Part 4, Chapter 14
Winter is officially over, but up here in the northland we still might experience some of the effects. We might have some snow, we still need to heat our homes and because of this, we may experience dry skin. We know the feeling of dry, itchy, cracking skin. It is not fun to deal with, but it happens. There are different ways to fix this, lotion, cream and humidifier, but it is something that we will have to deal with.
In life, there are times when we experience desolation. There is a difference between non-spiritual desolation and spiritual desolation. They both cause us to be sad, without hope, without joy, without peace. But like consolation, there is a difference between spiritual and non-spiritual (look at yesterday post for more help here). We can be experiencing non-spiritual desolation, but not experiencing spiritual desolation. In spiritual desolation we will find ourselves desiring earthly things, rather than the things of God. “Sometimes you will be so devoid of all devout feelings, that it will seem to you that your soul is a desert land, fruitless, sterile, in which you can find no path leading to God, no drop of the waters of grace to soften the dryness that threatens to choke it entirely” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 181). The soul will feel as if it has been abandoned by God (Psalm 22).
Why does this happen? There can be three principle reasons for spiritual desolation. “The first is because we are tepid, slothful, or negligent in our spiritual exercises, and so through our faults spiritual consolation withdraws from us” (The Discernment of Spirits, 9). In this case, we have cut off ourselves from God and His grace. Sin and laziness can be the causes of spiritual desolation. “The second, to try us and see how much we are and how much we extend ourselves in his service and praise without so much payment of consolations and increased graces” (The Discernment of Spirits, 9). Trials come to us in the spiritual life, and sometimes God withdraws His grace to teach us that we need to rely on Him. “The third, to give us true recognition and understanding so that we may interiorly feel that it is not ours to attain or maintain increased devotion, intense love, tears or any other spiritual consolation, but that all is the gift of God our Lord” (The Discernment of Spirits, 9). God also allows for us to be humbled so that we will come to know deeper that spiritual consolation is His gift to us.
So what do we do when in desolation? As St. Francis De Sales says, “Look well whence the trial comes, for we are often ourselves the cause of our own dryness and barrenness” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 181). We ask for the light of the Spirit to show us if we have done something to reject God. If we find that we have been sinful, neglectful, or full of pride, we have found our source of the spiritual desolation. At this point, we should “humble yourself profoundly before God, acknowledging your nothingness and misery” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 183). Even if it is a trial, we should humble ourselves too. Beg the Lord for the graces that we need to be strong and keep going forward. “Call upon God, and ask for his gladness” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 183). We are not alone in this, ask the saints for prayers. Bring this spiritual desolation out into the open by discussing it with one’s spiritual director (confessor). Sometimes though the spiritual desolation will continue to linger after all this, than continue to humble one’s self, keep going forward and keep one’s eyes on Jesus. “And lastly…amid all our dryness let us never grow discouraged, but go steadily on, patiently waiting the return of better things” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 183-184). We have to remember that we are not alone in spiritual desolation; the saints and all of us have gone and will continue to experience this. I always remember what Fr. Timothy Gallagher says quoting someone else, “if we didn’t experience spiritual desolation, we would remain spiritual children.” What he is saying is that we would still view God as a vending machine in which we get things we want from Him each time we pray and so we would think that we did this and not God. Spiritual desolation can be a gift when we view it as help along the way.