Discernment: Role of God Talk and God Knowledge

Discernment:  As you ponder the vocation to which you feel called—religious life, priesthood, the single lifestyle or marriage—I encourage you to look at what you can do to open up the lines of communication between God and yourself. Also ask: How can I come to a greater knowledge of God and myself in order to understand what my vocation might be. Those two questions are very important.

Why open up the lines of communication between God and yourself? Every vocation is a call and behind every call is a caller. It is important to increase your communication with the Caller and to deepen your knowledge of the One who calls. In terms of religious life or priesthood, growing in your knowledge of God and further opening up the lines of communication with the Caller is as important as doing so with one’s future husband/wife. You would never consider marriage a particular person without increasingly opening lines of communication with that person and taking steps to grow in knowledge of that person. So, too, with the One who calls a person to religious life or priesthood.

So, how to you do that?  What are you already doing in communicating with God? What are you already doing that is helping you grow in your knowledge of God? Continue doing that but increase your efforts. If you are not already doing this, set aside private time with the Lord each day.   Find a space of solitude and talk to God about yourself and your day as you would with a best friend.  God wants to listen to you, delights in you, as a best friend cherishes speaking and listening to you. Tell God everything about your day, your feelings (fears,s hurts, angers, sadness, joy, happiness, excitement, etc.) your thoughts, your hopes, dreams of  each day.  Then sit in quiet, listening to God at work in the solitude. When you mind strays, return to listening, using a prayer word such as “Jesus,” “God,” “Peace,” as you continue being still in God’s presence.

To grow in knowledge of God, read the Scriptures of the day each day (your parish bulletin usually lists those), or go to the Gospels and read about Jesus on a daily basis.