Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola
Why am I recommending this?
I had a friend once, Lawrence, who went to Spokane to take a retreat from a Msgr. Rosage. It was a 30-day Ignatian retreat, and this was in the early years of Lawrence's faith life. He was truly, in his reserved way, on fire for God. (I'm sad to say that we had a bit of a falling out and, due mainly to my pride and selfishness, we 'made up' and continued our friendship. He died quite some years ago now, and I regret my intransigence.) Anyway, the point of this is that the Spiritual Exercises focus greatly on discernment and Lawrence displayed great discernment through his life from that point. He didn't fear death, and I'm sure he's singing in the choir of angels right now, so deep was his faith. I'm not saying that it started with his retreat, but I really do believe that the retreat helped him greatly along his path. I think it could help all of us...
Honestly, they're like kids...
In the face of the threat of illness, ingenuity takes over...
it can be, but to say that it is, well, that might be pushing it a bit given the reality of politics...