DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY

DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY Examine how we can respond to the promptings of grace in order to enter (or re-enter) into relationship with God. Review the entire lesson plan in advance so you are prepared to lead and discuss comfortably. Adjust the suggested time allotments as necessary. Time Section Session 10 minutes CONNECT Lead an activity on discerning voices; then open with the Suspice (Latin for receive ). 55 minutes DISCUSS Do a skit about strengths and weaknesses; learn the Ignatian method of discernment. 20 minutes COMMIT Learn Ignatius Examination of Conscience and commit to using it daily. A Bible Blindfolds (enough for half the group) Participants smartphones The Catechism of the Catholic Church (optional) Props for skit (optional) Participant Sheets Paper Pens or pencils Snacks (optional) 1

Take a few minutes to read a brief biography of St. Ignatius life. You can find a good one here (including videos): o ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/st-ignatius-loyola Before you lead an Examination of Conscience, it may be helpful to pray about it on your own for a few days leading up to the session. Discipleship is about more than discussing the faith and participating in a small group. Discipleship requires learning from the example of a rabbi in this case, participants learn from your daily example. It is healthy for your group to do regular, everyday activities together because they will learn from your example and the example of their peers. As they grow in fellowship and deeper friendship through these activities, they will grow as disciples. SAY: Sometimes we all need a little guidance and direction to get where we re going in life. Let s do a quick activity to demonstrate this. Find a partner and choose which one of you will wear a blindfold. Once your blindfold is in place, your seeing partner is going to go to the other side of the room and use his or her words and voice to guide you across the room. Just for fun, we ll put a few obstacles along the course, so one partner will have to give clear directions while the other person will have to be a good listener. Place objects such as chairs and garbage cans around the room as obstacles. Let partners switch roles so each can have a chance to listen and be coached. Make sure everyone is giving directions at the same time so it becomes difficult for them to discern their partners voices. 2

Each person had a chance to listen to the directions. Take a few minutes to talk about what made listening to your partner easy and what was difficult. Then say how this activity was like or unlike listening to God. Allow three to four minutes for discussion. SAY: Today we re going to take a look at the importance of getting guidance in our spiritual life. This session s opening prayer appears in St. Ignatius retreat manual called The Spiritual Exercises. This prayer touches on two important things we ll be talking about: The surrender of earthly and sinful attachments In order to enter more deeply into a relationship with God. Together pray the Suscipe (pronounced sus-cheep-ay) together. Then ask for someone to volunteer to read the Scripture passage for the week. Both are printed on the Participant Sheet. PRAY: Suspice: Prayer of St. Ignatius Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me. 3

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1 SAY: Let s take a look at a reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church to help us get started on our topic for the evening. Ask a volunteer to read CCC 1439 aloud from the Catechism. It s also on the Participant Sheet. Do any of you know what a life coach is? Hopefully you get an answer along the lines of what lifecoach.com says: Life coaches help people overcome the obstacles life puts in their path, guide them toward accomplishing their goals and dreams, and give them the clarity and motivation to unlock their full potential. How would the Prodigal Son have benefitted from a life coach? Allow time for a few responses. SAY: One huge point we take away from the story of the prodigal son is that the son was made for relationship with his father and he was only truly happy when he returned and remained in relationship with his father. He had confused goals and pursued things he thought would make him happy, but they instead left him empty. The same holds true for our lives. Life is really all about relationship. We really need a Life Coach to show us the path to relationship with God so we can have healthy relationships with one another. Thank goodness the Son of God took on flesh to show us the way (see CCC 456-460). The Church also recognizes saints for us who act as additional role models, or life coaches. One such saint is Ignatius of Loyola. We ll talk about him today. 4

Have everyone get into small groups (pairs or trios), each with access to a smartphone for this next activity. Instruct them to search online for a biography of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Each small group should identify three interesting points about St. Ignatius life to share with the large group. Allow a few minutes for the search. After a few minutes, ask for groups to share key points. If no one mentions his wound from a cannonball, be sure to ask someone to search and share about that significant life experience. Ignatius spent a lot of time writing about all of his experiences in a work that has become known as The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. This is almost like a playbook that a coach would give his or her team, because it is filled with many of Ignatius own personal and practical insights about the spiritual life and the process of conversion. Like any good coach, Ignatius starts his Spiritual Exercises by identifying the goal. 1. A Good Coach Starts with the Goal and a Game Plan (First Principle and Foundation) Read each of the five points of the First Principle and Foundation. Ask for volunteers to explain the points in their own words. Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. The other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created. Hence, man is to make use of them in as far as they help him in the attaining of his end, and he must rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him. Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things in as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition. Consequently, as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things. Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created. From the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius as translated by Louis J. Puhl, S.J. 5

