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be able to succeed with the wicked design he has begun, seeing that his manifest frauds are brought to light.

XIV. He acts also as a commander does in order to conquer and despoil the object of his desire. For as a captain and commander of an army, pitching his camp, and reconnoitering the strength and arrangement of a fortress, attacks it on its weakest side; so in like manner the enemy of human nature goes round and explores on all sides all our virtues, theological, cardinal, and moral, and where he finds us weaker, and more necessitous as regards our eternal salvation, there he attacks us, and endeavours to take us by storm.

II

Rules to the same effect, with a fuller discernment of spirits, and more suitable for the Second Week (1).

(1) More suitable, i.e. speaking generally, but not exclusively. For the suitability of these rules depends not so much upon the part of the Exercises in which a person is engaged, as upon the dispositions of his soul. See Annotation x, and note upon it. They are not to be given or applied to those who are still in the purgative way, and whose temptations are of that grosser and more open kind of which S. Ignatius speaks in the ninth Annotation; because, as he says, they contain matter too subtle and too high for them to understand, and therefore they may do harm rather than good. Those, however, who are more advanced and whose temptations are of a more subtle kind, wearing often the appearance of good, will have enough light to profit by them, especially if they have pondered deeply the teaching of the meditation on the Two Standards, with which these rules have a close connexion, and from which they are in fact largely derived.

They will be found of great value both to the exercitant and to the director while engaged in the work of the Election, especially in the second time, i.e. when we are seeking to gain light and knowledge from the experience of consolations and desolations.

They will help us to distinguish between the true inspirations and calls of God on the one hand, and the promptings of natural inclination, or the false suggestions of the evil one, on the other.

I. It belongs to God and His angels to give in the movements they excite true gladness and spiritual joy, removing all sadness

and perturbation caused by the enemy, whose property it is to fight against such joy (2) and spiritual consolation, suggesting false reasons, subtleties, and fallacies without end.

(2) One of the surest signs of the divine action in the souls of those who are earnestly seeking to give themselves to God and His service is peace and joy, which are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Whenever, therefore, the devil sees that a soul is making progress, and thinks that it will not be easy to entice it into sin, he tries at least to put obstacles in the way of its advance, by destroying its peace and harassing it with doubts and perplexities. In this way he hopes to gain his end indirectly, wearying out the soul, so that it may fall into discouragement and scruples, and from this be drawn into sin, or at least be greatly hindered in its progress.

II. It belongs to God our Lord alone to give consolation to the soul without preceding cause (3); for it is the prerogative of the Creator alone to enter into the soul, to go out of it, and to excite movements in it, drawing it wholly to the love of His divine Majesty. I say without cause, that is, without any previous perception or knowledge of any object from which such consolation might come to the soul by means of its own acts of understanding and will.

(3) Without preceding cause, i.e. without anything calculated to cause it having been presented to the senses or the understanding. God alone has this power of freely entering the soul, illuminating and moving it directly and immediately. Suarez, De Relig. IX, v. 38-40.

III. When a cause has preceded, the consolation may come either from the good or the evil angel (4), but for contrary ends: from the good angel for the profit of the soul, that it may increase and ascend from good to better (5); from the evil angel for the contrary purpose, that he may draw it onward to his own wicked and malicious designs.

(4) Angels, whether good or bad, cannot move the soul directly or immediately like God, but only mediately by presenting objects, real or imaginary, to stimulate the senses, the imagination, or the intellect. See Suarez, De Relig. IX, v. 31.

(5) From good to better. S. Ignatius does not say from bad to good, for he supposes that the soul which receives the consolation is already in a good state. The object, therefore, of the

good angel is that the soul may advance in virtue, but of the bad angel that it may be drawn from the better to the less good, and from the less good to that which is positively evil.

IV. It belongs to the evil angel, transforming himself into an angel of light, to enter with the devout soul, and to come out by himself (6); that is to say, to suggest good and holy thoughts conformable to the dispositions of the said devout soul; and afterwards little by little he contrives to gain his own end, drawing the soul to his hidden deceits and perverse intentions (7).

(6) To enter with, etc., i.e. to begin by suggesting thoughts in harmony with the good dispositions of the soul, and to end by perverting them to his own evil designs.

(7) This and the next rule are of the utmost importance in guarding us against the deceits of the evil one, when he tempts us under the appearance of good, and tries to draw us away from the real good. If he sees us earnestly striving after some virtue, he will tempt us by means of that very virtue, either through excess or some other artifice. How many has he ruined through indiscreet zeal, or excesses in the practice of devotion or of penance! In how many has he turned their virtue into pride, or corrupted it by introducing some lower and self-seeking aim! Humility and obedience will be our greatest safeguards against his wiles. The enemy without can effect little when he is not seconded by pride or self-will within.

