FREE TO RESPOND

DESIRE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

To grow in the
interior freedom …if we are so intent on responding ever better to the love of
needed to orient God wherever it will lead us in our life, we will find the kind
my life to God. of quiet in which the movement of God in our life becomes all
the more apparent; our mind will not find itself divided over
many cares, but rather its one concern will be to follow the
lead of God; in a similar way, our powers of loving, too, will
be focused for this period of time solely upon God… (Spiritual
Exercises 20).

If we feel a disorder in our attachment to a person, to a job or

position, to a certain dwelling place, a certain city, country,
and so on, we should take it to the Lord and pray insistently to
be given the grace of free ourselves from such disorder: What
we want above all is the ability to respond freely to God, and
all other loves for people, places, and things are held in
FURTHER proper perspective by the light and strength of God’s grace
RESOURCES (Spiritual Exercises 16).

John 8:12
SCRIPTURE
Luke 8:26-39
“If you continue in my word… you will know the truth, and
Luke 12:22-34 the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).
John 15:1-8
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt
Galatians 5:1 before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do
inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me
Job 38:1-39:27 good? No one is good but God alone. You know the
commandments: …” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all
Job 42:1-6 these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and
said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the
Esther 14:1-4, 14 money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then
come, follow me.” When we heard this, he was shocked and
went away grieving, for he had many possessions (Mark
10:17-22).

“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those
who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit
them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit
 themselves?” (Luke 9:24-25).

I … beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you

have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort
to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace
(Ephesians 4:1-7).

QUESTIONS SUGGESTION

What helps me to grow in gratitude for and stewardship of the gifts I In conversations,
have been given by God? notice what you do
and what to say when
In what ways do I tend to control my life and treat it as my you are feeling unfree
or attached to an idea,
possession rather than to embrace it freely as God’s gift to me?
a project, a person, or
an approach to a task.
What signals to me that I am either unfree or losing my freedom in a
situation?
EXAMEN
In what areas of my life can I be tempted to hold on, to resist change, PRAYER
to act compulsively, or to worry without real cause?
After asking for the
What do I need to do to balance the different aspects of my life? light of the Spirit and
praying in gratitude
What people, places, or things need to be given a different priority in for the many gifts of
order to acknowledge God as the source and end of my life? the day, pray about
the response which
you gave to God
during this day.
AID TO DISCERNMENT

What do you notice about movements within you that signal response
or resistance to God’s call?

As we begin to be aware of various movements in ourselves… it

would be helpful to…[know] the sources of such movement so that
we might better able to understand how to respond to God (Spiritual
Exercises 8).

When we feel tempted to cut short the hour [of prayer], we should
recognize the temptation for what it is-the first steps of taking back
from God my total gift-and extend the time of prayer for a few
minutes beyond the set time (Spiritual Exercises 12).