Consolation And Desolation - What Are They?

[BarbTherese]

I thought this was a pretty good explanation of Consolation and Desolation from the Catholic Spiritual Direction site, which does come up with some gems at times:

[url="http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/11/07/consolation-and-desolation-what-does-it-really-mean?utm_source=Catholic+Spiritual+Direction+blog&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ac335aaffc-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN"]Consolation&Desolation[/url][list]
[*]Grasping The Terms
[*]Our Own Fault
[*]Our Fallen Nature's Fault
[*]The Doctor at work
[/list]
[quote]

"...................[color=#000000] [/color]
[color=#000000]If we can keep following God’s will in our lives even when we are passing through “a valley as dark as death” (Psalm 23:4), we will emerge with a much more mature faith, a more vibrant hope, and a deeper love. These are the theological virtues that unite the soul to God – and union with God is what we were created for, and what God yearns us to achieve and deepen.[/color]
[color=#000000]So when he takes away interior consolation in this way, we can rest assured that his wisdom and goodness will permit us, when emerged from the darkness, to undergo greater consolations than we ever imagined, because our soul’s capacity to experience God will have been increased by God directly. These periods of purification initiated by God are often called the “dark night.” We can have dark nights of the senses, of the spirit, of the intellect… It is when God, the doctor of our soul, lays us on the spiritual operating table and takes direct action. Our job in this case is to trust and endure by continuing to seek and embrace God’s will in our lives (the commandments, the duties of our state in life, etc…). [/color]

[color=#000000]Read more: [url="http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2011/11/07/consolation-and-desolation-what-does-it-really-mean#ixzz1d6pLMg00"]http://rcspiritualdi...n#ixzz1d6pLMg00[/url][/color]
[/left][/quote][/left]

[Ale.SOLT]

Then why is it that some people fall harder than others?

I'm going through desolation now and its been the lowest desolation of my life. A few months after I came back from WYD, I felt that I was in the pits of darkness. I still feel like that now. I have to admit that I've stopped praying because I just don't feel anything anymore. I feel isolated from everyone and everything.

[BarbTherese]

I am very sorry to read SOLT that you are in desolation. It is a very cruel and difficult suffering I know. Why some experience desolation more than others is in The Mystery of God - we can't reallly know. But we are assured that those who do experience desolation are blessed in remarkable ways. It was in our Reading for yesterday, which I repeat here:
[quote]
Book of Wisdom [b][color=#000000]2:23-24.3:1-9[/color][/b]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000][font=Times]F[/font]or God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.[/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000]But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.[/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000]But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.[/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000]They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction[/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000]and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.[/color][/font]
[b][font=Verdana][color=#000000]For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality;[/color][/font][/b]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000][b]Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself.[/b][/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000][b]As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.[/b][/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000][b]In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;[/b][/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000]They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the LORD shall be their King forever.[/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#000000]Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect. [/color][/font]
[/quote]
I had a strong feeling yesterday that I might need the above quotation and so cut and pasted it into Word.

Consolation can be said to be an experience of the resurrection, while Suffering and The Cross, desolation, can said to be an inclusion in the Sufferings and Death of Jesus. And it was through The Cross that we are saved and hence suffering and desolation can be entirely positive and redemptive and a light and guide unto the Resurrection. No resurrection without The Cross. This is why St Paul said that The Cross is a stumbling block to many because some do not want to experience suffering and just cannot see it as in any way positive or productive, redemptive. To us Catholics, in an ideal sense, suffering is a great blessing, the greatest of blessings, because it is a share in the Suffering of Christ and His Redemption of creation, opening Heaven to all once more.

Whatever one may FEEL cannot alter that God exists, that Jesus became a truly human being while Truly God and left us with His Church to which we are called and in obedience to Him. None of these things change because of what I FEEL. I know that a sense (feeling) of desolation and abandonment are cruel - but The Lord never asks of us what He is not providing The Grace to overcome or to meet. It is a question of our response to those Graces.

Our prayer in a time of desolation is not the type of prayer that we experienced during times of consolation (or when desolation was absent). Prayer is simply to put oneself in the Presence of God for God is ALWAYS Present to us. Our prayer in times of desolation can FEEL like not praying at all. But if we put ourselves in the Presence of God with simplicity and express what is in our hearts, then we are praying. It is the Prayer of Faith - naked and Dark Faith or unsupported in a human sense by anything but the supernatural virtue of Faith and a supernatural virtue is exactly what it says, beyond human experience short of a remarkable blessing. Remember what Jesus said to Thomas "Thomas, you believe because you have seen. But blessed are those who believe but do not see". Consolation can be like 'seeing' and desolation like 'not seeing'.

