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

He seems to have been one of those rare characters who lights up the room, who makes you feel like he’s your best friend as soon as you shake his hand. One of Arrupe’s best-known quotes begins this way: “Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.” He continues:

      What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.

      There’s no better description of the goal of discernment. It’s about falling in love. It’s about tapping into those deep currents of feeling that shape what we want, which in turn influence what we do. Understanding is important, and the will is vital, but what gets you out of bed in the morning is what you love. This is what discernment is about.

      We often think about spiritual renewal as a matter of changing the way we think. This is a danger even in a book like this, which sets forth ideas, concepts, and principles to broaden our understanding of discernment. Understanding is important, but it’s not the goal. We can understand many things without our knowledge affecting the way we live. The goal is a response of the heart, which truly changes the whole person.

      We Can Trust our Experience

      Most religions have codes and rules, things to avoid and things to believe. This is particularly true of Christianity, which has greatly valued creeds and doctrines and theology from almost its earliest times. Ignatian spirituality emphasizes the inner experience that gave rise to the creeds. The Ignatian way of discerning what is “of God” looks to our personal experience. Ignatius would have us experience God from the inside out, constantly discerning what leads us away from God as well as those things that bring us deeper into the divine life. Our Christian choices and decisions are often beyond the merely rational or reasonable. “The heart has its reasons of which the mind knows nothing,” Pascal said.