What Do You Really Want? St. Ignatius Loyola and the Art of Discernment

What Do You Really Want? St. Ignatius Loyola and the Art of Discernment
Author: Jim Manney
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2015-04-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1612783651

What should I do? We ask the question when we pray. We ask it when we run out of answers to our problems. We ask it when we face big decisions. We ask it when we get out of bed in the morning: How should I live this day as well as I can? We can find answers through learning the art of discernment-the wisdom that enables us to see and interpret the leading of the Holy Spirit as it is manifested in the inner lives of our hearts. The great master of this art was St. Ignatius Loyola, author of The Spiritual Exercises, who believed that the ability to discern the spirits is one of the most important skills a Christian could have. Ignatius believed that the answer to the question "What Should I Do?" is found in the shifting sea of feelings, insights, leadings, and intuitions of our affective lives. What Do You Really Want? shows us how to understand these emotions and use what we learn to make the choices that best serve God and bring his love to the people in our lives. It shows the truth of one of Ignatius's greatest insights-that when we find what we really want, we find what God wants too, because the deepest desires of our hearts were placed there by God.

Manresa

Manresa
Author: Saint Ignatius (of Loyola)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 400
Release: 1881
Genre: Meditations
ISBN:

A Simple Life-Changing Prayer

A Simple Life-Changing Prayer
Author: Jim Manney
Publisher: Messenger Publications
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2021-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1788123719

“A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer is a valuable and thoughtful book, and a very practical one, which can be put with confidence into the hands of anyone who wishes to learn to pray the Examen and to find the presence and action of God in their lives.” —Andrea Kelly, Thinking Faith Sometimes we can experience prayer as formal, dry, and repetitious. But what might happen if we discovered a simple prayer that changed all that? In A Simple, Life-Changing Prayer, Jim Manney introduces Christians to a 500-year-old form of prayer that dramatically altered his perception of prayer and the way he prayed. The prayer is the Examen, which St. Ignatius Loyola developed for the purpose of nurturing a reflective habit of mind that is constantly attuned to God’s presence. What makes the prayer so powerful is its capacity to dispel any notion that God is somewhere “up there,” detached from our day-to-day tasks and concerns. Instead, the examen leads us into a relationship with a God who desires to be personally caught up in the lives of those whom he created.

Spiritual Warfare and the Discernment of Spirits

Spiritual Warfare and the Discernment of Spirits
Author: Dan Burke
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2020-01-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1644132583

Satan is always at work breeding sadness and anxiety while providing obstacles that prevent souls from making spiritual progress. In this concise yet powerful book, author Dan Burke presents the venerable, time-tested wisdom of Catholic mystics to help you understand the influence of the Enemy on your mind and heart, and the tactics you need to combat him. With St. Ignatius as his guide, Burke presents here an indispensable, authoritative manual for engaging in daily battle with the Adversary—combat that is both inevitable and winnable. Burke will help you recognize the ebbs and flows of consolation and desolation, and distinguish between the voices of God and of Satan. Best of all, you'll come to see the spiritual life not as a science to be learned, but as an intuitive art to be practiced as you move with increasing success from habitual sin to sanctity. The battle for our souls is unavoidable. The saints won theirs by learning how to be spiritual warriors and by recognizing that we become stronger through battle and grow weaker from avoidance. With this book as your guide, you'll grow in strength and contentment as you learn: How to take captive every negative thought and make it obedient to Christ St. Ignatius's revelations exposing how the Devil seeks to influence us The Paradigm of Ascent and the Five Steps to Sanctity The three ways you can discern “Good Spirits” from “Bad Spirits” The three principal causes of desolation—and what you must do when it afflicts your soul Proven methods for moving away from sin and toward self-giving love of God and neighbor.

Days of Deepening Friendship

Days of Deepening Friendship
Author: Vinita Hampton Wright
Publisher: Loyola Press
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2009-05-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0829429549

Be your true self—and get ready for a dynamic friendship with the Divine. It’s time for women of faith to quit apologizing—for who they are or who they’ve been, for what they feel and know, and for their powerful ability to connect with spiritual reality. When a woman is free to be herself and to express to God—without fear—her loves, dreams, pains, and passions, she can embark upon a friendship that is stunning in its wisdom and delightful in its daily unfolding. Using Scripture, meditations, stories, and written exercises, Days of Deepening Friendship encourages women to radically rethink their approach to friendship with God and to explore the deeper regions of this very special relationship. Throughout forty brief chapters, author and spirituality-workshop leader Vinita Hampton Wright taps the proven wisdom of Ignatian spirituality by employing prayer, imagination, action, and reflection, making the book an ideal spiritual workshop for women. Days of Deepening Friendship will free any woman to fling wide open the door to the Divine and become friends with the God who has loved her all along for who she really is.

