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Some Distinctions

The need to involve the senses in interior prayer corresponds to a requirement of our human nature. We are body and spirit, and we experience the need to translate our feelings externally. We must pray with our whole being to give all power possible to our supplication. CCC #2702.

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Some Distinctions

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  1. The need to involve the senses in interior prayer corresponds to a requirement of our human nature. We are body and spirit, and we experience the need to translate our feelings externally. We must pray with our whole being to give all power possible to our supplication. CCC #2702

  2. Some Distinctions • Thoughts, Feelings, Desires, Body awareness • 3 Levels of the Heart • Consolation and Desolation • Imagination

  3. Imagination “To begin with, imagination is not the same thing as fantasy. Fantasy has come to mean the unrestrained, the bizarre. It has no connection with reality. Imagination is the capacity we have to make the material an image of the immaterial or spiritual. It is a creative power. When we say “capacity” we do not mean a “faculty” like intellect or will.We mean a posture of our whole person toward our experience. It is a way of seeing.”

  4. A. R. R. R.

  5. A = Acknowledge • R = Relate • R = Receive • R = Respond

  6. Acknowledge • Notice and admit the thought, feeling, desire, or sensation in the body • Identify what circumstances and levels of the heart are involved • Pay attention to what “spirit” (that is, affective movement) is at work

  7. Relate • Talk to God about the thought, feeling, desire, sensation in the body • Be straightforward with God • Tell God about the circumstances and ask Him what “spirit” (that is, affective movement) is at work.

  8. Receive • Let God love you in and around whatever it is you have acknowledged and related • Realize that you are not alone in this experience • Be patient • Receiving is not passive

  9. Respond • Having received God’s love around the thought, feeling, desire, sensation in the body, how do I choose to respond to Him? • In gratitude • By saying a new “Yes” • With a resolution • By renouncing the lies

  10. How can I RESPOND better? How do I DISCERN what response is called for?

  11. Some definitions… Discernment understanding to some extent the different movements produced in the soul and for recognizing those that are good to admit them, and those that are bad, to reject them. Spiritual Ex. #313

  12. In other words… Noticing the movements of spirits at the deepest level of the heart to identify good spirits (Holy and Human) to act on them and evil spirits to reject them or go against them.

  13. This process involves… • Pay attention, notice, name the movement • Make a judgment about the movement • Act accordingly (accept or reject)

  14. Spiritual Consolation when an interior movement is aroused in the soul, by which it is inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord… when one sheds tears that move to the love of God, whether it be because of sorrow for sins, or because of the sufferings of Christ our Lord, or for any other reason that is immediately directed to the praise and service of God… every increase of faith, hope, and love, and all interior joy that invites and attracts to what is heavenly and to the salvation of one's soul by filling it with peace and quiet in its Creator and Lord.

  15. Spiritual cosolation is… • a “being with” God • union with God • a movement toward God • A feeling of peace in the true self • love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)

  16. Spiritual Desolation darkness of soul, turmoil of spirit, inclination to what is low and earthly, restlessness rising from many disturbances and temptations which lead to want of faith, want of hope, want of love. The soul is wholly slothful, tepid, sad, and separated, as it were, from its Creator and Lord. For just as consolation is the opposite of desolation, so the thoughts that spring from consolation are the opposite of those that spring from desolation.

  17. Spiritual Desolation is… • A felt separation from God • A lovesickness of soul • A movement away from God • A lack of peace or confusion in the true self • …immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions,occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. (Galatians 5:14-15)

  18. Further Distinctions • Spiritual Senses • Psychological consolation/desolation (Level II) • Spiritual consolation/desolation (Level III) • “Hard consolation” vs. “Dark Night”

  19. Hard Consolation Level III Union with God Level II Psychological Pain

  20. Dark Night Level III “Presence” = Union with God by faith Level II “Night” = Absence of felt consolation

  21. Small Group exercise… Give examples of someone in both: • Spiritual consolation and psychological consolation • Spiritual consolation and psychological desolation • Spiritual desolation and psychological consolation • Spiritual desolation and psychological desolation

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