SAY: St. Ignatius, in the First Principle and Foundation, essentially lays out a goal and a game plan. We are heading toward God this is where true and lasting happiness lies (and Ignatius had plenty of experience in the emptiness of sin to back that up). God has given us a number of other created things, and even friendships, to help us on the journey, but sin has muddied our vision and we often turn to the created things instead of to the Creator. Here s where the game plan comes in (which Ignatius essentially lays out in points 2 5). Have you ever had an experience on a team or with friends where you felt like you didn t have a goal, direction, or purpose? Why is clearly stating a goal an important first step? What are things that can lead a person away from the ultimate goal of living in relationship with God? St. Ignatius doesn t just give us a goal and an abstract game plan; he provides his life as a model. Some of the key experiences of his life involved discernment of spirits. Pause for a moment and ask if anyone knows what you mean by discernment of spirits. Let s start by defining discernment. Discernment is a sifting or weighing process; it is the ability to judge well between things. Remember how we had to discern between who we were listening to for directions when everyone else was talking in the opening activity? When we discern, we want to hold onto things that are truly good for us and let go of those things which may have the illusion of being good but really aren t. Ask for someone to read aloud Philippians 1:9-10 from the Participant Sheet. Discerning between simple things like whether or not to eat an apple or candy bar can be easy enough, but what about discerning spirits? Here, Ignatius draws from his experience while recovering from the cannonball wound. As he considered his life, the direction he was heading in, and what the future may have had in store, he noticed interior movements. A movement could simply be characterized as a feeling, inclination, or even words or thoughts happening in the heart; that inner place that CCC 2563 calls our hidden center. Ask for a volunteer to read CCC 2563 from the Participant Sheet. 6

Ignatius realized that these movements were caused by good and evil spirits acting upon his heart. He realized that it was crucial to follow the good spirits and reject the evils ones if he wanted real, lasting happiness. Some words of St. Paul provide support for Ignatius experience: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). Let s do a skit, or role-play, to help us understand. If the group is big enough (six or more), split the group in half and let each half take a different scenario. Scenario #1: Soul advancing in life of sin Scenario #2: Soul progressing toward virtue In both scenarios, identify the one individual who will play the role of the Soul. Each scenario will also need one or two people to play the role of the Evil Spirit and another one or two to play the role of the Good Spirit. The skit will work best if the Good Spirit and Evil Spirit stand facing one another about 10 feet apart. The Soul stands in the middle and faces the spirit he or she is heading. Encourage creativity with the performances, with the information below as a guide. (Discuss these descriptions together before they begin.) Participants should identify a scenario that the Soul finds him/herself in. An example might be deciding whether or not to go to a party. Remind the Soul to play along with the spirits and move in one direction or another based upon the strength of the appeals. Point out the Discernment of Spirits: Rule #1 section on the Participant Sheet, and distribute paper and writing utensils so everyone can jot down some ideas. DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS: RULE #1 FOR THE SOUL IN THE LIFE OF SIN: Evil Spirit: Proposes apparent pleasures; fills imagination with sensual delights; entices person to remain in his/her vices; puts off or lessens worries and fears about sin; invites presumption upon God s mercy. Good Spirit: Makes use of the light of reason; appeals to conscience; stings conscience with healthy guilt; fills sinner with remorse; invites/challenges to change. 7

FOR THE SOUL PROGRESSING IN VIRTUE: Evil Spirit: Harasses with anxiety; afflicts with sadness in spirituality; raises imaginary obstacles; proposes fallacious reasoning; disturbs the soul with doubts and excuses. Good Spirit: Gives courage and strength; inspires consolation and tears; makes progress natural and easy; removes obstacles to progress; reassures and gives peace. Allow 10 minutes for preparation of skits. Then allow groups to perform their skits. Interject with questions if what they are presenting is unclear. The goal of the skits is to allow participants to actually hear the voices of the spirits and relate them to their daily experiences. SAY: Identifying the direction you re facing, and recognizing how spirits act upon you based upon that direction, is just the first rule for discernment that Ignatius proposes. Did you see how clearly Ignatius identifies the actions of both the good spirit and the evil spirit? He is similar to a coach who has a good scouting report and really knows the strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of the opponent. We are created for an intense and intimate relationship with God, a relationship of love that totally transforms all of our other friendships and relationships. In order to enter into that relationship, we have to respond to God s grace and remove the things that are blocking our progress toward God. Or, we may not even be facing in the right direction at all right now, but rather cruising on the wide and speedy highway to hell. Where are you? Where are you headed right now? Where are you letting God into your life, and where have you closed the door? Again, St. Ignatius, our coach, has a workout for us a way we can identify where we are in relation to God and sin, virtue and vice. SAY: Now let s make a personal step, which is the whole point of this session. This will require us to be quiet and see ourselves in action as if we were watching a film of ourselves performing or playing in the big game. St. Ignatius, our coach, proposes that we engage in a daily Examination of Conscience in order to do this. The Examination of Conscience is a brief (5-10 minute) meditation upon your day, and it consists of several key steps: 8

