(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 04.12.2022).- In his tenth catechesis on discernment last Wednesday, November 30, the Pope reflected further on consolation and how to recognize what is truly a consolation. 

Here is the text of his catechesis, with headers and phrases in bold added by ZENIT.

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As we continue our reflection on discernment, and in particular on the spiritual experience called “consolation,” which we spoke about the other Wednesday, we ask: how can we recognize true consolation? It is a very important question for a good discernment, so as not to be deceived in the search for our true good.

1st An Aid: What Saint Ignatius of Loyola Says

We can find some criteria in a passage from the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. “We ought to note well the course of the thoughts,” says Saint Ignatius, “and if the beginning, middle and end is all good, inclined to all good, it is a sign of the good Angel; but if in the course of the thoughts which he brings it ends in something bad, of a distracting tendency, or less good than what the soul had previously proposed to do, or if it weakens it or disturbs the soul, taking away its peace, [taking away the] tranquility and quiet, which it had before, it is a clear sign that it proceeds from the evil spirit, enemy of our profit and eternal salvation” (no. 333). 

2nd A Criterion: Where Does the Consolation Lead Me? 

Because it is true: there is true consolation, but there are also consolations that are not true. And therefore, we need to understand well the process of consolation: how does it come and where does it lead me? If it leads me to something wrong, that is not good, the consolation is not true, it is “fake”, let’s say.

3rd What Does It Mean That the Beginning Is Inclined to Good?

And these are valuable indications, that merit a brief comment. What does it mean that the beginning is inclined to good, as Saint Ignatius says of good consolation? For example, I have the thought of praying, and I note that it accompanies affection towards the Lord and neighbour, it invites gestures of generosity, of charity: it is a good beginning. It can instead happen that such a thought emerges to avoid a job or task that has been entrusted to me: every time I have to wash the dishes or clean the house, I have a strong urge to pray! This happens, in convents. But prayer is not an escape from one’s tasks; on the contrary, it is an aid in realizing the good we are required to do, here and now. This regards the beginning.

4th The Role of the Middle in Consolation

Then there is the middle: Saint Ignatius said that the beginning, the middle and the end had to be good. The beginning is this: I want to pray so as not to wash the dishes: go, wash the dishes, and then go to pray. Then there is the middle: that is to say what comes afterwards, what follows that thought. Remaining with the previous example, if I begin to pray and, like the Pharisee in the parable (cf. Luke 18:9-14), I tend to be self-satisfied and to disdain others, perhaps with a resentful and sour spirit, then these are signs that the evil spirit has used that thought as a key to enter into my heart and to transmit his feelings to me. 

If I go to pray, and it comes to mind to do so like the famous Pharisee — “Thank you Lord, because I pray, I am not like other people who do not seek You, who do not pray” — that prayer ends badly there. That consolation of praying is to feel like a peacock in front of God. And this is the wrong way.

5th The Role of the End in Consolation

And then there is the end: the beginning, the middle and the end. The end is an aspect we have already encountered, namely: where does a thought take me? For example, where does the thought of prayer take me? For instance, it can happen that I work hard for a good and worthy task, but this pushes me to stop praying, because I am busy with many things; I find I am increasingly aggressive and angry, I feel that everything depends on me, to the point of losing confidence in God. Here, evidently, there is the action of the evil spirit. I start praying, but then in prayer I feel omnipotent, that everything must be in my hands because I am the only one who knows how to get things done: evidently there is no good spirit there. It is necessary to examine well the path of our sentiments, of consolation, at the moment in which we want to do something; at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.

6th The Importance of the Examination of the Origin and the Truth of Our Thoughts

The style of the enemy — when we speak about the enemy, we speak about the devil, because the devil exists, he is there! — his style, we know — is to present himself in a devious, masked way: he starts from what is most dear to us and then, little by little, reels us in: evil enters secretly, without the person being aware of it. And with time, gentleness becomes hardness: that thought reveals itself for what it truly is.

Hence the importance of this patient but indispensable examination of the origin and the truth of our thoughts; it is an invitation to learn from experiences, from what happens to us, so as not to continue to repeat the same errors. The more we know ourselves, the more we sense where the evil spirit enters, his “password,” the entrance to our heart, which are the points to which we are most sensitive, so as to pay attention to them in the future. Each one of us has their more sensitive spots, the weak spots in their personality: and the evil spirit enters there, and leads us down the wrong path, or takes us away from the true, right path. I go and pray but he leads me away from my prayer.

