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38 SEPTEMBER 2022 | DENVER CATHOLIC Volunteers are the heart and soul of Catholic Charities and make an enormous difference in the lives of so many of our neighbors across Northern Colorado. SERVE A MEAL. READ TO KIDS. TEACH A CLASS. HELP A SENIOR. SORT DONATIONS. serveccdenver.volunteerhub.com Signing up is fast and easy. Please prayerfully consider donating time to our neighbors in need. Join us. to the priesthood while receiving the Sacrament of Pen- ance at age 17. This first way includes God's direct, clear action and results in our own certainty beyond doubt that the call is from God. It also includes our immediate will- ingness, brought about by God's grace, to follow his invi- tation. God enlightens our minds and conditions our will to choose in true freedom to accept his invitation. Ignatius' second way in which God calls us is, "When much light and understanding are derived through the experience of desolations and consolations and discern- ment of diverse spirits" (Sp. Ex. 176). Ordinarily, God moves us toward his will through spiritual consola- tions, and the enemy spirits (the world, the flesh and the devil) seek to discourage us from doing God's will through spiritual desolations. Here we ben- efit from an understanding of Ignatius' teaching on discernment of spirits (see the book by Father Timothy Gallagher, Discernment of Spirits) and a spiritual director who can help us make sense of these motions within our hearts. The third way of discerning God's will is through the use of our reason enlightened by faith (Sp. Ex. 177). For this deliberative method, St. Ignatius recommends list- ing the advantages and disadvantages of any decision and its consequences, especially having eternal life as one's primary goal. He recommends weighing the different cri- teria for the decision based on their relative importance. For instance, in deciding whether to marry a person, one might place a heavier weight upon the criterion of the future spouse's religious convictions than on his or her ability to provide a high standard of living for the family. In this deliberative method of making a choice, supernatural prudence — a knowledge of reality that is enlightened by faith — will play an important role. Super- natural prudence will help us to know what is good and right according to revelation and universal principles such as the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the theological and cardinal virtues, and our moral values and principles. We must also be in touch with reality, what is happening in our concrete situations. We will also want to place our ideas and proposals before the judicious views of friends, authorities and associates. They may be able to direct us to other sources of information, wisdom and proficiency. Finally, we need to recognize the role God's providence may play in the future, having the foresight to estimate future events and effects. Decisions do matter. They forge our course in life and our identities as persons. Making decisions can be challenging, but when we pray and put our mind to it, the Lord comes to our help and manifests his will for us.