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Seeing with the Heart: A Guide to Navigating Life's Adventures
“Here is my secret. It’s quite One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
–The Little Prince
Respected Jesuit educator and spiritual director Kevin O’Brien invites you to recognize the opportunities to uncover your meaning and purpose as you navigate the turbulent river of life. Seeing with the Heart is a tour de force that weaves together the author’s personal experiences, the 16th-century wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the insights of sages, poets, artists, and storytellers through the ages. O’Brien reveals how we can realize our potential by embracing our struggles with courage, our questions with curiosity, and our destiny with boldness as we tap into our deepest desires and live lives of authenticity.
Journeying through this book, with its inspiring prose and practical spiritual exercises, will cause a dramatic shift in your perspective. Your day-to-day life will be transformed by a better understanding of who you are and what you are called to be, as well as by a closer relationship with God and others. As O’Brien writes, “If we persist on the journey, with its signposts in the form of questions, we might discover something this God whom we seek and question is actually seeking us more.”
What do you seek? Seeing with the Heart will help you discover the answer.
–The Little Prince
Respected Jesuit educator and spiritual director Kevin O’Brien invites you to recognize the opportunities to uncover your meaning and purpose as you navigate the turbulent river of life. Seeing with the Heart is a tour de force that weaves together the author’s personal experiences, the 16th-century wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the insights of sages, poets, artists, and storytellers through the ages. O’Brien reveals how we can realize our potential by embracing our struggles with courage, our questions with curiosity, and our destiny with boldness as we tap into our deepest desires and live lives of authenticity.
Journeying through this book, with its inspiring prose and practical spiritual exercises, will cause a dramatic shift in your perspective. Your day-to-day life will be transformed by a better understanding of who you are and what you are called to be, as well as by a closer relationship with God and others. As O’Brien writes, “If we persist on the journey, with its signposts in the form of questions, we might discover something this God whom we seek and question is actually seeking us more.”
What do you seek? Seeing with the Heart will help you discover the answer.
224 pages, Paperback
Published January 24, 2023
65 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Kevin O'Brien
2 books6 followersKevin O'Brien, SJ
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 7, 2026
Admittedly, this is not the typical book that I reach for. Yet, I’m terribly glad that it fell into my hands. Fr. O’Brien has a terrific knack for sourcing the most salient and touching quotes from poets, theologians, and writers alike. He distills the Jesuit teachings of discernment in a captivating way, telling the story of his own winding path to the priesthood. His writing is very approachable and unabashedly tackles some of a Christian’s most difficult questions. In addressing the meaning of suffering and the difficulties of love, Fr. O’Brien maintains a fresh outlook on the beautiful parts of life in all of their brokenness. I’m proud to see that this book takes the remarkable Georgetown tradition of The Problem of God and packages it into a beautiful book for all to read and learn from.
March 12, 2025
Quotes:
"The writer Anne Lamott contends that 'when you're with an awful person, you're not around a villain, you're with a person who's suffering deeply, starving for love.'"
"The Dominican theologian Timothy Radcliffe put it this way: 'Most sin is pretending to be someone else, admirable or powerful or sexy, who will have value in other people's eyes and one's own. As with the prodigal son, it is a form of self-exile, taking refuge in an imaginary self ... Why do we all do this? If is because we fear that without some impressive mask we will not be loved.'"
"While there is nothing wrong with achievement and success, when we fix too much of our identity on what we accomplish rather than on who we are as persons, we get into trouble."
"Stretching for what is more or greater should not lead us to workaholism, burnout, pride, or perfectionism. The magis does not necessarily mean doing more, giving more, spending more time on something; it does not even mean that we are successful. Striving for the magis means doing what God gives us to do as best we can, with a generous or magnanimous heart. The magis is an approach to how we do things more than a list of things to do or a litany of accomplishments."
"just because one course is harder does not mean it is the better and more noble course (this is spiritual athleticism at its worse)"
"Michael Himes distills discernment about a life's calling or vocation to the following three questions: What gives me joy? Am I good at it? Does the world need it?"
Quoting Dorothy Day: "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community." --- the fact that Fr. O'Brien ended the book by quoting Dorothy Day literally made my day
"The writer Anne Lamott contends that 'when you're with an awful person, you're not around a villain, you're with a person who's suffering deeply, starving for love.'"
