Evangelize 1st. Catechize 2nd. Discern 3rd.

From Gallagher’s SCF, pg.1 (Kindle version).

“There is no fear in love” (1 Jn 4:18). If we stand before the door of a house and know that beyond the door is one who loves us, it is not hard to open the door and enter the house. When the human heart discovers that to be within is above all to encounter the love of the Redeemer, then love casts out fear, and we can be within and aware. Evangelization, then—simply to know that there is a Redeemer who loves us, a Trinity that dwells in our hearts, a Lord who loves us infinitely—must always precede discernment.

Evangelization is then followed by catechesis, the deeper penetration into the mysteries of our faith. A heart that has welcomed the Savior, opened itself to growth in faith, and that now lives that faith daily, is ready for discernment.

In the thirty-five years that I have taught Ignatius’s rules, I have seen clearly that the only presupposition for grasping these rules is personal faith in Christ, with some sincere effort to live that faith. Persons who live thus always understand Ignatius’s rules: the rules only put words to what they have already experienced.
“The best way to learn the Rules is from the inside out – from my lived experience… you need your own living parable… to what shall I compare spiritual desolation…” (Fr. Scott Traynor).