What is Consolation and Desolation?
Consolation and desolation are foundational concepts in Christian contemplative practice, particularly within Ignatian spirituality, referring to two contrasting interior movements of the soul that indicate one’s spiritual state and direction. Consolation describes feelings of interior peace, joy, faith, hope, and love that draw a person closer to God and increase spiritual vitality. Desolation refers to interior turmoil, darkness, discouragement, and temptation that create distance from the divine and diminish spiritual energy. These states are not simply emotional highs and lows but spiritual indicators used in the discernment of spirits—a method for understanding what is consolation and desolation meaning in the context of spiritual decision-making.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, systematized these observations in his Spiritual Exercises (1548), creating a practical framework for recognizing and responding to consolation and desolation. The practice trains practitioners to notice subtle interior shifts, distinguish genuine spiritual movements from psychological fluctuations, and make choices aligned with their deepest values and spiritual path. Understanding consolation and desolation for beginners starts with simple awareness: What brings you alive spiritually? What drains your spiritual vitality?
Origins & Lineage
The formal articulation of consolation and desolation emerges from St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), a Spanish Basque priest who developed these concepts during his own spiritual conversion while recovering from battle wounds at Loyola in 1521. During months of convalescence, Ignatius noticed that reading lives of saints left him with lasting peace and energy (consolation), while romantic fantasies initially excited him but ultimately left him dry and dissatisfied (desolation). This experiential discovery became the foundation for his spiritual teaching.
Ignatius codified fourteen Rules for the Discernment of Spirits in the Spiritual Exercises, dividing them into rules for the First Week (for those in desolation or serious sin) and Second Week (for those making progress in spiritual life). These rules built upon earlier Christian contemplative traditions, including the Desert Fathers’ teachings on logismoi (troubling thoughts), St. John Cassian’s Conferences (5th century), and Teresa of Ávila’s descriptions of spiritual states in The Interior Castle (1577).
The Ignatian tradition was transmitted through the Jesuit order, founded in 1540, and expanded through centuries of spiritual direction practice. Notable interpreters include Jean-Pierre de Caussade (Abandonment to Divine Providence, 18th century), Karl Rahner (20th-century Jesuit theologian), and contemporary teachers like William Barry, SJ, and Margaret Silf. The practice has been adapted within Protestant and secular mindfulness contexts, though it remains most developed within Catholic contemplative prayer traditions.
How It’s Practiced
The practice of working with consolation and desolation begins with daily examination of consciousness—a practice Ignatius called the Examen. Practitioners review their day, typically in evening prayer, noticing moments of spiritual aliveness (consolation) and spiritual deadness (desolation). This differs from merely cataloging emotions; it requires discerning the deeper spiritual current beneath surface feelings.
During periods of consolation, characterized by increased faith, hope, love, tears of gratitude, attraction to spiritual things, and interior quiet, the traditional guidance is to savor these moments, give thanks, and store up resolve for future challenges. Ignatius warned against making major decisions during intense consolation, as clarity can be obscured by spiritual fervor. During desolation—marked by interior darkness, confusion, attraction to lower things, restlessness, tepidity, and separation from God—practitioners are counseled never to change previous good resolutions, to intensify prayer and penance, and to remember that consolation will return.
Spiritual directors trained in Ignatian methods help directees recognize patterns over time. Some desolation comes from one’s own negligence, illness, or natural rhythms; some from spiritual testing; some from what Ignatius called “the enemy of human nature” actively working against spiritual growth. Distinguishing these sources requires honest self-examination and experienced guidance. The practice involves what Ignatius called “acting against” (agere contra) desolation—deliberately choosing spiritual practices when one least feels like it.
Consolation and Desolation Today
Contemporary seekers most commonly encounter consolation and desolation teaching through Ignatian retreat centers, spiritual direction relationships, and adaptations of the daily Examen. The 30-day silent Ignatian retreat remains the immersive transmission, offered at centers like Loyola House (Guelph, Ontario), Manresa House (London), and Wernersville Jesuit Center (Pennsylvania). The 19th Annotation retreat adapts the Spiritual Exercises to daily life over 6-9 months with weekly spiritual direction.
The practice has been popularized through books like Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Matthew Linn’s Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life (1995), which introduced consolation-desolation awareness to family and small-group settings. Mark Thibodeaux’s Reimagining the Ignatian Examen (2015) and Jim Manney’s A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer (2011) offer contemporary entry points for what is consolation and desolation practice in secular contexts.
Jesuit universities and schools maintain Ignatian spirituality centers that teach these methods. Online platforms like Pray as You Go and Sacred Space (both Irish Jesuit initiatives) guide users through daily Examen practices. The Spiritual Exercises in everyday life (SIEEL) format has made these teachings accessible beyond traditional retreat settings, allowing practitioners to integrate consolation-desolation awareness into work, relationships, and activism.
Common Misconceptions
Consolation is not merely positive emotion or pleasure. A person may experience consolation during difficulty, suffering, or grief if these experiences deepen faith and trust. Conversely, pleasant experiences can mask spiritual desolation if they draw one away from authentic life direction. Consolation and desolation are directional indicators—toward or away from God—not hedonic states.
Desolation is not clinical depression or mental illness, though the two can coincide. Ignatius explicitly distinguished between spiritual desolation and melancholy temperament (what we might call depression). Spiritual desolation typically responds to prayer, sacraments, and spiritual practices; clinical depression requires therapeutic and sometimes medical intervention. Responsible Ignatian directors recognize when to refer directees to mental health professionals.
The practice is not about manufacturing constant spiritual highs. Ignatius taught that both consolation and desolation serve spiritual growth. Extended periods without obvious consolation—what St. John of the Cross called the dark night of the soul—may indicate deepening faith that no longer requires emotional confirmation. The goal is not perpetual consolation but faithful response to whatever arises.
Finally, consolation and desolation discernment is not exclusively Christian. While the terminology and framework are explicitly theistic, the underlying skill—distinguishing life-giving from life-draining interior movements—has parallels in Buddhist mindfulness of vedanā (feeling-tone), Sufi practices of examining hal (spiritual states), and secular decision-making methods. However, removing the practice from its theological context fundamentally alters its purpose and meaning.
How to Begin
The most accessible starting point for consolation and desolation for beginners is the daily Examen, a five-step practice requiring only 10-15 minutes:
- Gratitude: Review the day and note moments of gift
- Petition: Ask for light to see clearly
- Review: Replay the day hour by hour, noticing interior movements
- Sorrow: Name moments of turning away from love
- Hope: Look toward tomorrow with trust
Begin by simply noticing: When today did you feel most alive, most connected, most yourself? When did you feel drained, disconnected, diminished? Track these observations in a journal without judgment for several weeks. Patterns will emerge.
For structured learning, read Margaret Silf’s Inner Compass: An Invitation to Ignatian Spirituality (1999) or Timothy Gallagher’s The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living (2005). Both offer clear explanations grounded in the original Ignatian rules. The podcast Pray As You Go provides daily 10-minute guided prayer incorporating Examen elements.
Seek an Ignatian spiritual director for personalized guidance. Spiritual Directors International (sdiworld.org) maintains a directory searchable by tradition. Many dioceses and retreat centers offer introductory workshops on Ignatian spirituality. For deep immersion, consider an 8-day directed silent retreat using the Spiritual Exercises, offered at Jesuit retreat houses worldwide. The practice deepens over years of daily attention, revealing ever more subtle movements of the spirit.