Discernment: If the choices we make are respectable ones, ones that lead us to virtue, then, of course, the spirit directing us is also good. Any desire from God will lead to godliness, a noble, virtuous end, one that delights us. Inner promptings that lead to an evil end, even if our first impression is that what is happening is good, the spirit moving us is not of God. So we need to look at the results of an action. If the results are evil, degrading, malevolent, sinful, obviously the inner movement that led us toward that end is also evil. The spirit guiding us to sin is not the Spirit of God.
Let’s say that the choices we are making lead us more into selfishness than altruism, more deeply into self-centeredness than being other-centered, more toward avarice than generosity, further into deceitfulness rather than the truth of who we are, then the spirit directing us is not of God. The good spirit always leads to unselfishness, concern for others, charity and truth.
Source: Discernment of Spirits by Warren Sazama, SJ, National Religious Vocation Conference, Chicago, IL 60615.
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