by Jim Manney

The theme of Week 5 of our Lent-Easter Ignatian Prayer Adventure is “What Do I Really Want?” This is an excellent question; a good one to ask at the halfway point in Lent. Ignatius believed that once we rid ourselves of disordered attachments and discover what we really want, we’ll discover what God wants for us too.

Here’s a way to pray about desire. It’s by Anthony de Mello, SJ, in his book Sadhana: A Way to God:

Place before God the desires you have for yourself: expose him to all the great things you desire to do in his service. The fact that you will never actually do them, or that you feel incapable of doing them, is irrelevant. What is important is that you gladden the heart of God by showing him how immense your desires are even though your strength is very small. It is thus that lovers speak when they express their immensity of their desires which far outdistances their limited capacity.