By Sr M Luka Juenemann
Having received 50 registrations, the Centre for Faith Enrichment was blessed to once again host Fr Robin Koning SJ. Alongside its usually 4-8 week-long courses, the CFE also offers evening or weekend events on various topics.
In term 4, 2024, Fr Robin, a Jesuit priest currently working in young adult ministry and as the vocations’ director for the Jesuits in Australia and New Zealand, presented St Ignatius’ Rules of Discernment in a day event consisting of three consecutive sessions, being concluded by a guided experience of the Examen Prayer which helps with the day-to-day discernment of spirits.
It was a day that helped participants to become more aware and understand the spiritual movements of their souls, and to discern their actions. In the words of St Ignatius, discernment happens by either receiving or rejecting the soul’s movements depending on their connection to the good spirit who encourages and consoles or the enemy who places obstacles on our spiritual path, and uses states of spiritual desolation to lead us away from God and what is truly human.
While not exhaustive, the Ignatian Rules of Discernment are a very practical how-to-guide, calling for actions to be taken. While there is no shame in the heaviness of heart resulting from desolation and it is not advisable to make any changes in this state, there are various ways to act against a desolation itself – most effectively with an energetic response, and spiritual acts of resistance such as prayer, meditation, examination and penance.
The jubilee year, Pope Francis has opened this Christmas season, calls us to be ‘pilgrims of hope,’ who ever anew seek a renewal in their spiritual lives acknowledging their need for conversion and penance. Whatever the storms each of our soul’s is facing at present and throughout our lives, God guides us with his Spirit in our discernment to walk towards him on our pilgrim journey.
CFE’s 2025 offerings are already live on the website www.cfe.org.au. Use this opportunity of learning about your faith to grow closer to God during this holy year of hope.
