Wednesday, September 28, 2022
09/28/2022 – In the cycle on “Riches of our spirituality”the Father Juan Ignacio Liebana continued sharing from Santiago del Estero on the spirituality of the Christian East, this time on discernment and spiritual accompaniment. “It is logical that popular preachers insist above all on the effort to amend outward conduct. But it is not enough to stay at that stage. Evagrius distinguishes between external and internal practice, the amendment of behavior and the effort to put order in one’s own heart. When the mind is invaded by thoughts, you have to learn to distinguish them. Among the Fathers of the desert are great experts in the discernment (diakrisis) of spirits, beginning with Saint Anthony Abbot. This art is considered to be the essential property of the spiritual father, who is therefore called patèr diakritikós, the one who discerns. That indicates that the discernment of spirits is difficult. In addition to a special grace, a great experience is required, That is the prerogative of the elders. Of course, this name does not refer to age but to prudence”, Father Juani said.
“The radical solitude of the hermit monks is compensated by the absolute reference to the spiritual father. The phyllocalic world, like any other spiritual tradition, cannot be conceived without the figure of the abba, that is, without reference to an elder (in wisdom, not necessarily in age) who has the gift of discerning the phenomena and processes of life. spiritual life. In the long hours spent in the solitude of the hermitage or the cell, there are so many things that the contemplative can experience that, if he is not very experienced, he himself cannot discern them. The Parents know that the outbreaks of fantasy or the deceptions of the evil spirit are very frequent. “Discernment is like the eye and the lamp of the soul,” says Casiano. And Diadocus of Photicea writes: «The sense of the spirit is the precise taste of what is discerned. For just as, when we are healthy, by the bodily sense of taste we unerringly distinguish what is exquisite from what is disgusting, and desire the former, so also our spirit, when it begins to develop vigorously and with a great detachment, can fully feel the divine consolation without ever allowing himself to be trapped by the adversary». This interior vision allows us to identify the evil spirit that holds the soul prisoner and makes it fall into its traps. Because for the Fathers it is incontestable that two spirits act in the heart of man: the spirit of light and the spirit of darkness, to which one’s own thoughts are added. “If the action of discernment has been vigorous, the signs of the difference are clearly shown to the same soul from the moment in which the spiritual sensation has been given to it,” says Saint Macarius. And Pedro Damasceno adds: There are things that seem good, but that carry hidden in themselves an unusual damage. Saint Isaac says: Only he who has received from God the gift of discernment and has acquired, after long years of asceticism, a clairvoyant spirit and great humility, says Saint Maximus, can advise others. Thanks to humility, and through the request of the one who has questioned him, his word is engraved in the soul of the one who receives it». The clairvoyance that discernment gives is what allows us to advance without ceasing and, accompanied by the discretion of a spiritual father, to enter the infinite Abyss of God without getting lost”, indicated the priest who lives in Campo Gallo.
“What should young people do? “Reveal the thoughts” to the spiritual man. In all ages they have lamented how difficult it is to find an authentic spiritual father who teaches us to think well and to whom “all thoughts” can be revealed. To remedy this deficiency, Evagrius had the idea of making a compilation of thoughts that can already be classified as bad and leading to evil from the beginning, so that they can be known even by a beginner in the spiritual life. This is how the famous list of the eight vices arose”, said Liébana, who also spoke of universal love to close with Saint Francis of Assisi and the fraternity: “Returning to the purity and radicality of the Gospel was his dream come true”.