St Ignatius compared the enemy to an aggressive dog: when it senses you're weak it strengthens; when you stand firm it weakens. Rule 12. The first move in spiritual warfare is to refuse flight.

Ignatius's twelfth rule (from his Rules for the Discernment of Spirits) compares the enemy of human nature to an aggressive dog. "When an aggressive dog senses you're weak, it's strengthened; don't be weak" (Burke, SWADOS 6). The instinct in desolation is to run — to abandon the prayer, leave the retreat, cancel the commitment, give up the discipline. Ignatius says: don't.

The dog is not actually strong. It tests for weakness. Standing firm — even shakily, even with no felt consolation — communicates that this ground is held. The enemy disengages.

This is not bravado. It is a tactical fact about how spiritual opposition operates: fear is the bait, and submission to fear multiplies the attack.