Again, I know that desolation is cruel and I am very sorry to read you are experiencing it and will keep you in daily prayer. Dont stop praying but put yourself into the Presence of God by a simple act of Faith and then speak to Him about what you are experiencing asking for His Help to respond to His Graces - and in your own words. No need to go down on your knees, you could even go for walk and pray in this manner......or wheverever you can feel most relaxed and comfortable at a time like this. No need to pray like this for hours, God hears our cries from the moment we cry. If not, short aspirations whenever you think to do so e.g. "Jesus please help me because I am struggling under the burden. Amen" I just made that up and you can do the same with your own. Try to pray even for a short aspiration of your own daily, if not, then when you can.

When we pray and love God in times of consolation, God knows that consolation makes it easy for us. When we experience desolation and struggle and limp along the road of Faith as best we can, then The Lord knows He has someone in His Hands who is rather special and goes on despite desolation even a feeling of abandonment - and a proof indeed of Love and Faith though the person cannot feel this at all, not one iota.

I hope that this may help in some way - you have my very real empathy and concern at such a dreadful time for you.

God bless and hold you close as He Is, though your human senses cannot be aware of this......my prayer for you daily......Barb

Edited November 9, 2011 by BarbaraTherese

[Sarah147]

I'm a little unsure of consolations and desolations. I haven't experienced a strong anything that I would consider God's Presence, so I don't get if I have consolations? I have normal feelings of joy, laughter, love, etc. in life and about things I pray about, but is that different?

[quote name='Ale.SOLT' timestamp='1320771202' post='2333225']
Then why is it that some people fall harder than others?

I'm going through desolation now and its been the lowest desolation of my life. A few months after I came back from WYD, I felt that I was in the pits of darkness. I still feel like that now. I have to admit that I've stopped praying because I just don't feel anything anymore. I feel isolated from everyone and everything.
[/quote]

You really need a spiritual director and to persist in any kind of prayer you can manage.

My SD had a good way of explaining God and experiencing him. Think of someone waving their hand, and compare that to experiencing God's Presence. That wave isn't that person, so in the same way, a feeling of God isn't God, rather it's what He is doing. So, try to remember God is with you, even though He may not be doing things for you to feel.

Edited November 12, 2011 by JoyfulLife

[BarbTherese]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1321131198' post='2335491']
I'm a little unsure of consolations and desolations. I haven't experienced a strong anything that I would consider God's Presence, so I don't get if I have consolations? I have normal feelings of joy, laughter, love, etc. in life and about things I pray about, but is that different?



You really need a spiritual director and to persist in any kind of prayer you can manage.

My SD had a good way of explaining God and experiencing him. Think of someone waving their hand, and compare that to experiencing God's Presence. That wave isn't that person, so in the same way, a feeling of God isn't God, rather it's what He is doing. So, try to remember God is with you, even though He may not be doing things for you to feel.
[/quote]

Consolations can wear many different 'garments' as desolation can do the same. There are also differences in degrees of eitherconsolation or desolation.
Certainly feelings of joy and laughter and love in life and about the things one prays for are a form of consolation (i.e. positive feelings). We should always pray as we can and not strive to pray in ways that we cannot. There is a beautiful Psalm in the Divine Office that runs "I have not reached for things beyond myself". If The Good Lord wishes us to pray in a different manner, then it will become the prayer that we can pray without any effort on our part whatsoever.

I think your comment that Ale.SOLT needs and would greatly benefit from a spiritual director are spot on and well discerned.

Your director, of course, is completely correct. God in Himself is beyond our human qualities to experience - just as a wave is from a person and not the person themselves. Even in Heaven with the Beatific Vision, God in Himself remains beyond our 'grasp' is any way shape or form. What then is the Beatific Vision ............ for me personally, I must wait for God's Loving Mercy and Heaven.

God is always with us and without Him we would just cease to exist completely. He sustains all things in existence and without Him, they cannot exist. For the soul in Grace, there is the complete assurance in Faith (and most often Dark Faith unsupported by human feelings or understandings) that we are The Temples of The Holy Spirit - and thus the Temples of The Blessed Trinity. This Indwelling does not need one iota our feeling The Indwelling, or understanding The Indwelling in any way at all for it to be an absolute fact of of Reality and for those who do not believe, it simply means that they are denying an aspect of Reality and a type of delusion or illusion and a very sad state of affairs. Lord, please increase our Faith and show us the way to be Your channels of Faith to others and no matter where we may be or the circumstances existing. Amen.

Edited November 15, 2011 by BarbaraTherese