoring our own weaknesses, we are to proactively seek them out and acknowledge them. In parish life, there will always be weak points, aspects of parish life that we can improve. I’ve been working at Nativity for 28 years and I still see weak points that we need to improve. There will always be weak points in our leadership that require growth.

Sometimes I will hear of parishes that say they have “done Rebuilt” one year, or have tried it and moved on. And I think you can’t have done Rebuilt. You didn’t give it enough time. We are still doing Rebuilt at Nativity after 28 years. Rebuilt is a way of proceeding as Ed Bradley on our team calls it. It’s a model that takes consistent effort. Parish renewal is never done. We are always renewing, always working to both sure weaknesses and capitalizing on strengths to accomplish greater work for God’s kingdom.

What problem or fact do you fear coming to light? What ministry or area of the parish are you afraid to inspect too closely because you fear what you will find hiding under the rock? That’s the place you probably need to bring to light. Bring it to light and get help from others.

If you don’t know your weak spot, it might mean you have become a little too comfortable. Ask God to help open your eyes to it so you can get to work on it and give you the wisdom to improve the weakness.

Rooting for you,
Tom