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Discernment of Spirits - Rule 14 (Spiritual Exercises #327)

“Whenever I find myself faced with the prospect of an attack by my enemy, I am most courageous; I turn my back on him, without so much as looking at him, and run to Jesus.” -- St. Therese.

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Discernment of Spirits - Rule 14 (Spiritual Exercises #327)

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  1. “Whenever I find myself faced with the prospect of an attack by my enemy, I am most courageous; I turn my back on him, without so much as looking at him, and run to Jesus.” --St. Therese

  2. Dryness belongs to contemplative prayer when the heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, even spiritual ones. This is the moment of sheer faith clinging faithfully to Jesus in his agony and in his tomb… If dryness is due to the lack of roots, because the word has fallen on rocky soil, the battle requires conversion. CCC#2731

  3. Discernment of Spirits - Rule 14 (Spiritual Exercises #327) The conduct of our enemy may also be compared to the tactics of a leader intent upon seizing and plundering a position he desires. A commander and leader of an army will encamp, explore the fortifications and defenses of the stronghold, and attack at the weakest point. In the same way, the enemy of our human nature investigates from every side all our virtues, theological, cardinal, and moral. Where he finds the defenses of eternal salvation weakest and most deficient, there he attacks and tries to take us by storm.

  4. Fortitude from CCC #1808 • Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. • It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. • The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. • It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.

  5. Fortitude is… Fortitude presumes vulnerability; without vulnerability there is no possibility of fortitude. An angel cannot be courageous, because it is not vulnerable. To be brave means to be ready to sustain a wound. Since he is substantially vulnerable, man can be courageous. --Pieper, page 24-25

  6. Strength in weakness… What is essential to the virtue of fortitude is not aggression or self-confidence or wrath, but rather steadfastness and patience. --Pieper, page 27 The virtue of fortitude protects a person from loving his life in such a way that he loses it. --Pieper, page 28

  7. Discernment and Fortitude • Discernment seeks the will of God, the true good, even in the face of deceptions and difficulties. • Fortitude depends upon discernment, because a Christian disciple’s firmness and resolve in pursuing the good presupposes that the true good has been discovered and confirmed in prayer.

  8. Prayer Processing Questions • What were you thinking and feeling? • What did you notice God doing?

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