As Pope Francis continues to teach us how to find God's will in the midst of life -- also known as discernment -- on this October 26, he focused on "desolation" as an indicator of what God might be doing in our lives.
The Pope called on his spiritual father, St. Ignatius of Loyola, to give a definition of desolation:
The Holy Father suggested that "we all have experience of this." But, he said, "The problem is how to interpret it, because desolation too has something important to tell us, and if we are in a hurry to free ourselves of it, we risk losing this [message]."
The Pope acknowledged that "no one wants to be desolate" because "we would all like a life that is always joyful, cheerful, and fulfilled."
But, he said, besides being an impossibility, this ever-joyful state wouldn't be good for us.
The Pope went on to quote one of his favorite novels (the Pope was once a literature teacher), which describes remorse:
Learn to read
Thus, the Pope said, we have to know how to "read sadness."
In our time, it – sadness – is mostly considered negatively, as an ill to avoid at all costs, and instead it can be an indispensable alarm bell for life, inviting us to explore richer and more fertile landscapes that transience and escapism do not permit. St. Thomas defines sadness as a pain of the soul: like the nerves for the body, it redirects our attention to a possible danger, or a disregarded benefit (cf. Summa Theologica I-II, q. 36, a.1).
Therefore, it is indispensable for our health; it protects us from harming ourselves and others. It would be far more serious and dangerous not to feel this, and to go ahead. At times sadness works like a traffic light: “Stop, stop! It is red, here. Stop.”
But not always
Still, the Pope said, sadness can also be a danger to power through.
It can be from Satan, the Pope explained -- a tool the tempter is using to discourage us.
