Cardinal George: "A discerning heart is free, disinterested, eager to do what God wants"

"When we have to make decisions, at a bishops’ meeting for example, a lot of different voices clamor for attention, sometimes from the outside and sometimes inside our minds and hearts. Sorting out all the messages and determining where the voice of God might be is an exercise in discernment.

"We listen for the Spirit’s voice with our heart as well as with our head. To listen well, one has to be interiorly free. To be free requires one to be disinterested, not driven by self-interest. Disinterested is not uninterested. When we are uninterested, we just don’t care. When we are disinterested, we care passionately but freely. We are open to what God wants us to do in a particular situation, what God wants us to decide about an issue so important that we put aside our self-interest. A discerning heart is free, disinterested, eager to do what God wants. It takes some practice"

-- Cardinal George