In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius refers to the bad spirit as “the enemy of human nature.” He is the one that tries to disrupt our relationship with God and tries, by all means, to move us away from God. He plants weeds in our fields of wheat. How can we learn to recognise these
weeds?
The seeds of the bad spirit are characterised by bringing a decrease in faith, hope and love. They bring
anxiety, sadness and disruptions. The bad spirit uses false and misleading reasoning to distract us from God. St. Ignatius calls these seeds ‘desolation’.
Again, desolation does not necessarily feel bad. Sometimes, desolation comes as a temptation to do something that we know is wrong. It brightens up and glamourises those things that lead us down the wrong path.
Desolation may also be difficult to recognise. The bad spirit sometimes comes as an angel of light. He uses our good intentions and desires to attract us down his own paths. How often do we get stuck in a rut trying to do the right thing but find ourselves anxious, frustrated
and impatient with others and ourselves? Would God’s invitation lead us to anxiety?
The bad spirit is very sly.
Like the enemy in the parable, he likes to come at night. He tries to keep his movements secret. These are those desires and movements we feel we must keep hidden from our spouse, spiritual companion or close friends. We may brush them off as unimportant or be ashamed of them. The bad spirit is also cowardly, attacking us at our weak points and backing down quickly to resistance. It is not our strengths that the bad spirit attacks, but our weaknesses and insecurities.
What seeds of desolation have the evil spirit planted in your heart recently? Ask God for the grace to recognise and resist these
seeds.
Reflections by Sean van Staden
SJ
