Consolation & Desolation

Posted by Alina

I was able to attend Father Charlie's Talk today, and he spoke about those moments of Consolation.  Also, he spoke of those moments of Desolation.

A wise word of advice was regarding those moments of spiritual consolation - when our souls are feeling inflamed with love of its Creator; and we are at Peace. We should anticipate that next wave of spiritual desolation before it comes back.

Here is how it was phrased from the handout, copied from The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola:

"The Tenth Rule:  Let the one who is in consolation think how he will conduct himself in the desolation which will come after, taking new strength for that time."


It reminded me of PMS. :)  It is every Woman's cycle of Desolation and Consolation...the up and down waves.  It is so predictable, yet every month, it feels unique (in a bad way)!  And, I have decided that during that special week, I will have to schedule a nap into each <possible> day, or every other day.  That will be how I can help my body physically handle the increased feeling of exhaustion.  And, hopefully this will help the mind get through the bad wave a little bit better.  Then, adding a daily decade of the Rosary would be the solid way to continue in prayer and meditation, even if I just feel unmotivated.

The only variable is when we hang out with other women...who can shift our predictable cycles.  So, now we just have to figure out how to politely ask new friends: "When is your cycle?"