The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living

This is a must read for all Christians.This can be easily read by Christians of all denominations.This book clearly outlines and clarifies Ignatius' fourteen rules on discernment with vivid examples.I wish I had this book when I first started out on my faith journey.The spirits here refer not only to the enemy-Satan and his evil spirits-but also to the human weaknesses and worldy attractions which can all impede the spiritual progress in a faithful person.I reccomend all the 4 books by Gallagher-he is truly an authoritative voice on the subject and he has definitely taken great pains to explain so clearly such a difficult topic.Here we get the advice that we must humble ourselves when given spiritual consolations and favors by our loving God and we must not despair when going through spiritual desolations-dry periods in prayer life and general discouragement when God withdraws his consolations momentarily.This cycle of consolations and desolations happen to every spiritual persons.Of all the rules,the most important one for me was not to make changes to our proposals-promises of actions,good works,ministries we vowed to God during our consolation periods or other times when we are confronted with dryness.Since this dryness is a trial and from the enemy,no matter what we feel at that time and our distrust in God,misunderstandings etc we should show our fidelity to our proposals.Ignatius has given us a wealth of information on how to discern this as well as God's Will in our lives in a solid systematic manner.A person who puts these rules into practice will surely progress leaps and bounds in his faith because now he knows the traps of the enemy and he prepares ahead.I was in a dry period in my spiritual life for a year or so and The Dark Night of the soul by St John of the Cross helped me white-knuckle it.But that book is a hard read and after reading this book,I think I did misunderstand certain points.I even thought that I would never ever receive consolations again from God and would forever be in a dry state.I really feared that it would end my faith life and I wouldn't be able to bear such a heavy cross.But the good Lord did give me consolations and favors when I was least expecting it,and once again gave me back a vibrant ,and joy filled spirituality.But now I know that dryness can occur from time to time,but I won't be so discouraged like before and with the help of this book,I know exactly how to go about it.After I am done with all 4 books(this one,the Spiritual consolations,Discerning God's Will,Examen prayer)I plan to go back and read The Dark night once again and clear out any misunderstandings I had.The difference between this one and Dark Night is that,Dark Night is dealing with a specific type of dryness or desolation,and the reasons why it might happen to us.But the part were what we need to do once we are in the Dark night wasn't very clear to me.It was Ignatius Rules which gave me that clarity.This book should be read in conjunction with Dark Night for a complete understanding of the spiritual dryness all faithful might encounter some time in their life.

I caught the tail end of a speaker on Catholic Radio that said the best sources of information on the topic of discernment of spirits were 1) Discernment of Spirits by Jacques; Brady, Gustave;...., and 2) this book by Fr. Timothy Gallagher. Convinced I ordered both and began with the first. It have already sang the praises of the first in it's review. It gives a brief but thorough explanation of the topic through history. This book takes the spiritual exercises of the Saint and breaks them down into a very logical and helpful explanation of how the forces working on our souls, both internal and external, good and evil work. I must admit, I am only one third through the book, but am so excited with it, that I wanted to get the review out quickly so that others can benefit from it. Embedded in each explanation, of each step in the exercises, are generous examples of how the enemy tried to derail different people from achieving their good intentions towards God, and how God and his angels work in the soul to counter these attacks and vice versa. I am extremely happy with this book and can't imagine a better, understandable and usable book on the topic. I totally agree with the unknown speaker I caught at the tail end of his radio spot. If you are interested in the topic, read these two books in the same order. Kim Lee

