Discernment: The Art of Choosing Well, Revised Edition

by Pierre Wolff

Overview

Making good decisions are among the most difficult challenges in life. In Discernment: The Art of Choosing Well, readers will find a comprehensive guide to making choices, either individually or in groups. It is based on the time-tested spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the sixteenth-century founder of the Jesuits who developed a systemic way of considering and making choices.

The author, a renowned teacher of Ignatian spirituality, leads readers on a journey of self-reflection, focusing on the process of discernment rather than on the particular problem at hand.

Paperback

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764809897
Publisher:	Liguori Publications
Publication date:	06/06/2003
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	708,674
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Pierre Wolff is a notable teacher of discernment and Ingatian spirituality and an internationally acclaimed retreat master. Born in Marseille, France, he ministered as a Jesuit priest for almost forty years, traveling to a dozen countries and giving retreats and workshops on Ignatian spirituality. In 1988, he became a priest in the Episcopal Church. He has devoted most of his life to helping people learn to pray, use discernment to make decisions, and consciously grow their spirituality. He is now married and lives in Connecticut.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
Part 1	The Components of Any Choice
Chapter 1.	Everybody Has What Is Necessary for Choosing	3
Chapter 2.	Discernment Is to Choose Methodically With God	12
	Questions	16
Part 2	Discernment by an Individual Person
Chapter 1.	How to Work With the Head	21
Chapter 2.	How to Listen to the Heart	37
Chapter 3.	How to Become Freer From the Beginning	58
Chapter 4.	We Are "Servants Put in Charge"	70
	Questions	75
Part 3	Discernment by a Group of People
Chapter 1.	Others Help Me to Discern	81
Chapter 2.	We Want to Discern for a Common Decision	89
	Questions	105
	Final Reflections on Our Decisions
	The Last Test and Judgment	108
Appendix 1.	More About the Four Criteria	121
Appendix 2.	Is This Method of Discernment Only for Christians?	124
Appendix 3.	What Can We Do to Clarify the Object of the Choice?	129
Appendix 4.	Dealing With a Spiritual Helper	131
Appendix 5.	The Six Points of Ignatius' Method in the Last Version of The Spiritual Exercises	139
Appendix 6.	Diagrams	141
Appendix 7.	Index of Scriptures	143
	Suggested Readings	145
	Other Books by Pierre Wolff	147