"Will the real Holy Spirit Please Stand Up"

"Will the real Holy Spirit Please Stand Up"

We must always be able discern between three spirits - the Holy Spirit, evil spirits and the natural spirit, which is our own spirit. When we discern regarding the enemy we have to remember that he is an angel of light. We can see the enemy very well in things that are evil. There is nothing to discern there. We can see it. We can know it. We can see a lot of this moving in the United States today. There is no discernment needed. It is when he is rooted in light, when he makes something look really good, that we have trouble. The only way you are going to know what spirit you are dealing with is in the brighter light, which is the light of God. With God's divine flashlight, we can see easily. The enemy will usually move in concealment.

Recently there was a meeting, a symposium, going on in Rome concerning evil spirits. It was held because there is so much occult activity right now in Rome that it has caught the attention of some of the authorities there. They want to try to teach more about the enemy. This delights us because there is not a lot of information about this to be found. One of the priests that was teaching at this symposium said that the greatest danger of Satan is his concealment. He is interfering in the lives of very good people in concealment. Watch for concealment. This is why journaling is important. When you journal you are bringing things out into the light. You can get light on something much better if you can get it on paper.

Satan, of course, lies. This is why the Spirit of Truth is so important. Satan uses pride. He knows how to minister to us in our pride. Pride is rooted in fear. All the seven capitol sins are rooted in fear. Because satan is very intelligent we must call on God. We have to take counsel. He is no match for us on a natural basis. Even Our Lady said that he is very, very strong. He is intelligent. He is a thief and he has strategies, though we do not always know what those strategies are. He can speak. We must be aware of that. The first time I ever heard him speak through a person to me, I got goose bumps through the ceiling. He is so cold. Ice cold. I had to take a hot shower. I thought, "I will never get warm." It is so penetrating. Sometimes you can detect him, and the way he speaks, by the very way you are reacting to the sound.

I had never experienced hate while I was growing up. But I remember one time, as an adult, walking down a crowded street when I happened to catch the glance of a man walking in the opposite direction. As he looked at me I experienced hate - hate - pure hate. Your spirit will just know, "This is hate. This is not God's spirit at all." Be careful. Get close to the Lord and find out what is going on.

Satan also accuses. Jesus talks about that. I was once at a meeting with Father John Paul when the Lord said to me, "Watch the body language of these people. Just watch it." It was very interesting. A person would say something and begin to point their finger. Accusing. Accusing. Someone else would come forth pointing that finger. Accusing. I thought, "Whoa! Satan is really very present here!" So I just started immediately to pray.

One thing you must remember is that Satan is a believer. He is a believer! In one way, he might believe more than we do because he has been with God. He knows God. He knows that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He knows that when God says something, God is going to stand behind it. He believes God. He knows that God will not change. Many times we, ourselves, are not as believing! He will try to get us to change our belief in what God's word is. That is another reason why journaling is so important. We have it written. We heard it. Be careful of changing your viewpoint on something too quickly. This is why you need to try to get it written down as soon as possible.

Now, there is the natural spirit and that is the most difficult spirit of all to discern. That is me, myself and I. We are so close to ourselves it can be difficult to discern if the spirit we are picking up is, in fact, our own. St. Ignatius said that we must become disinterested in order to discern clearly. Disinterested! It can be very difficult to detach from our own interests. Our interests are almost ingrained within us. We must detach from preferences. This, too, is not easy.

This story may help to illustrate. We used to be a Medjugorji Peace Center. We would visit there often and we loved it. One time there was a trip being planned in which intercessors from all different parts of the country had signed up to go. I thought, "Oh this will be the trip of trips! To go over there with intercessors and really get into deep intercession! To see what Our Lady wants to say!" I was just on cloud nine! It was perfect! But I thought, "Let's make sure. I better ask the Lord." Since I knew that I could not be disinterested or get into neutral, I sent it to one of our teams and asked them if they would ask the Lord if I should be on this trip. I had been on all the others, so, I thought, "Why shouldn't I?"

Well, the discernment came back, "No!" "No?" I thought, "It couldn't possibly be 'No!'" I sent it to another team! The discernment was the same. I just couldn't believe it. So, what I decided to do as a last resort was to send it to the brothers. They have really have good discernment. I did not tell them what the other discernments were. The brother that was leading the discernment team came back with the discernment. "Well," he said, "I'll just share the main image that came to quite a few of us and maybe it says something to you." I said, "Well, what image did you get?" He said "Well, we kept getting the 'Yield' sign!" So, obviously, I did not go! At times it can be very difficult to get into neutral.

If you are not in neutral, especially if you are discerning things for other people, it is not a good time to discern. One of our Sisters had been quite abused as a little girl by her father. When discernments would come from people who had been abused and wanted discernment and healing, it was very difficult for her because she was not in neutral. She still had a lot of memories. She is quite healed now. Now she can do those discernments. But back then she knew that she was not in a good place of neutrality to make those discernments. So she did not do them. We also have a lovely young woman in our lay community who is divorced with children. She has an annulment and would very much like to marry. When we get letters from people looking for spouses, she does not participate in the discernment because she is very honest. "It is just too painful for me to be praying for someone to find a husband when God hasn't given me one yet." So, be honest with yourself. If you cannot get into neutral, ask someone else to pray for the discernment.

After the discernment is made, feel free to re-evaluate it at another time, and see, "Was that a good discernment?" Sometimes, at a later date, we can see the fruit. Jesus said, "A tree is known by its fruit." There may be times when the fruit might not have been that good. Then, we have to really honestly say, "Lord, I thought I did discern, but it has not born good of fruit. Perhaps I should re-discern." That is fine. Do not be afraid to let the Lord know that you think you made a mistake.

There is just not a lot written about the natural spirit. There is a lot more about the evil spirit and the Holy Spirit. The natural spirit is our own spirit. There are some things we can do to help our natural spirit get in to deeper openness, that deeper purity. The beatitude we want to consider is, "Blessed are the pure of heart. They shall see God." It is going to be the heart of a child that has good discernment. Jesus said, "You must change. You must become as a little child." That will give us God's light so that we can discern His will. Once I asked Him, "Why is it so important to become a little child?" He said very simply, "Because babies do not sin." It is our sin, within us, that can block the discernment. It can really block the discernment. If we are upset with someone and we have not worked it out - if we are upset with God - it is going to block our openness to whatever God is trying show us.