Refer everyone to the steps on the Participant Sheets and take turns reading the various points. Add your own insights or additional instructions you may have picked up on, based upon your experience. Thanksgiving: Open by giving thanks to God for favors and benefits received throughout the day. Beg for Grace: Ask God for the grace to know sins and areas of sin, and to be rid of them. Beg that the Holy Spirit would guide this time of prayer. Account of Actions: Examine your actions of the day, hour by hour, from the moment you woke until the present moment. Examine your actions first, then the thoughts and words behind or motivating the act. Do this for every particular fault that may have occurred. Pay attention to the movements of the heart. Did you waver in your decision to sin before you did it? Did you feel the pull of God not to do it? (This is a practice of discernment of spirits listed above). Repentance: Express sorrow for the sins committed and ask God for forgiveness. Do this while imagining that you are having a face-to-face conversation with Jesus himself. Resolutions: Ask for the grace to come up with specific resolutions to make amends for the wrong that was done. Recited Prayer: End the Examination with a recited prayer (such as the Our Father). SAY: Let s pray through the Examination of Conscience together. I will guide you through the steps. You will simply pray quietly and follow my promptings as I move us from step to step. Begin and end with the Sign of the Cross. As you lead participants through the Examination, you can simply introduce each step by rereading the descriptions above. Don t get too concerned about micromanaging the time for each person here. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. With that said, the following estimates might be helpful: Thanksgiving: 1 minute Beg for Grace: 1 minute Account of Actions: 3-5 minutes Repentance: 2 minutes Resolutions: 1 minute 9

Then invite the group to pray the Our Father out loud together. Take a few minutes to journal about your time of prayer by using these prompts: What was God revealing to you through this Examination? What was it like to give thanks to God? Was it difficult to focus? How did you refocus? What was it like to have a face-to-face conversation with Jesus about specific actions you took or sins you committed? Ignatian Spirituality is all about relationship. We often disengage or separate ourselves from God and become attracted to worldly pleasures. But God, by virtue of His love for us, is constantly drawing us back to Himself as only a loving Father can. SAY: The prayer challenge this week is to find a quiet place in your house and pray the Examination of Conscience each night. You ll find more ideas to challenge you in this new way on your Participant Sheets. Let s close with this Act of Contrition: My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You, Whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with Your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us; In His name, by God, have mercy. Note that one of the tips listed on the Participant Sheet is to go to Confession. Inform participants of the time(s) when the Sacrament of Reconciliation is offered at your parish. Let them know that they don t need to be afraid to go to Confession, and that they can speak with you afterward if they have questions.. 10

DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS PARTICIPANT SHEET Suspice: Prayer of St. Ignatius Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1 The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father: the fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father s generous welcome; the father s joy all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life pure, worthy, and joyful of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way. CCC 1439 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9-10 1

The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant. 1 John 4:1 Discernment of Spirits: Rule #1 For a Soul in the Life of Sin Evil Spirit: Proposes apparent pleasures; fills imagination with sensual delights; entices person to remain in his/her vices; puts off or lessens worries and fears about sin; invites presumption upon God s mercy. Good Spirit: Makes use of the light of reason; appeals to conscience; stings conscience with healthy guilt; fills sinner with remorse; invites/challenges to change. For a Soul Progressing in Virtue Evil Spirit: Harasses with anxiety; afflicts with sadness in spirituality; raises imaginary obstacles; proposes fallacious reasoning; disturbs the soul with doubts and excuses. Good Spirit: Gives courage and strength; inspires consolation and tears; makes progress natural and easy; removes obstacles to progress; reassures and gives peace. The prayer challenge this week is to find a quiet place in your house and pray the Examination of Conscience each night. The Examination of Conscience: Thanksgiving: Open by giving thanks to God for favors and benefits received throughout the day. Beg for Grace: Ask God for the grace to know sins and areas of sin, and to be rid of them. Beg that the Holy Spirit would guide this time of prayer. Account of Actions: Examine your actions of the day, hour by hour, from the moment you woke until the present moment. Examine your actions first, then the thoughts and words behind or motivating the act. Do this for every particular fault that may have occurred. Pay attention to the movements of the heart. Did you waver in your decision to sin before you did it? Did you feel the pull of God not to do it? (This is a practice of discernment of spirits listed above). 2

