Delight? Yes, delight!
In the Ignatian tradition, consolation and desolation are terms that describe feelings stirred in us by opposing spiritual forces influencing our minds and hearts.
Spiritual consolation is an experience of being so on fire with God’s love that we feel impelled to praise, love, and serve God and help others as best as we can. Spiritual consolation encourages and facilitates a deep sense of gratitude for God’s faithfulness, mercy, and companionship in our life. In consolation, we feel more alive and connected to others.
Spiritual desolation, in contrast, is an experience of the soul in heavy darkness or turmoil. We are assaulted by all sorts of doubts, bombarded by temptations, and mired in self-preoccupations. We are excessively restless and anxious and feel cut off from others. Such feelings, in Ignatius’s words, “move one toward lack of faith and leave one without hope and without love.”
(Definitions from Loyola Press’s Ignatian Spirituality website.)
Noticing our times of consolation, or delight, is a key to discerning God’s will for our lives and walking our path in the gift of freedom in Christ. Our deepest, purest joys point to our true self, lovingly crafted by the hands of our perfect Creator before the beginning of time (Ps 139:13-16)…to simply love Him and love others. Delight, then, is a powerful guidepost for the spiritual journey as we seek to know God and to know ourselves.
“There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him.” ~Thomas Merton
Resources for encountering “true self” and Christ on the spiritual journey:
Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-discovery, 2004.
Keating, Thomas. The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation, 1999.
Mulholland, M. Robert. The Deeper Journey: The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self, 2006.
Nouwen, Henri J. M. Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, 1992.
Nouwen, Henri J.M. The Way of the Heart, 1981.
Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, 2000.
Rohr, Richard. Falling Upward, 2011.
Direction and Delight 