This is an excellent and practical book by Fr. Jacques Philippe. It is divided in three parts and includes a conclusion and four appendices [2].
In the first part, the author emphasizes that holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit because we cannot change ourselves. We do not become holy simply by drawing up a plan for ourselves because there are as many forms of holiness as there are people. To become holy, we must of course try as hard as we can to do God’s will as it comes to us in a general way that is valid for everyone: through Scripture, the Commandments, and so on, but this is not enough. We also need to understand what God is asking of us in particular.
In the second part, the author answers the question: How can we foster inspirations? He responds by listing a certain number of conditions, ten in total, that are conductive to the appearing of inspirations:
- Practice praise and thanksgiving.
- Desire and ask for inspirations.
- Resolve to refuse God nothing.
- Practice filial and trusting obedience.
- Practice abandonment.
- Practice detachment.
- Practice silence and peace.
- Persevere faithfully in prayer.
- Examine the movements of our hearts.
- Practice frequent confession, and if it is possible, open our hearts to a spiritual director.
In the third part, the author answers the question: How can we know that an inspiration comes from God? For this we need to develop a “spiritual sense,” or “spiritual hearing.” This “spiritual sense” needs to be based on sound criteria of discernment to be formed progressively. First, an external criterion: God doesn’t contradict Himself. The Holy Spirit cannot, in His inspirations, ask us for anything that contradicts His will as expressed by the more usual means: The Word of God, the teaching of the Church, and the demands of our vocation. Second, by an internal criterion: “ A tree is known by its fruit.” (Mt 12: 33) The author insists that it is impossible to discern the motions of the Holy Spirit by the mechanical application of a few rules; nevertheless, the rules for the discernment of spirits of St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises are very useful. The experience of the Church and the saints demonstrates that what comes from the Spirit of God brings with it joy, peace, tranquility of spirit, gentleness, simplicity, and light. On the other hand, what comes from the evil spirit brings sadness, trouble, agitation, worry, confusion, and darkness. In the conclusion, for the author, the Virgen Mary is an example of perfect obedience to the Holy Spirit; hence, we should entrust the whole of our spiritual life to our Lady.
The first appendix offers a prayer to the Holy Spirit by Cardinal Mercier. [3] The second appendix offers quotations from Fr. Louis Lallemant, one of the great figures in the Society of Jesus in seventeenth-century France. He was a teacher of saints such as Isaac Jogues and Jean de Brébeuf, who were martyred in North America. The third appendix offers quotations about the discernment of spirits by St. Francis de Sales. The fourth appendix is a text from the author himself entitled “Freedom and Submission” whose thesis is the more we are subject to God, the freer we are.
In conclusion. In the School of the Holy Spirit is an excellent and practical book, brief, only 90 pages, that will help you develop a “spiritual hearing” so that you may allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and make you grow in the love of God and neighbor.
[1] Jacques Philippe. In the School of the Holy Spirit. New York: Scepter, 2007. Jacques Philippe is a French priest, member of the Community of the Beatitudes. Since his ordination in 1985 he has preached numerous retreats in France and abroad and written several books.
[2] The French edition has only three appendices.
[3] the prayer is together with the conclusion in the original French edition.
