[4/9] Novena of Grace: "Understanding"

Photo by Tatyana Kalaydjian Serraino

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n Matthew 15:16, Jesus said, “Are you also still lacking in understanding?” This is the Scripture passage that St Ignatius of Loyola cites to support the contemplation of the first apparition of the resurrected Jesus to His mother—even though this event is not explicitly recorded in Scripture (SE 299). Let us now reflect on this next grace: the gift of understanding as seen through the lens of St Ignatius.

Understanding (el entendimiento—used 19 times in the Spiritual Exercises) is complemented by another term of Latin origin, intelligentia (la inteligencia—used 4 times). These are distinct from words that suggest thinking, reasoning, or ruminating (razón, discurriendo). In English translations, these are often rendered as “mind,” “intelligence,” or “intellect.”

St Ignatius follows the Augustinian tripartite method. According to St Augustine, memory, understanding, and will work together in the process of learning and discernment:

"On this theme of notions where we do not draw images through our senses, but discern them inwardly not through images but as they really are and through the concepts themselves, we find that the process of learning is simply this: by thinking we, as it were, gather together ideas which the memory contains in a dispersed and disordered way, and by concentrating our attention we arrange them in order as if ready to hand, stored in the very memory where previously they lay hidden, scattered, and neglected" (Confessions, Book 10, Chapter 11, Section 18).

For St Augustine, true learning is not merely a matter of sensing or imagining, but an interior act of recollecting, ordering, and discerning truth. It is through the collaboration of memory, understanding, and will that the soul moves from confusion to clarity—and ultimately, toward God. This same dynamic is at work in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, particularly in the meditations where remembering (memory) and reasoning (understanding) are directed toward stirring deeper affective responses through the movement of the will (SE 50).

In the Spiritual Exercises, understanding is not treated as a self-sufficient natural faculty but as one that requires enlightenment from the Spirit. St Ignatius consistently underscores that the intellect must be guided by God’s grace. For example, in SE 75, he invites the retreatant to “elevate the understanding” and consider how the Lord is looking at him or her—an act that calls for more than intellectual effort; it requires spiritual perceptiveness. In the Memoriale of St Peter Faber, an inward path can be noticed during the period from late summer 1542 until May 1543. Despite periods of melancholy, there were some outstanding periods whereby he spoke more and more about having “spiritual perception” which he calls devotion.

Again, in SE 180, during the process of making a good election, St Ignatius emphasizes the need for both reason and divine guidance:

“I should beg God our Lord to be pleased to move my will and to put into my mind what I ought to do in regard to the matter proposed, so that it will be more to His praise and glory. I should beg to accomplish this by reasoning well and faithfully with my intellect, and by choosing in conformity with His most holy will and good pleasure" (SE 180).

This passage makes it clear that discernment in the Ignatian tradition involves not only careful reasoning, but also a deep reliance on God's illuminating presence. "For what fills and satisfies the soul consists, not in knowing much, but in our understanding the realities profoundly and in savoring them interiorly" (SE 2).

Two Practical Teachings from St Ignatius and the Consolation Without Prior Cause

St Ignatius gives us two important pieces of advice—one from the Rules for the Discernment of Spirits, and another from his teachings on scruples.

First, in the Ninth Rule (SE 322), Ignatius explains that desolation is allowed by God for a reason. It helps us realize that we cannot cause or hold on to spiritual consolations—such as deep devotion, tears, or intense love—by our own efforts. These are gifts from God. Desolation teaches us humility, so we do not become puffed up with pride or vainglory, so that we wrongly attribute to ourselves the devotion or spiritual consolation that is truly God's gift.

Second, when we are troubled by scruples or doubts, especially when we’re about to say or do something good and in line with God’s service, Ignatius warns that the enemy may try to stop us with false reasons—like fear of vainglory. When that happens, we must lift our mind to the Creator, and if the action is for God's glory—or at least not opposed to it—we should act directly against the temptation. As St Bernard said: "I did not begin because of you, and neither will I desist for you" (SE 351). In short: Let desolation humble you, and let temptation strengthen your resolve to do good.

Finally, a word about consolation without prior cause. St Ignatius teaches that only God our Lord can grant this kind of consolation. It is the unique action of the Creator to enter the soul, move within it, and draw the whole person into deeper love for His Divine Majesty.

By “without a prior cause,” (SE 330) St Ignatius means that this consolation does not arise from any previous thought, perception, or movement stirred by the person’s own effort—whether through understanding or willing. Rather, it comes apart from any preceding human activity, as a gift entirely from God. Chronicled in his autobiography that while walking to a nearby church from Manresa, St Ignatius paused by a river. As he sat in prayer, his understanding was suddenly illuminated. Though he saw no vision, he grasped many spiritual and theological truths with extraordinary clarity. He later said that this single moment of insight surpassed all the spiritual knowledge and graces he received throughout his entire 62 years of life (Auto 30). St Peter Faber, on 12 August 1542, also wrote about his own deep spiritual insight as “an immediate knowledge with the loving understanding of the divine—especially of God the Lord himself and the free gifts of his goodness, which make man pleasing to his creator...” (No 81).

Yet this grace does not bypass the person’s freedom. In this way, God respects human liberty, but acts with such immediacy and clarity that the soul knows: this consolation is from God alone. Fr JM Manzano SJ

Grace to Beg For: "Lord, grant me the grace to surrender my understanding—to let go of needing to figure everything out, and to let Your light guide what my mind cannot grasp."

The “halo” in this song becomes the symbol of divine light: a grace that surrounds, penetrates, and embraces. It’s the light we didn’t know we were longing for.

Meditation: I remember the walls I built—walls of logic, doubt, and self-protection. I thought they kept me safe, that they helped me understand and stay in control. But when You came near, they fell so quietly, without resistance. You didn’t force Your way in.

Now, I see everything differently. It’s like I’ve been awakened. All the rules and certainties I held onto so tightly—You’re gently breaking through them.

I don’t need all the answers. I just need Your embrace. I feel surrounded by Your light. I see Your halo—Your saving presence. It’s written all over the way You’ve loved me. I pray I never lose sight of it.

I surrender my understanding to You. I trust that even when I can’t see the full picture, You can. And that is enough. Let me live in Your light, and let my mind rest in You.

Suscipe and Anima Christi