In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
The gift of Discernment of Spirits
is a gift of God that consists of the supernatural knowledge of the secrets
of the heart
or personal things that God communicates to his servants
in order to help others.
The practice of discernment is as old as Christian spirituality.
To discern is to distinguish between good and evil
in order to choose the good.
Deolinda states:
Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar read the hearts of those who visited her.
Sometimes people came into the room
and before they spoke to her
Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar told them what was beneficial for them
implying that she had an intuition of what was happening
to them in the depths of their being.
Once Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar was visited by someone who lived in sin
and she exposed her whole life to Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar.
From there she went to Fatima
where she confessed and wrote to Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar
telling her about her confession
and telling her that her conversion began in Balazar.
To a lady that Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar did not know
and who asked Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar to pray for her
so she could marry a certain man
Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar replied:
Are you not ashamed?
Why do you want to marry a man who is already married?
According to Father Lorenzana
Saint Rose of Lima had the very great gift
that the Apostle Saint Paul calls “discretio spirituum”
which means discernment of spirits
which is knowing how to distinguish and know
when the inner speech or visions
are of the good spirit or of the bad spirit.
Although Saint Clare of Montefalco was not educated
she had a great capacity to understand the Scriptures.
She understood the Scriptures
beyond the capacity of human understanding
with such acuity of everything
and she gave wonderful speeches that were deeply expressive.
Her brother Francisco tells about her in the beatification process
she had a very clear understanding of all virtues and vices.
And she had it of all creatures
even of an oak leaf she could say so many things.
And to this witness, referring to Francisco,
he raised different questions of Sacred Scripture to the Saint
and Saint Clare of Montefalco answered him
with such lucidity
that everything was clarified better than in the writings and doctrines of any other.
One day Saint Clare of Montefalco was asked
about the meaning of the words of Scripture
"Then I shall take my hand away and you will see my back; but my face will not be seen." - Exodus 33: 23
Saint Clare of Montefalco replied
that the backs of God are divine and spiritual things that are not seen
but are believed and waited for until everything is seen in glory.
Saint Clare of Montefalco knew the people who were coming to the monastery
and their intentions
as well as personal matters in their lives.
She also knew the hearts and intentions of the nuns in her convent.
Let's look at some examples.
A novice did an exaggerated penance
too hard on the body.
Saint Clare of Montefalco could not know without divine revelation.
The Saint called her out and secretly rebuked her.
The novice understood that
following and obeying her advice
she rejected the devil's temptations better with a small penance
than she did before.
The novice herself had a secret sin
that she had not revealed even to the confessor.
Saint Clare of Montefalco discovered it
and the novice repented and did penance.
When a sister had any temptation or thought against God
Saint Clare of Montefalco herself called her out
and when the sister arrived
the Saint revealed what she thought and corrected the nun alone
A Franciscan friar kept in his heart
a reprehensible and dangerous secret against his salvation.
But he didn't want to talk about it with Saint Clare of Montefalco.
And the Saint said
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
He answered no.
And Saint Clare of Montefalco said
“I see you have something to say to me.
Stay sit a little more”.
And Saint Clare of Montefalco said to him
"Poor man
you've been hiding a bad thought in your mind for a long time
and you want to hide it as if I didn't know it."
And the Saint started to tell him what she thought.
In awe, he humbly acknowledged his guilt
and acknowledged that Saint Clare of Montefalco had spoken the truth.
Thus he was freed from temptation.
Saint Martin de Porres had the gift
of knowing the secrets of people's hearts
and also the knowledge of many things in a supernatural way.
On one occasion, the Saint invited a group of novices into his cell.
Brother Friar Martín came in with fish,
honey, bread and other things
and sitting on the ground in a corner
the saint said to everyone
"Hey, children, have a snack".
And turning to one in particular the saint told him by name
"Friar
put the coin you took there, which is not ours and has an owner."
And everyone was amazed and the religious in particular said
"What coin brother
who has taken the coin here?"
And, smiling, Saint Martin de Porres replied
"Take it out of your shoe, the cross of Jesus Christ that you have is not there."
And the religious took it out
leaving everyone in admiration and absorbed in the matter.
His niece
Catalina de Porres
states that, being at her house one day
and having a big party
she wanted to put on a new cloak that day to go out with it.
It was something prodigious and admirable
that not even two hours passed
when she saw a person enter through the door of her house
who brought seven or eight cloaks
so this witness
referring to Catalina Porres
could choose the one that seemed best to her
and so she did and was left with notable admiration
because without having said anything to Saint Martin de Porres
or to another person
her thoughts reached the Saint
and she gave infinite thanks to God Our Lord.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.