"The Dominican theologian Timothy Radcliffe put it this way: 'Most sin is pretending to be someone else, admirable or powerful or sexy, who will have value in other people's eyes and one's own. As with the prodigal son, it is a form of self-exile, taking refuge in an imaginary self ... Why do we all do this? If is because we fear that without some impressive mask we will not be loved.'"
"While there is nothing wrong with achievement and success, when we fix too much of our identity on what we accomplish rather than on who we are as persons, we get into trouble."
"Stretching for what is more or greater should not lead us to workaholism, burnout, pride, or perfectionism. The magis does not necessarily mean doing more, giving more, spending more time on something; it does not even mean that we are successful. Striving for the magis means doing what God gives us to do as best we can, with a generous or magnanimous heart. The magis is an approach to how we do things more than a list of things to do or a litany of accomplishments."
"just because one course is harder does not mean it is the better and more noble course (this is spiritual athleticism at its worse)"
"Michael Himes distills discernment about a life's calling or vocation to the following three questions: What gives me joy? Am I good at it? Does the world need it?"
Quoting Dorothy Day: "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community." --- the fact that Fr. O'Brien ended the book by quoting Dorothy Day literally made my day
May 13, 2024
Excellent book written by a Jesuit in simple understandable language explaining use of the Ignatian Exercises.
April 13, 2025
This is a good book on Ignatian spirituality which pairs well with the author's prior book "An Ignatian Adventure"--a 32 week exploration of the Spiritual Exercises.
June 4, 2023
Seeing with the Heart
A Guide to Navigating Life's Adventures
by Kevin O'Brien, SJ
Pub Date 24 Jan 2023
Loyola Press
Christian | Religion & Spirituality
Netgalley and Loyola Press have provided me with a copy of Seeing with the Heart for review:
As we explore Seeing With the Heart, we will find a broader approach to Ignatius’ work by focusing on the tradition of spirituality that underlies and animates the Spiritual Exercises. Each chapter concludes with a series of short, practical exercises.
I give Seeing With the Heart five out of five stars...
Happy Reading!
A Guide to Navigating Life's Adventures
by Kevin O'Brien, SJ
Pub Date 24 Jan 2023
Loyola Press
Christian | Religion & Spirituality
Netgalley and Loyola Press have provided me with a copy of Seeing with the Heart for review:
As we explore Seeing With the Heart, we will find a broader approach to Ignatius’ work by focusing on the tradition of spirituality that underlies and animates the Spiritual Exercises. Each chapter concludes with a series of short, practical exercises.
I give Seeing With the Heart five out of five stars...
Happy Reading!
June 22, 2023
Father O’Brien’s book is an inspiring and insightful look into spirituality and humanity, and one that will meet you wherever you are in your life’s journey. Father O’Brien’s writing style has a wonderful way of bringing in the reader through personal anecdotes and stories, and encourages growth through various discussions and reflections on the human experience. The book is also very practical with exercises at the end of each chapter that can be incorporated into your own life to reinforce the many themes covered throughout. It is truly a must-read!
June 28, 2024
I absolutely love this book. The timing of its arrival in my life was serendipitous and of grace. Understanding the importance of applying proper discernment when faced with consolation and desolation, and that often evil spirits work in disguise so that we what we think may be the right course of action may in fact be keeping us from our true calling and right path. By applying the principles of the Ignatian examen in prayer we can gain the wonderful advantage of grace-filled discernment. Thank you Father Kevin O’Brien.
November 21, 2025
Excellent for particularly any young adult that is ready and eager to explore discernment / how we make decisions / how we might look at choices big and small in life through a phenomenal spiritual lens.
February 25, 2023
A guide to living with greater courage, joy, and inspiration--filled with beautiful insights, inspiration, engaging stories, and practical exercises. Highly recommended.
February 10, 2024
Completed with my Regis Ignatian Parents Group. This book really resonated with me and its messages have the capacity to change a life.
January 23, 2025
This was a great book to read and discuss in our Faith Sharing Group. A guide to navigating life’s adventures - Jesuit style.
April 14, 2025
Life changing.
May 8, 2025
Read this with classmates for PVP (physicians vocation program, for people who see medicine as a Christian calling) ——— loved it!!! & left all our conversations feeling so encouraged!
August 15, 2025
I listened to this one, but I think it would have been better as a physical read so I could journal along the way. Great, reflective read regardless!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews