September 2006 Christian Spirituality By George A Lane SJ

FINDING GOD'S WILL: DISCERNMENT Continue from ...... The focus of our attention here, Ignatius of Loyola would insist, is not voluntary will acts or choices, but involuntary movements or determinisms, the things that happen to us no matter what we may want. We feel consolation or not, desolation or not, and there is nothing we can do about it. But Ignatius urges that we pay close attention to these determinisms because it is in them that the good and evil spirits are at work, and through them that we can discern the will of God. The consolation which is peculiarly indicative is that which comes to the soul "without any previous cause." This is given by God alone. No perceivable cause or object produces it; it is self-validating. This consolation is felt as a conscious experience of grace, of the love of God, in which the soul is drawn "wholly to the love of His Divine Majesty." Ignatius says this consolation may occur in the context of a choice of a way of life, so that as one considers one alternative, they may experience peace, joy, tranquility, enthusiasm, or simply openness to God. The right decision leaves the consolation of the union with God intact. This is the spirit of God confirming a person in this particular choice. There is a certain congruousness, propriety, rightness in this course of action; it is in line, on target, tending towards the service and glory of God. There is a goodness about it; it contributes to a closer union with God. In a letter to Theresa Rajadell in 1536, Ignatius wrote about this particular point: "It remains for me to speak how we ought to understand what we think is from the Lord, and, understanding it, how we ought to use if for our advantage. For it frequently happens that Our Lord moves and urges the soul to this or that activity. He begins by enlightening the soul; that is to say, by speaking interiorly to it without the din of words, without any possibility of resistence on our part, even should we wish to resist." Ignatius seems to be describing here what he calls consolation without a cause. But in contrast to this consolation without any perceptible cause, Ignatius describes the possibility of consolation when a known cause precedes, such as good or pious thoughts; and this consolation can come from either the good or evil spirit. In order to discern the spirit in this circumstance he advises a person to review the whole course of their thoughts; if they begin good and end in something evil, distracting, or less good, they are the work of the evil spirit who began by assuming the appearance of goodness. The judgement here, where causes can be identified, is something of an application of the principle, by their fruits you shall know them. Where no cause is discernible, the consolation must be from God. Before we leave this matter of how to discover the will of God in a particular concrete choice, it will be important to consider certain recent theological thinking about the will of God itself. Is the will of God a pre-arranged plan in the divine mind (let us say B), so that as I choose among alternate goods A, B and C, if I choose A, I might actually be missing the will of God for me? Or is the crucial part of finding God's will in the process itself and not in the thing chosen? Could finding God's will be not so much choosing the right object but simply in choosing for God? So that the will of God will coincide with whatever alternative good I choose providing I am truly seeking God and not simply myself in the choosing? As we move away from a static, structured view of the world and ourselves and begin to see things in process and evolution, we are getting away from the notion that there may be some eternal blueprint in the mind of God which we might discover if we follow the right procedure. There is really no will of God in this sense. God's will for the world and for people is bound up with His creative act, His divine knowledge and support of the creative processes in the world and particularly in the creativity of man. "It is in this context that human decision-making is really, if you want, the process of determining the will of God. This is what God is doing - He is sustaining creatively this process by which human beings, with several options before them, and in many cases options which are relatively neutral, any one of which might be a good choice - they are the cutting-edge of what you might call the Will of God. This is why we are here. We human beings are meant to shape the development of history and the development of evolution, even of the cosmos itself, from this point onward."

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2006. All rights reserved.