The name of the book "The Discernment of Spirits" is also the name of a seminar given by Father Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V. throughout the country. I attended one of these in Boston. I helped organize one in New York after also reading this book. In both, Father Gallagher described how Saint Ignatius of Loyola was able to judge his experiences and tell apart those which he believed originating from "the enemy" and those from the "good spirit." Becoming "aware" of differing experiences, "worldly" and "sacred," both causing delight, both taking a strong "hold on his heart," he came to recognize, little by little, whether these things that moved him were from the "bad spirit" or from "God." So absorbed was he in his thinking, that it took a special moment of grace, where "his eyes were opened a little" and he was able to see and marvel at the difference, where the one experience would leave him "sad" and the other "happy." From his "awareness," he was able to come to an "understanding" of what was happening. From this, he was able learn to "take action," accepting the "sacred" as from God and the "worldly" as from "the enemy." Saint Ignatius was later able to describe the actions of the "bad spirit" as ones that "bite, sadden, and place obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, so that the person may not go forward." On the contrary, he was able to see the movement of God as giving "courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and quiet, easing and taking away all obstacles, so that the person may go forward in doing good." Father Gallagher gives these seminars, and no doubt wrote this book, as "a help" from the teachings of Saint Ignatius, "for everyday living." He said this "applied to persons of every walk of life and vocation." Accordingly, he used examples from the experiences of everyday people. Growing in the "Spiritual Life" can be exhilarating. It can also have its difficulties. If we sincerely attempt to advance spiritually, i.e., to seek union with God, Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., in his book "Spiritual Passages," insists that spiritual direction (of some kind) is necessary if we are to avoid dangers present in living and advancing in the spiritual life. For instance, he tells us that as we grow in the spiritual life, "we expose more and more of our real being with ... its power and potential for good or ill." Because personal honesty and consistency is necessary on our part, the infused virtues (faith, hope, and charity), and their growth, become extremely important and necessary for our own "inner balance" as we look into our own soul and the hidden unconscious, which may contain very disturbing elements. Using a quote from Archbishop Fénelon, he gives us a look at how our dark side can appear while advancing spiritually:------------------------------------------------------------------ As light increases, we see ourselves to be worse than we thought. We are amazed at our former blindness as we see issuing forth from the depths of our heart a whole swarm of shameful feelings, like filthy reptiles crawling from a hidden cave. We never could have believed that we harbored such things, and we stand aghast as we watch them gradually appear. But we must be neither amazed nor disheartened. We are not worse than we were; on the contrary, we are better. But while our faults diminish, the light by which we see them waxes brighter, and we are filled with horror. Bear in mind, for your own comfort, that we only perceive our malady when the cure begins. So long as there is no sign of cure, we are unconscious of the depth of our disease; we are in a state of blind presumption and hardness; the prey of self-delusion. While we go with the stream, we are unconscious of its rapid course; but when we begin to stem it ever so little, it makes itself felt.------------------------------------------------------------------ We, therefore, need "helps." We need the wisdom of experience--of a mentor--to help us through some of what can be very the confusing aspects of growth. Father Benedict insists that, "when the dark recesses of our spirit become manifest, we especially need at least a friend to share our fears, and assure us that ours is not an uncommon experience." Although a personal Spiritual Director might be the answer here, not everyone has the good fortune of finding and having access to one. There are other ways, however, that this wisdom can be sought, found, and put to use. I believe that Father Gallagher has done a great service to the Church and to those who are striving to practice the Spiritual Life. In this book we come to know the mind of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and how he learned that he could put his own inward experiences to the test to see if they were coming from God or not--to resolve his own perplexities. He taught this to his contemporary followers. He can teach us too. He can be that friend that will assure us that ours is not an uncommon experience. He can speak to us and teach us through this book which Father Gallagher so masterfully put together for us. Bottom line: if we can discern God's action in our lives, we can learn to do God's will!

Best book on the subject. Written by acclaimed expert on the subject, Rev. Timothy M Gallagher

Reasonable cost. Very well explained by author

Learned a lot !!! Praise God for this very helpful Catholic book

I am so grateful that I read this book. I have always had a spiritual life, lived my life by Christian values but never understood why there was so little joy, peace. And now I know. This extremely well written book takes you through the steps in an easy to understand fashion so that you can immediately start applying them to your life. It was a revelation. It truly has changed my life. Thank you Father Gallagher.

A must read for all Christians or Catholics

This book helped me a lot in my spiritual journey.

The book describes the different types of discernment very clearly with examples of the experience of real people. I am finding it very helpful as I do the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.