Discernment: Prerequisites reflected in a Stream

Today's first reading, Proverbs 21: 1-6, 10-13 and the Gospel, Luke 8: 19-21, both provide us with insights into being one with the will of the Lord. In Proverbs, one who is in harmony with God's will is "[l]ike a stream...in the hand of the Lord; wherever it pleases [God, God] directs it."  Note the characteristics of a stream: it is small, flows from a larger source and into a larger source,  is inconspicuous, does nothing to attract people to itself. It also refreshes, sustains life, delights those who take time to "play" in it or to sit by its shore.  One who is allowing the Lord to direct one's life also is refreshed, delighted, sustained and given the grace to surrender by sitting at the Lord's feet, as one sits by the shore of a stream for refreshment and the renewal of one's spirit.  Allowing the Lord to direct one in whatever way the Lord chooses, a person, like John the Baptist,  is pleased to have Jesus increase  and he/she decrease, serving the needs of others, as a stream serves needs beyond itself. And like Mary, Jesus' Mother, truly is the handmaid of the Lord/the brother of Jesus.

Discernment and Surrender

Discernment and Surrendering to the Will of God:  God wills our peace and our salvation. God wills that we become the person God designed us to become.  God did not send us to this earth to be what another person wants us to be but to become our own person who carries out the purpose for which God created us.  No one else in the world has or will be given the mission that God entrusts to us. We need to discern what that mission is and become the person we are in God’s sight.  No one else is given the mission God has given to us and no one else in the world is who we are: each one of us is unique. The image of God by which we are made is not the same as anyone else’s.  I f we do not reflect the image and likeness of God given to us in God’s creation of us, that image and likeness of God is denied the world around us.

So, who are you in God’s sight? What image and likeness of God are you to be reflecting in the world where God placed you? What mission has God given you? And in what vocation are you to reflect God’s image and likeness and in what vocation are you to carry out the mission God gave to you and to no one else?

To discern this, we need to surrender our will to God’s will as Jesus surrendered to the will of His Father.  On our own, we are not capable of surrendering our free will. We need the grace of God to do this.  That is why it is paramount that we prostrate ourselves on our knees and ask God to assist us, to empower us to follow Jesus’ example of surrendering to God as our Father and Creator, our Sanctifier and Savior!  We need God’s grace to enable us to know and trust and love God our Father and Creator, our Sanctifier and Savior. Only then will we surrender our wills to this Higher and trustworthy Will.

Discernment: God Really Wants What of Me?

Responding to God’s Invitation to trust, to take risks, to act in faith can be very, very tough at times!  In today’s first reading, 1 Kings 17: 7-16, Elijah goes to Zarephath of Sidon and there is told that a widow would provide for him.  “As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, ‘Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink…[and] a bit of bread.’  She answered: ‘As the Lord, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug.” She is reluctant  because that is all she has. Her plan was to prepare a last meal  for herself and her son and then wait to die.  But Elijah insisted:   “…make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son.  For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and Elijah and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.”

Many times what God asks of us seems impossible.  The widow was challenged to give the last of what she had to live upon. She expected to have enough for one more meal and then, because of the drought, she and her son would starve to death. However, she gave all, trusting that the Lord, the God of Israel, would provide, as Elijah prophesied.

Discerning the Lord will is many times a challenge! “Give up everything to become a Sister, a priest, to enter marriage, to remain single?” we ask. “ Risk everything of what I cherish: my independence, leaving home, leaving my friends? No way,” we cry.  “What if it does not work out and I am left with nothing?” “What if I fail?” And on and on we go digging up excuses to not trust, to not believe, to not surrender!  Miracles then evade us!