inspiration from the Holy Spirit

Today was the fourth of five talks on mental prayer and interior life by Dr. Rammage, one of the theology professors here at Benedictine.  The topic was how to know if an inspiration is coming from the Holy Spirit or just from yourself.  It was really cool to get some principles for how to figure this out.  The principles came from Jacques Phillipe and Ignatius of Loyola.  I have this book by Phillipe that I will hopefully get to read some day if I ever finish Rediscovering Catholicism.

I think one of the things that was mentioned that was important to keep in mind was the consistency of the inspiration.  I think a lot of times we get one sign or have a thought one day and think that must mean we're supposed to be married or enter the religious life.  But it is important to keep praying over the decision and see if you keep having that same thought.  If you are in adoration one afternoon and you think that God is calling you to become a nun then you don't join a convent the next day.  You take the time pray over it and maybe even talk to a spiritual director or at least talk to someone about it.  And then you go and visit religious communities so that you know what you are actually praying about and discerning.

At the same time you don't necessarily want to be discerning for a decade, eventually you are going to have to act on the inspiration.  And maybe you enter the convent and you know it's right for you, but maybe it's not.  At least then you know.  And really you may never know with absolute certainty if the inspiration you have is from God, but you can get a pretty good idea if you spend a substantial amount of time in prayer each day and develop the spiritual sense to know when certain things are God's will and will bear fruit.

So that is what I want to be working on right now.  I need to develop a consistent and substantial prayer life.  I want so badly to know what my future holds and I want to know God's will for my life.  But there is no way I will ever know God's will if I don't know God.  And the way I can know God more is through prayer.  Basically these talks are really inspiring and basically just awesome.  You can check them out on the benedictine ministry website under how to pray like a saint.  Just follow the link and go to about and then news and how to pray like a saint.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you should see the lecture notes and audio.