The first practice in attending to our desire, "Sacred Longings," is a guided prayer of confession that helps us acknowledge—name—our deepest desires.​

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Last week, in our Examen practice, we began reflecting on desire through Jesus’ question to the disciples, “What do you want?” He poses a similar question to Blind Bartimaeus in Mark's Gospel, “What do you want me to do for you?” One way to read these passages is Jesus inviting them identify and articulate their deepest desires, helping them understand their truest longings.

 

While desire carries negative connotations in some religious traditions or may feel conflicted if you've been taught the Christian life is primarily about sacrifice or denial, all forms of desire can be engaged as gifts reflecting deeper, more intrinsic longings created by God.

Ignatian spirituality views desire as a primary way God communicates with us, with our deepest desires mirroring God’s desires for us. Through prayer—naming and acknowledging our needs and wants—we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal our most genuine longings over time. This process helps us understand God’s desires for us and recognize that God is the ultimate fulfillment of all human desire. Therefore, we can embrace all of our desires as we continuously engage them with God.

 

This guided prayer blends the practices of self-examination and confession—the practice of telling the whole of our stories more truly. Its purpose is to allow the Holy Spirit to open your heart to what is true about your deepest desires within the safety of divine love, "for we believe that when we are attuned to the reality that we live and move and have our being in God, whenever truth is spoken, Jesus shows up looking for us looking for him—even if we don't know it's him we are looking for" (Curt Thompson, The Soul of Desire).​