Discernment: What we learn from Luke 5: 1-11

Discernment:  Note what we learn about discernment from today’s Gospel, Luke 5: 1-11, Jesus is teaching a crowd of people. The crowd is pressing upon him, listening, Luke tells us, “to the word of God”—truly to the Word of God made flesh.  Jesus, feeling about to be crushed, spots Simon’s fishing boat a ways off shore—the fishermen were washing their nets.  So Jesus walks out to the boat, gets into it and pushes out a bit further to secure some space for Himself.  When he finishes teaching, he says to Simon: “Put out into the deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.”  Simon does so, even though he and his companions have been fishing all night, are worn out, so to speak, know that there are no fish in the area yet does what Jesus asks of them: Pays out into the deep and, to their amazement, have an overwhelming catch. “Who is this man,” Peter and his partners must have wondered.   I can imagine Peter saying to himself: “We’ve fished all night and caught nothing. He says: ‘Go out into the deep and you will find fish.”  Peter may have said to himself initially:  “What? He’s not a professional fisherman! I am.”  Then says: “Okay, Lord, We will go out into the deep, as you have asked of us.”

Following this large catch of fish, Peter falls on his knees and says to Jesus: “Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” That does not faze Jesus. He says to Simon and his partners, James and John: “’Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.’  Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.”

There are several lessons in this reading concerning the art of discernment:

• The importance of creating space for ourselves, as Jesus did, if we are to discern what God is asking of us. Do you recognize when other people’s will for us, their expectations, are crowding out our ability to hear the Word of God speaking to our hearts?
• That Jesus is our Master, knowing what is right for us in regard to our vocation in life or other serious choices we face? Do we listen to His instructions as Simon did, even when they make no sense to us?
• Being honest with Jesus, naming our failures, identifying out frustrations and sharing those with the Lord, as Simon had done when he told Jesus that they “have worked hard all night long and caught nothing.”  When you are struggling with your call in life or with a particular decision, do you go to the Lord
• The importance of falling on your knees before Jesus and recognizing your sinfulness, that is, your ability to walk away from what God is asking of you?
•  Hearing Jesus say to you: ‘Be not afraid’
• Leaving everything that would block you from knowing Jesus and doing the will of your God through Christ Jesus. What might you need to leave behind if you are going to embrace the vocation to which God is calling you or to follow His instructions? 

Discernment: Transparency with others

Discernment:  Transparency with Others

The first reading of today’s liturgy, Acts 15: 7-21, teaches us the importance of being transparent in our discernment of God’s will in our daily lives.  Paul and  Barnabas are confronted by other Jews concerning the issue of circumcision, believing that any Gentile becoming a believer, a Christian, must be required to be circumcised.  Yet, God had already baptized them with the Holy Spirit and brought their faith to fruition in proclaiming the Good News and working signs and wonders  among the people.  To settle the dispute and gain clarity as to what God’s will might be in this instance, Paul and Barnabas go to Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles and the presbyters. They explain their dilemma, the dispute and confusion, the insistence of other Jews that the Gentiles be circumcised and the fact that the new believers have been baptized by God Himself and that they are performing wonders and signs of the power of the resurrection.  Why, they ask, should we place the burden of circumcision upon them and other Mosaic laws? 

In our discernment, we, too, need to be transparent with persons both in authority and  with those who share our everyday concerns. Clarity comes from transparency, from being honest and open with appropriate others.

Prayerful Reflection on One's Experience

A fifth attitude necessary for discernment of God’s will is prayerful reflection upon one's experience:   In order to discern the will of God for us we need to bring our experiences to the Lord.  We need to lay bare our souls before Him: what are we thinking, what are we feeling, what are we desiring; in short, what is going on inside of our heads, so to speak. What works for me is to describe what is going on for me by writing it out. I begin with “Lord,……………………….”  And then continue writing about what is going on in me. After I have described my experience, I then ask the Lord to give me feedback. I switch hands and, without thinking, just start writing and see what comes up from the depth of my being where God dwells.

We need to sit in silence before the Lord each day, possibly 20 minutes of quiet time with the Lord.  If doing this is difficult for you, begin with 5 minutes a day and then increase it to 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.  It is very important to put ourselves at Jesus’ feet as learners. We need to come to the Lord and listen to God speak in the depth of our hearts. When thoughts distract us, gently and non-judgmentally, come back to the quiet.  To focus our minds, we might use a phrase or a word from Scripture to return our minds to the quiet.  Treat thoughts as passing clouds. Just let them pass through as clouds pass by the windows of our houses.