Examination of the State of Our Soul
From Primer of Perfection for Everybody, pages 110 and 111
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, like the Imitation (3,54) and other spiritual writings, lays down certain simple rules according to which we can discern whether an impulse is good or evil, whether it comes from grace or from nature-rules for “distinguishing the spirits”.
1.
Thus they say, if it is an impulse to tell of the good you are doing or that is happening to you, set it down as nature speaking. For grace inclines the soul to keep its virtue secret.
Thus they say, if it is an impulse to tell of the good you are doing or that is happening to you, set it down as nature speaking. For grace inclines the soul to keep its virtue secret.2.Nature is speaking if the impulse is to be worried about temporal things, to be eager about acquiring them, to feel happy over abundance, to be downcast over privation and hardship. For grace attaches little value to the temporal; it cares for it only insofar as it represents duty to God and can be used in His service.
Nature is speaking if the impulse is to be worried about temporal things, to be eager about acquiring them, to feel happy over abundance, to be downcast over privation and hardship. For grace attaches little value to the temporal; it cares for it only insofar as it represents duty to God and can be used in His service.3.Nature is at work if the impulse is to neglect duty, obedience, good order, the works of daily routine; if a good deed is to wait on a mood; if you are minded to give up because something annoying or slighting to you has occurred. In such cases nature has a hundred plausible excuses to justify you. But grace has its eye on God alone, and knows that He and His claims do not change because we and our mood change, or because people about us are not what they should be, or because fortune changes from good to less favorable.
Nature is at work if the impulse is to neglect duty, obedience, good order, the works of daily routine; if a good deed is to wait on a mood; if you are minded to give up because something annoying or slighting to you has occurred. In such cases nature has a hundred plausible excuses to justify you. But grace has its eye on God alone, and knows that He and His claims do not change because we and our mood change, or because people about us are not what they should be, or because fortune changes from good to less favorable.4.Nature’s impulse is toward self-complacency and self-congratulation, toward idle curiosity and pastime, toward rest, toward indulgence of the poor body for fear of one’s health. Grace has learned to know the body for an easy-going, unwilling servant, which needs occasional prodding to make it help the spirit in pleasing God.
Nature’s impulse is toward self-complacency and self-congratulation, toward idle curiosity and pastime, toward rest, toward indulgence of the poor body for fear of one’s health. Grace has learned to know the body for an easy-going, unwilling servant, which needs occasional prodding to make it help the spirit in pleasing God.5.Nature keeps hankering after interior consolation, and likes to feel that it is important in the eyes of God. The impulse of grace is toward keeping a person lowly in his own estimation, patient, good without being conscience of it, faithful because God deserves it of us, not because we deserve anything of Him.
Nature keeps hankering after interior consolation, and likes to feel that it is important in the eyes of God. The impulse of grace is toward keeping a person lowly in his own estimation, patient, good without being conscience of it, faithful because God deserves it of us, not because we deserve anything of Him.6.Nature tends to extremes and to violent measures, tends to defy the bounds of prudence and obedience. Grace inclines to the golden mean, avoiding what is not compatible with respect for authority.
Nature tends to extremes and to violent measures, tends to defy the bounds of prudence and obedience. Grace inclines to the golden mean, avoiding what is not compatible with respect for authority.7.Nature squirms under mortification and adversity of any kind. Grace inclines to accept slights and privations, to welcome suffering, to embrace whatever will kill the love of the world and throw the soul more surely and closely upon God.
Nature squirms under mortification and adversity of any kind. Grace inclines to accept slights and privations, to welcome suffering, to embrace whatever will kill the love of the world and throw the soul more surely and closely upon God.8.Anything that involves too much attachment or too much aversion, all sudden impulses toward or away from anything, are suspect as promptings of nature, and they bear careful scrutiny
Anything that involves too much attachment or too much aversion, all sudden impulses toward or away from anything, are suspect as promptings of nature, and they bear careful scrutinyIn all this custody over our impulses good sense and the guidance of others should prevail as against fearfulness, as well as rashness and over-exertion. These latter tendencies are not the way of grace.
