Consolation and Desolation

Understanding the difference between consolation and desolation is a key element of St. Ignatius's Rules for the Discernment of Spirits.

John Henry Newman, "Second Spring"

"In consolation, ever to be sober; in desolation, never to despair."

Consolation is when we feel close to God. It is easy to pray and it seems as though all of our prayers are answered. We feel like Jesus and are able to bear with insults gladly. Everyone we meet seems to be an angel in disguise and each day our faith grows by leaps and bounds. We work with zeal and take pleasures in meeting difficulties head-on.

Desolaton is the opposite mood. God seems to be paying no attention. We seek Him but do not find Him. Our prayers go nowhere. It is an agony to have to deal with our fellow human beings. It feels as though we are walking in darkness with leaden hearts; every step takes enormous effort.

Those are the times when you are near Jesus in His Agony in the Garden and in His death on the Cross. He also felt far away from His Father. He said, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" If the pure, innocent, and perfect God-man could feel this torment, we should not be surprised that we sinners do, too.

The rules for desolation are:

• Do not stop following where Jesus leads.
• Keep on doing what you are doing ("age quod agis")--never make or change a major decision in decision, if at all possible. Don't resign from your job in a rage, don't walk out on your spouse and your children, don't plunge into a new enterprise or relationship, don't say yes to the wrong good, etc.
• Act against (Latin: "agere contra") your feelings of abandonment by making acts of faith, hope, and love.
• Offer up your sufferings in union with the sufferings of Jesus. Suffering, in and of itself, is evil. Acceptance of suffering as an act of love for God and for our neighbor can, by God's grace and in God's time, bring good out of evil.
• Realize that this state will not last forever. The worst case that we know of is Mother Teresa. She felt the way you do for about 50 years. So say to yourself, "This probably won't last 50 years. And if it does, my faithfulness in suffering will make me a great saint like Blessed Teresa of Calcutta."

St. Philip Neri

"When God infuses extraordinary sweetnesses into the soul, we ought to prepare for some serious tribulation or temptation."

Faith and Feelings

It is not in our power to will consolation. One of the effects of original sin is that our feelings are often irrational and misleading. We cannot force God to visit and comfort us. There are no magical incantations to give us control over Him. God refuses to be used by us like a drug. When Marx called God "the opiate of the masses," he was dead wrong.

Bright stars to steer by

Consolation sets the standard of praise that we should continue, even in desolation. In consolation our eyes are open, our minds are alert, our souls are filled with the glory of God, and we realize what God is truly like.

In desolation, we are cut off from those sources of intimate personal awareness of God's greatness, but the reality of God's goodness and love remains. God's love does not change with our change of mood. He is always worthy of all of our love, praise, adoration, and gratitude. As Newman said elsewhere, life is short and eternity long. Desolation is a temporary condition; we are en route to an eternity of infinite bliss.

Our task in times of desolation, then, is to remember what God has revealed to us and set our course by the light of those truths, even though, for a moment, we feel lost in darkness.