Repentance: Express sorrow for the sins committed and ask God for forgiveness. Do this while imagining that you are having a face-to-face conversation with Jesus himself. Resolutions: Ask for the grace to come up with specific resolutions to make amends for the wrong that was done. Recited Prayer: End the Examination with a recited prayer (such as the Our Father). What was God revealing to you through this Examination? What was it like to give thanks to God? Was it difficult to focus? How did you refocus? What was it like to have a face-to-face conversation with Jesus about specific actions you took or sins you committed? 3

Act of Contrition My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You, Whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with Your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us; In His name, by God, have mercy. Sacrament of Reconciliation: If you haven t been to Confession in a while, or if you re having trouble remembering the formal process, you can download this document to help you out: http://kofc.org/un/en/resources/cis/devotionals/2075.pdf St. Ignatius Prayer Exercises: Discover more ways to experience the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius online: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-spiritual-exercises. Choose from a variety of ideas to strengthen and deepen your prayer life in the upcoming weeks. Prayer Walk: Get outdoors and experience God s creation as you pray and meditate on God s Word and invite the Holy Spirit to speak into your life. We often hear God best when we are free from the distractions of our everyday lives and can concentrate fully on God as we soak in His amazing creation. 4

DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS PARENT SHEET Every YDisciple session has three parts: CONNECT, DISCUSS, and COMMIT. The CONNECT section is designed to build trust, transparency, and community in the group. The DISCUSS section introduces topics of the faith, engages critical thinking, and facilitates valuable conversation. And the COMMIT section helps students take ownership of their faith and put it into practice. Use this Parent Sheet to take a glimpse at our most recent session so you can have a follow-up conversation with your teenager about his/her experience in the small group and encourage spiritual growth. During this session, teens discovered a way to help them reach their spiritual goals through Ignatian Spirituality. They learned that God desires to be in relationship with us, and that we can grow closer to our Heavenly Father when we can identify the sinful tendencies that hold us back from growing in our relationship with God. Teens also explored St. Ignatius Examination of Conscience, where in a time of meditation and reflection teens examined their thoughts, words, and actions, and how these things can draw us closer to but also hinder us from an intimate relationship with God. Your teens have been challenged to spend time in prayer, reflection, and meditation as a way to grow closer to Jesus. The teens learned about St. Ignatius of Loyola s rules of discernment. When we judge between influences and choices in our lives, we want to hold onto things that are truly good for us and let go of those things which may have the illusion of being good but really aren t (see Philippians 1:9-10). Discerning between simple things like whether or not to eat an apple or candy bar can be easy enough, but what about discerning spirits? Here, Ignatius draws again from his experience. He realized that it was crucial to understand which movements of our hearts came from which sources, and to follow the good spirits and reject the evils ones if he wanted real, lasting happiness. Some words of St. Paul provide support for Ignatius experience: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). 1

We are created for an intense and intimate relationship with God, a relationship to love that totally transforms all of our other friendships and relationships. In order to enter into that relationship, we have to respond to God s grace and remove the things that are blocking our progress toward God. Or, we may not even be facing in the right direction at all right now, but rather cruising on the wide and speedy highway to hell. Where are you? Where are you headed right now? Where are you letting God into your life, and where have you closed the door? Again, St. Ignatius, our coach, has a workout for us a way we can identify where we are in relation to God and sin, virtue and vice. Through his method, the Examen, teens discovered ways to examine their consciences and to identify the influences of good and evil spirits in their lives. Here are some conversation starters for this week. Remember to share your perspectives as well. What are some goals that you have set for yourself this year? How close are you to meeting those goals? Describe a time in your life when your priorities were mixed up. How did it affect your relationship with God? Where do you go to spend time praying and talking to God? Are there any Scripture passages that personally speak to you in your faith journey? The prayer challenge this week is to find a quiet place in your house and pray the Examination of Conscience each night. The Examination of Conscience: Thanksgiving: Open by giving thanks to God for favors and benefits received throughout the day. Beg for Grace: Ask God for the grace to know sins and areas of sin, and to be rid of them. Beg that the Holy Spirit would guide this time of prayer. Account of Actions: Examine your actions of the day, hour by hour, from the moment you woke until the present moment. Examine your actions first, then the thoughts and words behind or motivating the act. Do this for every particular fault that may have occurred. Pay attention to the movements of the heart. Did you waver in your decision to sin before you did it? Did you feel the pull of God not to do it? (This is a practice of discernment of spirits listed above). 2

Repentance: Express sorrow for the sins committed and ask God for forgiveness. Do this while imagining that you are having a face-to-face conversation with Jesus himself. Resolutions: Ask for the grace to come up with specific resolutions to make amends for the wrong that was done. Recited Prayer: End the Examination with a recited prayer (such as the Our Father). And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9-10 Share with your teen about a time when you had to make a big decision, what that discernment process looked like, and how God was involved in that decision. Be vulnerable with your teen, and he/she may be more comfortable coming to you with the big choices in his/her own life. 3