Grace Notes: The battle for the spirit of man

by SISTER ANNE MARIE WALSH, SOLT
Columnist
 
It is a simple fact that our lives are lived out in the interaction between three realities: God, (including Mary, the angels and saints, the Church Suffering or Purgatory), ourselves (including all of our human relationships) and the evil one (including the many fallen spirits that work with him). Each of these three realities is characterized by a certain spirit. For our purposes, we will consider the word spirit to mean: a particular way of thinking, feeling or behaving.
 
God, of course, is characterized by the divine spirit. We are characterized by the human spirit and often that means the fallen human spirit; and of course, the devils are characterized by a demonic spirit.
 
When evaluating an experience or happening, a spiritual diagnosis would examine the kind of spirit or spirits that predominate and whether there’s any evidence of good fruit. We can experience fluctuations or changes in our spirit in response to various inputs. Sometimes our spirit soars at signs of hope, discovery or celebration. Sometimes it is discouraged and doubtful. There are many possibilities, but what we’re concerned with here is the predominant influence in our lives. 
 
The prophet Simeon tells our blessed Mother that a “sword of sorrow will pierce her heart that the thoughts of many may be laid bare.” One of the general principles that flows from this is that suffering reveals a person’s true thoughts, their true heart, their true orientation in life, their true spirit. It is generally harder to hide or disguise one’s true feelings when suffering. The question we’re interested in here is what spirit is it that best expresses what we’ve really become inside ourselves. Dramatic events can be very revealing here. 
 
A measure of your spirit can be found in weighing your reaction, your thoughts, feelings and belief in the light of sudden, dramatic events such as the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. Did you feel horror? Sadness? Joy? Concern for all involved? Were you happy, or were you truly shocked and mortified? Did you desire vengeance? Were you concerned about justice? What came out of your spirit when that happened? 
 
In discernment, spiritual theologians describe the characteristics of the divine spirit, the diabolical spirit, and the human spirit. God always moves us toward the good, whether directly or indirectly. The devil always moves us to evil, either directly or working through weaknesses and wounds we already have. The human spirit can be inclined towards either evil or good, depending on a number of factors, such as whether right reason or selfish desires predominate within us.
 
The signs by which we may know what spirit is operating are quite distinct from one another. Truth, gravity, enlightenment, discretion, humility, peace, confidence in God, flexibility of will, purity of intention, patience, suffering, self-negation, simplicity, liberty of spirit, the desire to imitate Christ and disinterested love are all marks of the influence and movement or presence of God’s Spirit. 
 Sister Anne MarieSome of the marks of the evil spirit are lies, violence, nudity, bad language, cursing, blasphemy, separation or isolation, accusation, hate, unforgiveness, rejoicing in evil, deceitfulness, destruction, stealing or destroying another’s property, obsessions, extreme sensuality, envy and pride, spirit of falsity, morbid curiosity, confusion, anxiety and deep depression.
 
 A spirit of pride and vanity, false humility, disobedience and hardness of heart, impatience in suffering and stubborn resentment, uncontrolled passions and a strong inclination to sensuality, hypocrisy, simulation, and duplicity are also some strong indicators of the demonic spirit at work.
 
In the context of recent events, we saw some people rejoicing over the murder of a person they disagreed with. Father Ripperger pointed out that this is the way demons behave. They rejoice when bad things happen. That, along with any other of the above signs in us, should be cause for serious concern. 
 
The human spirit is always inclined to dissatisfaction. It is a friend of pleasure and an enemy of suffering. It inclines to anything that is compatible with its own temperament, personal tastes and the satisfaction of self-love. It avoids humiliation, penance, renunciation and mortification. It seeks success, honors and applause. It’s a great promoter of anything that will rouse admiration or notoriety. In other words, the human spirit tends to care only about its own egoism. - Sources: Father Jordan Aumaan, Thomas a Kempis
 
Sometimes, it can be difficult to discern between the human spirit and the diabolical spirit. But the spirit of God is easily discerned as distinct from either of them. Our challenge is to decide whether we want to be known for an ugly spirit or a transformed, godly spirit that is immensely attractive. Do we want souls to be saved or lost? The spirit we choose to live with will produce either good fruit or bad fruit. And that fruit, in the end, will witness for or against us. 

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