Discernment: A Franciscan Model

Discernment according to St. Francis of Assisi:  In the Franciscan Office for Tuesday Morning of the second week of Lent, p. 286,  the second reading is from the Life of Saint Francis  by Thomas of Celano 1 C 6).   Saint Francis, Thomas of Celano states, was anxious to direct his will to God’s.  To do so, St. Francis would withdraw for a brief period of time away from “the tumult and business of the world.”  It was his way of keeping “Jesus Christ in his in most self.” What is your way?

St. Francis would go apart from everyone to consult God. Whom do you consult?  “He prayed with all his heart that the eternal and true God guide his way and teach him to do [God’s] will. He endured great suffering in his soul, and was not able to rest until he accomplished in action what he had conceived in his heart," Thomas of Celano tells us.  In what ways to you suffer until you "[accomplish] in action what...[you have conceived] in...[your] heart?