The extraordinary spiritual writer, Father Jacques Philippe, provides insights and advice for the spiritual life that are both beautiful and practical. His writings have inspired me and changed my perspective on what a flourishing interior life looks like. While Interior Freedom is thus far my favorite of his books, I thoroughly enjoyed reading In the School of the Holy Spirit. Here he writes on how to attain holiness through the help of the divine Paraclete, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity — how to foster the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and discern His voice in our lives. For anyone thinking of taking up Father Philippe’s works, I would recommend reading Interior Freedom first, as the mindset described therein serves as an excellent foundation for the concrete advice given in In the School of the Holy Spirit.
What is holiness? A professor of mine defined it as “living out a relationship with God,” which I think is a wonderful yet simple way to describe the beautiful reality of sanctity. Père Philippe, drawing heavily from St. Faustina’s Diary, says that “the shortest way to holiness is faithfulness to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit” (pg. 11). While this takes a great deal of patience and courage, it is important to remember that without God, it is unachievable, meaning that we have a divine Partner in our efforts to attain holiness; accordingly, we should, “let God act in us without our putting up any resistance against Him” (pp. 14-15). While obeying the Commandments is an essential part of this, it is also necessary that we go beyond this and do as God asks each of us individually. (In this vein, some authors — like Saint Francis de Sales — distinguish between God’s “will signified,” and His “will of good pleasure.”)
How can we foster inspirations of the Holy Ghost? We cannot force a sovereign Divine Person to do anything, but we are able to ask that we be given these graces, these “inspirations,” as they can assist in progressing spiritual growth. The Reverend author quotes the wise Saint Francis de Sales, who on this topic said, “Those who keep their hearts open to holy inspirations are happy! For they will never lack those that they need in order to live in their state well and devoutly.” While we may ask for many graces and inspirations, sometimes, without consciously doing so, we put barriers up that prevent us from receiving these very things for which we have asked, and that God desires to “breathe” abundantly into our souls. These barriers include, but are not limited to, a lack of gratitude for the graces and gifts God has already bestowed on us, a lack of trust in God, and a lack of the spirit of detachment. To remedy this, Father Philippe enumerates several ways we can predispose our hearts for the Holy Ghost’s inspirations, many of which are very simple to do, such as obedience to Our Lord’s commandments, frequent prayer, and periods of silence. Some of his suggestions, however, are much harder to carry out, such as abandoning ourselves to the will of God, offering everything to Christ, examining the movements of our hearts, confessing our sins frequently to a priest, and opening ourselves to a spiritual director.
What does an inspiration from God look like? Often we are guilty of confusing our emotions, feelings, thoughts, and even temptations with inspirations of the Paraclete. This is especially true of young Catholics — a group for whom I can speak with some confidence. Father Philippe says that there are “no ready-made answers” for how we are to decipher what an inspiration looks like, but he does offer some guidance that can provide us with a clue of what to seek and what to avoid. The first tip he recommends is that each person develop a “spiritual sense” which he defines as the ability to distinguish the voice of Jesus from the many other voices that flood our minds. He mentions that as we pray and align our lives more closely to the will of God, this “spiritual sense” will become stronger. Some basic things to keep in mind while we are discerning the voices in our minds are that God does not contradict Himself, He does not ask us to disobey the moral law or the precepts of the Church, nor does He ask us to do things contrary to our state in life. If we properly use these criteria to distinguish the voices, it becomes evident when the voice is not Christ’s. Father Philippe offers some other tools to help discern Jesus’ voice from that of Satan. While he states that our judgment can never be infallible — as infallibility belongs to the Church’s Magisterium alone — he tells us that “a tree is known by its fruit.” That means that when we receive an inspiration that fits the aforementioned criteria, and it brings with it sound fruits of charity, peace, joy, tranquility, gentleness, simplicity, humility, communion, and light, we can be assured that it is likely from God. Satan, however, is incapable of producing these fruits in a lasting way, and instead brings rotten fruits of sadness, trouble, agitation, darkness, worry, and confusion. If we feel we may be inspired to perform some act, one way we can discern which spirit it is from is through looking at the future fruits of this action. If the fruits are those of the Holy Ghost, then we can conclude that it is indeed from God, but if they are not, it is likely from the devil. This, of course, is not the best way to discern as it asks us to predict the future, which is something we cannot do.
One thing we may find in the inspirations from the Holy Ghost is that they call us to do things that are difficult, as in uncomfortable, self-sacrificial, and generous; they may even lead us to be misunderstood. We see this in the lives of the Apostles, as well as so many other saints, as they were often tortured and impoverished as a response to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. Some people may mistake this discomfort and pain as the voice of Satan. However, Christ does not promise us a life without suffering, for He said, “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). In the lives of saints such as St. Paul, St. Lawrence, St. Francis, St. Lidwina, St. Barbara, St. Agnes, among many others, we see great joy, charity, and light flowing through their suffering, discomfort, and generosity. This is because, despite the fact that they lost material goods — even their own lives in some cases — they were gaining something so much greater: close communion with Jesus Christ. Now this is not to say that we should always feel as though we need to do things that cause us pain and discomfort, but rather, that we should not be attached to things of this earth as the Holy Spirit may ask us to let go of them.
If there is one thing to learn from Père Jacques Philippe’s writings, it is the supreme importance of being aware of and listening to the voice of God. In the School of the Holy Spirit draws us toward the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, how they appear amid the ordinary things of life, and how they ask of us to do things that may seem difficult or uncomfortable and yet bring about so many beautiful fruits. If we are able to respond to these inspirations and turn away from the temptations of Satan, then we will find ourselves in a more perfect relationship with the Triune God, which is ultimately the goal of our entire life.
