By Jeannie Ewing, Catholic Exchange - Consolations and desolations, much like the seasons, cycle throughout our lives. One often precedes another. God usually showers a soul with consolations in order to strengthen it for an upcoming desert period, but desolations also give way to surges of comfort, too... Spiritual writer Luis M. Martinez wrote about four consolations of the Holy Spirit we may not recognize while we are desperately grasping for any signal that God is with us.