Discernment: God's intervention!

Discernment:  In today’s first reading, Acts 9: 1-20,  Saul is on his way to Damascus to arrest men and women who are followers of Jesus. He has, in fact, been authorized by the high priest to bring people back to Jerusalem “in chains.”  On the way, Jesus intervenes and confronts him:  “Saul, why are you persecuting me”?  Saul, startled, no doubt, asks the question: “Who are you, sir?” “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”

Sometimes, like in Saul’s life, discernment of what God is asking of us is very clear.  However, Saul still had free will—and God would have respected that. Saul could have refused and continued what he believed was the will of God for him, namely, to stop Christians, who in the mind of a devout Jew, was betraying the faith handed down to the Jewish people for centuries.

God can and will, however, intervene strongly in our lives, as He did in Saul’s, clearly directing us “to get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” That might translate as follows: “Fill out that application!” “Go, talk to your wife about what happened last night and apologize for your obnoxious behavior.” “Go apologize to the teacher for interrupting her/him and disrupting class.” “Get up and make that phone call to the Vocation Director or to the Marriage Counselor or to your parish priest and you will be instructed on how to proceed.”   “Stop procrastinating.”

Yes, God is in charge. Jesus is our Master in life and in death, including death to our wills when they are not in harmony with His.   Do you allow God to direct you? Or, do you resist, not wanting to be told what you must do to get out of a quagmire?

Discernment: What Mary Magdalene Teaches Us

DISCERNMENT OF JESUS’ VOICE

In today’s Gospel, John 20: 11-18, Mary Magdalene has gone to the tomb looking for Jesus.  She finds the tomb empty. Jesus’ body is gone.  Overcome with grief, she weeps outside of the tomb.  Two angels appear one at head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. They question Mary: Why are you weeping? She turns around and sees Jesus but thinks he’s the gardener. He also asks her why she is weeping. She says to Him: “Sir, if you have taken Jesus’ body, please show me where it is. I will take care of it.” And Jesus says: “Mary”!  When he speaks her name, she recognizes the Lord and responds in Hebrew “Rabouni,” which means “Master.”

How did Mary discern that the gardener was Jesus? How was it that she recognized the gardener’s voice as the voice of her Master?

First of all, Jesus is looking for/waiting for her. If He were not seeking, she would not find.  Second of all, Mary is engaged in the discernment process, which we might outline, in this instance, into eight significant steps:  1) She is actually looking for Jesus.  2) She  wants to find the One she has lost, even if all she finds is his dead body.   3) She wants to serve Him, give Him something, namely, in this case, a proper burial, one that shows the deceased the respect that is deserved.  4) She allows no one to distract her, neither the angels nor the gardener.  5) She is focused.  6) She knows for whom/what she is looking. 7) She does not give up until she finds the One for whom she is thirsting, hungering, longing, desiring! 8) She personally encounters the Risen Lord—this personal relationship with the Lord long preceded this finding of Him in the  emptiness of her life at that point in time.

What about you and me? Are we actually looking? Do we really want to find Him? Are we willing to be of service, to give of ourselves no matter what the cost (Mary Magdalene could have been arrested, put to death as Jesus was)? Do we shut out distractions and stay focused? Do we know for what/whom we are looking? Do we persevere in looking? Have we developed a personal relationship with the Lord in the first place?