Hearing the Voice of God
... am just back from eight solid days of silence and prayer- amazingly, I made it, with lots and lots of grace.
This is St. Ignatius, and this is what he did:
"Whenever he found interior consonance within himself, as joy, peace, contentment, from the immediate interior movement, and felt himself being his true, congruent self, then he knew that he had heard God's Word to him at that instant- and he responded with a fullness of humble courage...
BUT
...If he discovered interior dissonance, agitation and disturbance at the bottom of his heart, and could not find his true congruent self in Christ, then he recognized the interior impulse as an evil spirit, and experienced God by going against the desolate impulse."
Exercises 3.16.19, Qtd. George Aschenbrenner, SJ: "Consciousness Examen"
These are The Spiritual Exercises, which we should all read- or do, at some point.
And this was my profound retreat revelation: our Lord Jesus was a vigorous, passionate, YOUNG man with an awesome sense of humor, who ran joyfully into the world, saving people from demons and death. Just think about that- I did, a lot.
posted by MM at 11:11 PM
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