Abstract
The internationally recognized canon lawyer, Ladislas Orsy, who recently celebrated his 99th birthday, has published a slightly amended version of his 1976 volume, Probing the Spirit: A Theological Evaluation of Communal Discernment, which was itself an expansion of a 1973 monograph published in Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits. The book has five chapters and the text is structured by thirty-one propositions that articulate his theological exploration of, mainly, communal discernment (despite the subtitle). O.’s experienced eye and wise judgment are evident on every page. The book is stronger on theology than practice, but the perspectives he brings to communal discernment constitute a precious contribution to the literature. I consider this slim volume to be a valuable complement to Jules Toner, S.J.’s magisterial study of discernment of God’s will and to the very helpful book of Timothy Gallagher, OMV on the same topic. (Strangely, neither of these authors is listed in the bibliography.) O.’s frequent reflections on the “dance” between human freedom and talents, on the one hand, and God’s initiative, on the other, invites the reader to enter into the process of graced choice-making, with both reverence for the divine longing to bring us all home by way of our decisions and appreciation for the important role of critical intelligence at every step. Several times he reminds us that God can work even with our mistakes and missteps in discerning, provided our intention is directed to seeking God’s will to the degree that is possible for us. It would help O.’s case if he distinguished more carefully between the two kinds of consolation and desolation—spiritual and non-spiritual. Missing as well is adequate attention to St. Ignatius’s three kinds of evidence of God’s will in Christian decision-making: intuitive religious certitude, spontaneous inclination toward a course of action arising repeatedly out of authentic spiritual consolation, and a conclusion arrived at by Holy Spirit-guided reasoning about the data carried out in a spirit of relative tranquility and with sufficient volitional freedom (Ignatian “indifference”).