The Rules of Discernment: A Practical Guide – Rule 4

In his third rule, Ignatius helped us to identify spiritual consolation with a list of examples and experiences. In the fourth rule, St. Ignatius does the same with desolation: identifying how it presents in our lives through feelings and movements so we can clearly recognize and respond to it more effectively.

Fourth Rule. “I call desolation all the contrary of the third rule, 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. Because, as consolation is contrary to desolation, in the same way the thoughts which come from consolation are contrary to the thoughts which come from desolation” (source).

In this rule, we understand that desolation is a movement of the soul away from God rather than toward Him. Just as spiritual consolation runs deeper than happy feelings, so desolation goes beyond mere sadness. St. Ignatius describes desolation as a movement to ‘low and earthly things’ with experiences of disquiet, agitation, and anxiety. He says that desolation might feel a lack of confidence and hope in God, or an absence of His love and the desire to love Him in return. In desolation we might feel slothful and tepid when it comes to prayer or other commitments. We also may feel a sense of separation from God—not because He has gone anywhere, but because we don’t perceive His presence in the way think we should.

The Enemy draws us into this desolation because he doesn’t want us to obtain what he has lost: the fullness of God’s love. With every attack of desolation, Satan tempts us to give up on God’s love, become ensnared in sin, and believe the lie that there’s no way out of our present shame or despair. This is the action of the enemy that we see at work in St. Ignatius’ First Rule—an attempt to catch us off guard and get us to move further and further into desolation. The further we fall into desolation, the more readily we believe the lie that there is no hope, no escape, or no point in living differently. The key is that these are indeed blatant lies: God can (and will) redeem anything when we let Him. No desolation is beyond Him.

Father Timothy Gallagher, a renowned expert on the Rules of Discernment, tells us that even when the enemy can’t get us to give up on God completely, he will at least try to diminish our peace. Satan knows that when we welcome God’s love and seek to serve God in return, we will naturally attract other souls to God. This is the enemy’s worst-case scenario, so he stops at nothing to distract us from the fullness of God’s grace and disrupt our peace.

This means that desolation is extremely common in the spiritual life, especially surrounding prayer. I’ve made prayer commitments in consolation only to feel apathetic and lazy when it’s time to follow through—giving into procrastination or lesser escapes. When I do persevere in prayer, it is sometimes filled with dryness and distractions—like nodding off in fatigue or suddenly remembering a task on my to-do list that seems pressing. In these moments of desolation, it can be tempting to think that such time spent in prayer is futile, or that prayer should be changed to try and achieve more consolation. As we will learn in Rule Five, neither of these is true. The fruit of prayer is not constrained to the time we physically spend in prayer; God responds with His grace in every moment of the day, and prayer is always worthwhile whether we ‘feel’ its benefits. We too often forget that the purpose of prayer is to develop a daily relationship with God, not obtain feelings of consolation. This is why it is important to stay the course rather than give up or change things up—to persevering in our original commitments until the desolation passes.

As we persevere against one desolation, it’s not uncommon for Satan to pivot and distract us with another. The enemy ceaselessly targets our good work, our resolutions, and our very identity as a child of God. Several times when I have been invited to a speaking or writing commitment, the Lord has made it clear in prayer that it is His will that I accept it. Yet as the commitment approaches, the attacks of desolation start. I may feel anxious about how I will come across or be worried that my chronic health issues will plague me at an event. Sometimes I begin to wonder if I discerned this commitment correctly, and entertain thoughts like, why did I ever agree to this? or, who am I to speak/write about this?

These thoughts tend to “sound” like our own voice but are often proposed by the enemy. Satan does not fight fair. He targets our childhood wounds with lies that we internalize, or capitalizes on the wounds of those who should love us best to hurt us the worst. In every case of desolation, Satan seeks to move our gaze from God to ourselves. When we take our eyes off God’s abundant grace, strength, and help, we are left only with the isolation of our failures, fears, and insecurities.

The enemy, however, can only propose that which he himself knows. He uses fear against us because he is always afraid; he uses shame and rejection because he is ashamed that he has rejected God; he uses agitation because he is never at peace; he uses isolation because he is always separated from God. The good news is that Satan and his minions can only propose—he cannot impose. He cannot read our thoughts but can try to manipulate us into adopting his thoughts. We always retain our free will in deciding how to respond, and God always gives us ample grace to receive His help to resist desolation.

In this struggle, God is infinitely more powerful than Satan. We are never outmatched in the spiritual battle as the enemy wants us to believe. The power of Satan is laughable compared to God’s omnipotence, and the enemy’s army is trivial in comparison to the powers of heaven. Add God’s unsurpassed might and love to all the heavenly forces, and we realize what a humiliating, losing battle Satan is fighting at every turn.

This opens us to great hope. Even though we still must fight in this world, we have access to all the help of heaven if we welcome it. While we will continue to experience the ups and downs of spiritual consolation and desolation in this life, it is entirely possible to move through these seasons with greater confidence and peace. In his remaining rules, St. Ignatius will give us powerful tools for how to access this help. He will teach us what actions to take in desolation and how to regroup in consolation, so we can decisively engage in the spiritual battle until we are safe with the Lord in heaven.