7th The Importance of a Daily Examination of Conscience

The examples could be multiplied at will, reflecting on our days. This is why a daily examination of conscience is so important: before ending the day, stop a moment. What happened? Not in the newspapers, not in life: what happened in my heart? Was my heart attentive? Did it grow? Did it go through everything unaware? What happened in my heart? And this examination is important, it is the valuable effort of rereading experience from a particular point of view. Noticing what happens is important, it is a sign that God’s grace is working in us, helping us to grow in freedom and awareness. We are not alone: the Holy Spirit is with us. Let us see how things went.

8th Genuine Consolation Is a Sort of Confirmation That We Are Doing What God Wants of Us

Genuine consolation is a sort of confirmation that we are doing what God wants of us, that we are walking on His paths, that is, on the paths of life, joy, and peace. Discernment, in fact, is not simply about what is good or the greatest possible good, but about what is good for me here and now: this is what I am called to grow in, setting limits to other proposals, attractive but unreal, so as not to be deceived in the search for the true good.

Brothers and sisters, it is necessary to understand, to go ahead in understanding what happens in my heart. And this is why an examination of conscience is necessary, to see what happened today. “Today I got angry, I didn’t do that…”: But why? Going beyond the “why” to look for the root of these mistakes. “But, today I was happy but I was bored because I had to help those people, but at the end I felt filled by that help” — and there is the Holy Spirit. Learning to read what happened during the day in the book of our heart. Do it: it will take just two minutes, but it will do you good, I assure you.

Elizabeth Owens

(ZENIT News / London, 03.12.2022).- The National Office of Vocations of England and Wales published data regarding priestly Ordinations in both countries: there has been a decrease for a third year. 

In 2021 there were 21 priestly Ordinations in the 22 dioceses of England and Wales, including the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Those 21 Ordinations contrast with those of the three previous years. 

2018: 35 Ordinations

2019 32 Ordinations

2020: 27 Ordinations

However, 2021 was not the year in which there were fewer Ordinations. The lowest number of Ordinations was in 2008 — only 15. In 2001 the extreme opposite was the case, when Ordinations reached a maximum of 44. The forecast for 2022 is that Ordinations will reach 26 to fall again in 2023 to 20. 

However, the Ordinations by dioceses show that there are very different situations of crisis. In 2021 the dioceses with more Ordinations were:

• Westminster (north London): four Ordinations
• Shrewsbury: three Ordinations
• The Archdiocese of Southwark: two Ordinations
• Portsmouth: two Ordinations (although a plan estimated that in 20 years priests would decrease by 63%)

Nine dioceses had no Ordinations in 2021. On this list are important dioceses such as Liverpool, Cardiff and Birmingham.

In 2021 there was a total of 18 new admissions to the Seminaries; in 2020 there were 30. In regard to vocational admissions, the dioceses reflect very different situations: Salford had three of the new 18 admissions, followed by Westminster. Nine dioceses had no admissions. 

In the diocesan Seminaries in England and Wales there is a total of 121 seminarians.  In 2020 there were 142. The average age of admission to Seminary is 36.2 years. Added to the 121 seminarians are 26 Religious (12 men and 14 women). 

Some 3.8 million people declare themselves Catholics in England and Wales. The most recent census shows that, in general, Christians are decreasing and Muslims and non-believes are increasing.

(ZENIT News / Rome, 03.11.2022).- “After the celebration oof Holy Mass, some Russian soldiers entered the parish and, after showing contempt for the Catholics, prayer and the fact of being together, seized and took Father Oleksandr Bogomaz, a young parish priest of Melitopol, to an unknown location,” said Father Maksym Ryabukha, new Auxiliary Bishop of the Archbishopric of Donetsk, in an interview with the Tv2000 news program. He is the third Catholic priest detained, in just a few days without charges, by the Russian Army. Father Oleksandr was taken by force in his church, in front of the petrified faithful. 

According to the latest reconstructions, Father Oleksandr was expelled from the Occupied Territories and is now in Zaporizhzhia. Moreover, two priests detained in Berdyansk are still in prison, accused by the Russian Army, without any proof, of having hidden weapons in the religious house where they live. 

“In fact, they are being tortured because they do not admit that they are guilty of hiding weapons in the premises of their religious house,” stressed Father Maksym. 

One of the hypotheses is that the Russian soldiers are torturing the two priests to extort and  obtain information from them received during the Sacrament of Confession. “The conscience of any priest of the world is very clear about the Sacrament of Confession and silence,” recalled Father Maksym in his interview with Tv2000.