V. We ought carefully to watch the course of such thoughts; and if the beginning, middle, and end (8) are all good, tending to what is wholly good, it is a sign of the good angel; but if the course of the thoughts suggested ends in something bad or distracting, or less good than that which the soul had previously determined to do; or if they weaken, disquiet, or perturb the soul, taking away the peace, tranquillity, and quiet it enjoyed before, it is a clear sign that they come from the evil spirit, the enemy of our spiritual progress and eternal salvation (9).

(8) See Suarez, De Relig. IX, v. 35–37.

(9) Here we have a twofold criterion by which we may discover the working of the evil spirit: (1) the bad end to which a suggestion or train of thought tends, however good it may have seemed in its beginning; and (2) the trouble and disquiet which it causes in the soul. See Additional Note Q, p. 266 sq.

VI. When the enemy of our human nature has been perceived and recognized by his serpent's tail, and by the bad end to which he leads, it is profitable for him who has been thus tempted by him to examine afterwards the course of the good thoughts suggested to him, both their beginning, and how little by little the enemy contrived to make him decline from the state of sweetness and spiritual delight he was in, until he brought him to his own depraved purpose in order that by the experience and knowledge thus acquired and noted he may be on his guard for the future against his accustomed deceits.

VII. In the case of those who are making progress from good to better, the good angel touches such a soul sweetly, lightly, and gently, as a drop of water enters into a sponge; and the evil angel touches it sharply and with noise and disturbance, as when the drop of water falls upon a rock. In the case of those who go from bad to worse, the said spirits touch it in a contrary manner; the reason of which difference is the disposition of the soul, according as it is contrary or similar to the aforementioned angels; for when it is contrary to them, they enter with noise and sensible commotion, so that their coming may easily be perceived; but when it is similar to them, they enter in silence, as into their own house, by an open door.

VIII. When the consolation is without any preceding cause, though there be no deception in it, inasmuch as it proceeds only from God our Lord, as has been said (10); nevertheless the spiritual person to whom God gives such a consolation ought with great vigilance and attention to examine and distinguish the time itself of the actual consolation from the time following, in which the soul continues fervent and feels the remains of the divine favour and consolation lately received; for in this second period it often happens that by its own thoughts, in accordance with its habits, and in consequence of its own conceptions and judgments, or by the suggestion of the good or the evil spirit, it forms various resolutions and plans, which are not inspired immediately by God our Lord; and hence it is necessary that they be very carefully examined before they receive entire credit and are carried into effect. (10) See Rule ii.

[RULES FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF ALMS]

In the ministry (1) of distributing alms the following rules ought to be observed.

194 RULES FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF ALMS

(1) S. Ignatius speaks of the distribution of alms as a ministry. The expression may remind us that in giving alms we are the ministers of Him Who calls Himself the Father of the poor. This is true of all men, but especially of those who hold ecclesiastical benefices. On this and the following Rules on Scruples and on Thinking with the Church, see Directory xxxviii.

I. If I distribute anything among relations or friends, or among persons whom I love, I must observe four things which have been mentioned in part in the matter of the Election (2).

(2) See the second method of making an Election, p. 132.

The first thing is, that the love which moves me and prompts me to give an alms should descend from on high, from the love of God our Lord, so that I first (3) feel in myself that the love I bear more or less to these persons is for God, and that in the cause for which I love them more God may shine forth.

(3) I.e. before I take any action in the matter.

The second: I will place before my eyes a man whom I have never seen or known, and then, desiring for him every perfection in the ministry and state of life he occupies, in the very way in which I should wish him to observe the mean in his method of distributing alms for the greater glory of God our Lord, and the greater perfection of his soul, I myself, acting in exactly the same manner, neither more nor less, will observe the rule and measure which I should wish for him, and which I judge to be such (4).

(4) I.e. for the greater glory of God, and the perfection of his soul.

The third: I will consider, as if I were at the point of death, the form and measure that I should then wish to have observed in the office of my administration; and regulating myself by this, I will keep to it in making the distribution.

The fourth: Considering how I shall find myself at the Day of Judgment, I will think well how I shall then wish to have acted in the office and charge of this ministry; and the rule which I should then wish to have observed I will observe now.

II. When any one feels himself inclined and attached to any persons to whom he wishes to make a distribution, let him restrain himself and ponder well the four rules just mentioned, examining and testing his affection by means of them; and let him not bestow

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