085: Discerning God’s Will with St. Ignatius of Loyola

The Art of Catholic with Matthew Leonard

Decisions, decisions... Life holds a lot of options and it's often hard to know which way to go, especially when it comes to serious, life-changing matters. Thankfully, we've got help. St. Ignatius of Loyola penned his famous Spiritual Exercises to enable people to discern the spirits - discern God's will for their lives. And the great thing is that's it's not pie-in-the-sky. It's super practical and down-to-earth. In fact, understanding his Exercises can save you a lot of headache and heartache. So join me and one of the most intelligent and holy priests I know, Fr. Aaron Pidel, SJ, for an in-depth discussion of St. Ignatius and his guide for our lives. We're covering: A bit of the (wild and wooly) background of St. IgnatiusHis massive conversionAn overview of the famous Spiritual ExercisesHow Ignatius allows feelings to come into play without them taking overThe massive role of consolations and desolationsPractical discernment of God's will Given my love of spiritual theology, this is an episode that is extremely close to my heart. I know you're going to get a lot out of it. God bless! Matthew P.S. I make a BIG announcement at the beginning of the podcast. Here's a little teaser... It's coming! Click here to sign up for the wait list to be notified when it goes live. P.P.S. I'm heading back to Italy! Join me in March 2019 for an amazing pilgrimage to Rome, Assisi, Orvieto, LaVerna, and much, much more! https://youtu.be/Sf-mJzhVh9s Here's Fr. Aaron's Guide to an Ignatian hour of prayer that I mentioned in the podcast: "Fr. Pidel Principles and Foundation of Ignatian Meditation"Download