Day 27: Gift of discernment 

Psalm 119: 125 I am your servant; give me discernment that I may know your testimonies.

This difference he did not notice or value, until one day the eyes of his soul were opened and he began to inquire the reason of the difference. He learned by experience that one train of thought left him sad, the other joyful. This was his first reasoning on spiritual matters. Afterward, when he began the Spiritual Exercises, he was enlightened, and understood what he afterward taught his children about the discernment of spirits. When gradually he recognized the different spirits by which he was moved, one, the spirit of God, the other, the devil. (The Autobiography of St. Ignatius, Chapter 1)

Up to this period he had remained in a constant state of tranquillity and consolation, without any interior knowledge of the trials that beset the spiritual life. But during the time that the vision lasted, sometimes for days, or a little previous to that time, his soul was violently agitated by a thought that brought him no little uneasiness. There flashed upon his mind the idea of the difficulty that attended the kind of life he had begun, and he felt as if he heard some one whispering to him, “How can you keep up for seventy years of your life these practices which you have begun?” Knowing that this thought was a temptation of the evil one, he expelled it by this answer: “Can you, wretched one, promise me one hour of life?” In this manner he overcame the temptation, and his soul was restored to peace. (The Autobiography of St. Ignatius, Chapter 2)

Where are you in your walk and relationship with the Lord? 

What thoughts, meditations fill you with peace? 

What thoughts disturb you? 

Am I confident in Christ and have expectant faith, that with Him I can conquer all things?  

Bring yourself, your relationship with the Lord,  all your decisions, plans and thoughts in prayer to the Lord. Offer and surrender everything to Him. Ask the Lord for grace to know Him more, discern His plan for your life, so you can fulfill His holy will always. Thank God for His grace and strength to overcome temptations and battles of the mind. Pray for inner strength to discern and fulfil His Holy will in your life.  

Prayer to know God’s will : May it please the supreme and divine Goodness to give us all abundant grace ever to know His most holy will and perfectly to fulfill it.  —St. Ignatius of Loyola

Philippians 1:9 And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

1 Corinthians 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

• Litany of the Holy Spirit
• 500 Praises to the Holy Spirit (Pray a few of them as you can)