What's Your Decision

What's Your Decision
Author: J. Michael Sparough
Publisher: Loyola Press
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2010-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0829432981

Discover a time-tested approach to making good decisions Do I go to graduate school? Whom should I marry? Should I change careers? What do I do with my life now that I'm retired? All of us have important decisions to make—decisions that radically alter our lives. Yet without a sound process in place for making key decisions, we are likely to question whether or not our final decision was a good decision; more to the point, we will never feel fully confident that our decision was what God truly desired for us. What's Your Decision? presents a time-tested, trustworthy approach to decision making based on the insights of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and the author of the Spiritual Exercises, one of history's most influential spiritual texts. Throughout this fast-moving and highly practical book, the authors present an "Ignatian toolkit" for making sound choices and provide answers to many common questions such as What's important and what's not when it comes to making choices? Do I trust my gut? What do I really want? Ultimately, What's Your Decision? helps us understand that a God decision always precedes a good decision: When we invite God—who cares deeply about what we do—into the decision-making process, we find the freedom to make the best choice.

The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments

The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments
Author: Scott Weeman
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2017-11-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1594717265

Winner of a 2018 Catholic Press Association Award: Sacraments. (Second Place). In the first book to directly integrate the Twelve Steps with the practice of Catholicism, Scott Weeman, founder and director of Catholic in Recovery, pairs his personal story with compassionate straight talk to show Catholics how to bridge the commonly felt gap between the Higher Power of twelve-step programs and the merciful God that he rediscovered in the heart of the sacraments. Weeman entered sobriety from alcohol and drugs on October 10, 2011, and he's made it his full-time ministry to help others who struggle with various types of addiction to find spiritual wholeness through Catholic in Recovery, an organization he founded and directs. In The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments, Weeman candidly tackles the struggle he and other addicts have with getting to know intimately the unnamed Higher Power of recovery. He shares stories of his compulsion to find a personal relationship with God and how his tentative steps back to the Catholic Church opened new doors of healing and brought him surprising joy as he came to know Christ in the sacraments. Catholics in recovery and those moving toward it, as well as the people who love them will recognize Weeman's story and his spiritual struggle to personally encounter God. He tells us how: Baptism helps you admit powerlessness over an unmanageable problem, face your desperate need for God, and choose to believe in and submit to God’s mercy. Reconciliation affirms and strengthens the hard work of examining your life, admitting wrongs, and making amends. The Eucharist provides ongoing sustenance and draws you to the healing power of Christ. The graces of Confirmation strengthen each person to keep moving forward and to share the good news of recovery and new life in Christ. Weeman's words are boldly challenging and brimming with compassion and through them you will discover inspiration, hope, sage advice, and refreshingly practical help.

What Is Ignatian Spirituality?

What Is Ignatian Spirituality?
Author: David L. Fleming
Publisher: Loyola Press
Total Pages: 131
Release: 2011-09-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 082943092X

Its effects are often life changing. But what exactly is it, and why do so many people embrace it? The most influential spiritual movement of the modern age is Ignatian spirituality, an approach to the spiritual life based on the insights of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatian spirituality teaches an active attentiveness to God joined with a prompt responsiveness to God, who is ever active in people’s lives. In What Is Ignatian Spirituality?,David L. Fleming, SJ, provides an authoritative yet highly accessible summary of the key elements of Ignatian spirituality, among which are contemplative prayer, discernment, and dynamic involvement in service and mission. In twenty concise chapters, Fr. Fleming explains how this centuries-old method of disciplined reflection on God’s work in the world can deepen our spiritual lives today and guide all the decisions we make. Also available in Spanish! ¿Qué es la espiritualidad ignaciana?

God Moments

God Moments
Author: Andy Otto
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2017-04-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 159471648X

Where do you seek God? Are you waiting for him to appear in a monumental, life-altering event? In God Moments, Catholic blogger Andy Otto shows you how to discover the unexpected beauty of God’s presence in the story of ordinary things and in everyday routines like preparing breakfast or walking in the woods. Drawing on the Ignatian principles of awareness, prayer, and discernment, Otto will help you discover the transforming power of God’s presence in your life and better understand your place in the world. Andy Otto found God’s presence in surprising moments during his life—when, as a Jesuit scholastic, he taught children in Jamaica and also as he discerned the call to marriage with his wife. By combining elements of Ignatian spirituality with the lessons that came from his experiences, Otto identified three practices that helped him find God in all things: Awareness—Gain an understanding that God is present in the ordinary messiness of our lives such as battle with depression or sharing in the struggle of a friend. Prayer—Develop a prayer life using Ignatian practices such as asking for a morning grace and examining how your prayer was answered at the end of the day. That way you can focus on a personal relationship with God that finds everyday physical activities such as making a meal as an opportunity to talk to him. Discernment—The more you are aware of God’s presence and draw closer to him in prayer, the better you can learn how to plug into God’s narrative of the world in a way that enables you to participate in the divine story through the use of your gifts and talents. With God Moments as a guide, you’ll have a better understanding of how to seek personal wholeness in the reality of God’s presence in the ordinary and learn to accept his invitation to participate in his transformation of the world.