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Spiritual Consolation: An Ignatian Guide for Greater Discernment

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Fr. Gallagher fills a great need with this book and his other books on Ignatian discernment. He fills his books with concrete examples that bring Ignatian wisdom to life. Especially striking in this particular book is how even consolation must be subject to discernment to prevent being led down the wrong track by the enemy. You will find subtle but practical wisdom for our complex lives and challenges.

This book fills a much needed niche in the important aspect of Ignatian Spirituality, namely, Discernment of Spirits.
It speaks to Ignatius's search for "the more".
How do we discern between two apparent "Good Options"?
In which is God calling us to the More, to the Greater , for the sake of God and for a considered life.
The journey throws up choices.
Which choice is the Better?
With this little book as a guide, we may find the answer.

This book has really helped me understand what God is asking of me,. You get far enough along in the spiritual life, you want to do Gods will, but you come up against the problem, of not knowing what it is. Then along comes Fr. Gallagher, to decipher the understanding given to Ignatious of Loyola over 500 years ago, and all of a sudden we have a clarity, a path, a set of rules, that allow us to find our way, to stay in Gods will.

I have become a big fan of Gallagher's - I've read three of his books: Discernment of Spirits, Spiritual Consolation, and Discerning the Will of God. It was such a relief to read his works because each book has described to a "t" what I had been going through for the past 3 years. I am grateful for his ability to take what could be a largely intellectual exercise and make it so simple, practical and easy to apply with crystal clear clarity. What is even more amazing is that he manages to pack so much truth into so few pages - his writing is really well organized.

This book presents a set of 8 "rules" (or guidelines) to help identify whether a seemingly good, noble and holy idea is from the evil one intending to lead us astray and what to do. Gallagher writes each "rule", then explains it in simple terms with clarity, and presents several illustrative examples of what he's talking about. I was easily able to immediately apply the information to a situation I was facing, and the results are accurate and true to the information presented in these pages. But I do have a spiritual director who knows me well with whom I review the results. This is a must.

Also must note that this book should not be read without also reading "Discernment of Spirits" because the rules change depending on where you area in your spiritual life. You can be seriously mistaken if you only read the one book! And for further clarification, I highly recommend "Discerning the Will of God" too.

a good guide for the study of ignatian theory on discernment also recommend all of the other books on this subject