Trusting my Feelings
It seems surprising to trust our feelings to the degree Ignatius does, but this
approach to discernment is entirely consistent with his vision of the Christian
life. The Ignatian perspective tells us that we live in a world that is
permeated by God, a world God uses to keep in touch with us. We seek to
follow Jesus. We carefully observe him in the Gospels and we enter these
Gospel scenes using the methods of Ignatian contemplation through
imagination.
We come to know who Jesus is and strive to make him the centre of our
lives. We make our decisions within the context of this relationship of love. It
is a relationship of the heart. Our heart will tell us which decisions will bring
us closer to Jesus and which will take us away from him. Ignatian
discernment, then, holds that our Christian choices are often beyond the
rational or reasonable. “The heart has its reasons of which the mind knows
nothing,” Pascal said. This is fine—if the heart has been schooled by Christ,
and mine has.
It is often said that Ignatian spirituality forms us to be “contemplatives in
action.” We can understand this somewhat paradoxical term if we see that
the goal is action and discernment is the means. Discernment guides us to
decisions that will join us ever more closely with Christ and with our working
with Christ in the world. Contemplation of Jesus in the Gospels is the
essential discipline that makes discernment possible. The practice of
imaginative prayer teaches us who Jesus is and how he acts and how he
decides. This kind of contemplation schools our hearts and guides us to the
decisions that bring us closer to God.
Inspired by What Is Ignatian Spirituality? by David L. Fleming, SJ.
Lesley-ann +
Prayers for the Sick
Please take your Sunday Pew Sheet home (which
provides names to add to your own prayer list)
and assists you to remember the congregation
who are unable to join the service due to illness or
infirmity and also those whose anniversary falls
during that week.
Remember in your prayers the Scottish Episcopal
Church, the ministers and priests of the local and
wider community.
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