Always Discerning: An Ignatian Spirituality for the New Millennium

by Joseph A. Tetlow SJ

Overview

2017 Catholic Press Association Book Awards, First Place: Spirituality: Soft Cover

Pope Francis has explicitly and repeatedly stated that discernment is essential for anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ. But what, exactly, is discernment? Why must we do it? When do we do it? How should we do it?

In Always Discerning, Joseph A. Tetlow, SJ, delves thoughtfully into these questions and shares how lay Christians can implement discernment into not only life’s big decisions but also into the everyday, more mundane choices we constantly find ourselves having to make. Guided by Scripture, Pope Francis’s own words, and Ignatian spirituality, Fr. Tetlow helps us see that the dynamic interrelationship of head, heart, and hands is crucial to the discernment process.
 
Ultimately, Always Discerning provides a powerful and highly practical way for the “people of God” to pray in the new millennium, while teaching us how to recognize God’s will in every area of our lives and respond to it in joy and love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780829444568
Publisher:	Loyola Press
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

JOSEPH A. TETLOW, SJ, has practiced, taught, and written on discernment since before Vatican II. He is a spiritual director and has led numerous retreats for laypeople on the topic of discernment. Often hailed as a “world authority” on Ignatian spirituality, Fr. Tetlow is the author of many books, including Making Choices in Christ and Choosing Christ in the World.

Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgments and Dedication ........................................................................ ix
What Is Discernment Now, and Why Do We Need It? ..................................... xi

PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS .............................................................................1
1 “Appreciative Awareness” of God Acting in the World ...............................3
2 The Author’s Story of Discernment ...............................................................7
3 Discernment Is for Every Christian, Every Day .........................................11
4 The Second Vatican Council and Signs of the Times ...............................14
5 Every Mature Disciple Discerns All Day Long...........................................17
6 The Bare Bones of a Discerning Life............................................................20
A Leader and God’s People.................................................................23
PART TWO: DISCERNMENT THEN AND NOW.....................................25
7 Discernment in the Christian Way...............................................................27
8 Corinth’s Church: Faith, Belief, Enactment................................................31
9 Discernment in “Middle-Class Holiness”....................................................35
10 Discernment in Jesus’ Parable Telling ..........................................................39
Thinking about Experience and Discernment.....................................42
PART THREE: GOD, ALWAYS OUR LOVING CREATOR ......................45
11 The First Great Discernment: God Is My Creator at Every Moment.....47
12 Love of God and Love of Self........................................................................51
13 God’s Gravity and Galileo’s Grapes ..............................................................54
14 Discerning the God of Love ..........................................................................57
15 Loving God Is Who We Are..........................................................................60
Loving Like God .................................................................................63
PART FOUR: JESUS IS (MY) LORD ...........................................................65
16 The Second Great Discernment: Jesus Is Lord...........................................67
17 Discernment Prepares Us to Encounter Jesus Christ.................................70
18 Living Every Day in Christ............................................................................73
19 Growing in Wisdom, Age, and Grace..........................................................76
20 Discernment Teaches and Forms Us through Suffering............................80
21 Discernment Guides Us to Forgive as Jesus Forgave..................................84
Christ’s Fire and Light .............................................................................87
PART FIVE: THE HOLY SPIRIT AT WORK AMONG US .....................89
22 The Spirit and Discernment in the World ..................................................91
23 The Spirit of an Acting God .........................................................................95
24 The Holy Spirit and the Prayer of Consideration ......................................98
25 The Holy Spirit and Fear of the Lord........................................................102
26 Discerning Vocation and Mission ..............................................................106
Practical Discernment.........................................................................110
PART SIX: GREAT HUMAN MYSTERIES..............................................111
27 Jesus and the Grace of Failure .....................................................................113
28 Discerning, Not Denying, Death ...............................................................117
29 Enacting Good News That Still Surprises.................................................121
30 Discernment and the Mystery of Pain .......................................................125
A New Christian Humanism.................................................................128
PART SEVEN: DEEPER PERSONAL MEANING.................................131
31 Discernment Enables Us to Worship the God of Gods ..........................133
32 Discernment, through the Examen, Renews Our Minds .......................137
33 Loving God: I Can Do That .......................................................................140
34 Discernment and Attachments ...................................................................143
35 Discernment Brings Us to Passionate Detachment..................................147
Some Odd Heresies ..........................................................................150
PART EIGHT: DISCERNMENT AND SIN................................................153
36 Encountering Christ in a Sinful World .....................................................155
37 My Sin and My Discernment......................................................................159
38 Discernment, Conscience, and Compulsion ............................................162
39 The Astonishing Joy of Humility ...............................................................166
40 Discernment of Spirits .................................................................................169
All the Saints and All Us Saints...........................................................172
PART NINE: DISCERNMENT AND CONSOLATION ...........................175
41 Consolation and Human Flourishing ........................................................177
42 God Consoles His People ............................................................................181
43 Consolation Is Doing God’s Will ...............................................................185
44 Discerning Mature Experiences of Consolation.......................................189
The Consolation of Encountering Jesus Christ.................................193
PART TEN: DISCERNMENT AND DESOLATION ................................195
45 Discerning the Experience of Desolation ..................................................197
46 Desolation Is Now Living Dissed ...............................................................201
47 Living Dissed and the Discerning Heart ...................................................205
48 Living Dissed with Authority......................................................................208
The Capital Sin of Sloth.....................................................................212
PART ELEVEN: THE BIG AND GLORIOUS PICTURE.......................215
49 We Discerning Secularists............................................................................217
50 How Do I Know I Am Grateful?................................................................221
51 Discernment at the Wake ............................................................................225
The Examen of the Future ....................................................................228
Endnotes...............................................................................................................231
About the Author .............................................................................................247