Discernment: What Passion is Driving Me?

Discernment:  In today’s Scripture readings, James 4: 1-10,  St. James asks us the questions:  “Where do the wars and where to the conflicts among you come from? Is it not your passions that make war within your members?”  In the Gospel, Mark 9: 30-37,the apostles are arguing about who will be first in the Kingdom.

In discerning God’s will for us in weighty or seemingly insubstantial issues it is important to examine our passions. What is driving us toward something we believe God is asking of us?  Is it actually the Spirit calling us or is it our desire  for prestige, for one-up-man-ship, for honors, for revenge or in order “to show them "I can do this" or that "I am better than others" or some other narcissistic motive? Are we having difficulty discerning the Spirit’s lead because we are  caught up worldly matters and have taken  our focus off of Jesus, have forgotten to “throw our cares on the Lord” (Psalm 55) or to “draw near to God.”  St. James asks: “Do you not know that to be a lover of the world [and of secular goals] means enmity with God?”   When I am interiorly disturbed or not a peace, when my sole focus is success as proposed by the world, it is that turmoil that I can easily project onto others. It is that “muddy” thinking that blocks me from seeing as God sees and that depletes my trusting the Lord and openness to the Spirit's lead.  In those times I am seeking my will above God’s. 

The argument that broke out among the apostles occurred right after Jesus told them that “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” Jesus is about doing His Father’s will.  Nothing else!  He was not enmeshed in worldly, secular goals and neither should we be focused on such. Whatever we are doing here on earth—personally, vocationally, professionally, socially, as a parent, an employee, an employer, a friend, a relative—should be in response to God’s call or the Spirit’s lead in our life.  We are on a journey of dying and rising with Christ, in getting to know and imitate the Lord. Nothing else! Or is there?

Discernment: Letting Go, Letting God

Discernment:  In today’s first reading, Acts 15: 7-21, Peter participates in the debate about whether to demand that the Gentiles be circumcised before being baptized in Christ Jesus. Eventually, Peter gets up and says to the Apostles and the presbyters: “My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel and believe.”  Peter knows his place, his calling.  Do you know yours?

Knowing does not mean that you will not find yourself in difficult situations such as a heated debate with fellow “apostles,” or presbyters (members of the clergy), or family or community members or friends.  You may need to take a stand. So, too, might the “apostle” or “presbyter,” the member of your family or religious community,  or, even, friends.  You may leave each other on opposite sides of the debate and need to move on . The door that you wanted open may not open for you or for the presbyter or others with whom you are discussing an issue.  It is then time to move in a different direction that God will reveal to you and to the other “apostles” or the “presbyter or others involved in the argument.  Letting go, letting God, trusting that God has another plan full of hope for you, not just the one you were determined to make a reality for yourself,  is part of  what discernment is about!

Discernment: The Role of Closed Opportunities

Discernment:  In today’s Gospel, John 15: 1-8, Jesus reminds us that He is the true vine and that His Father (and ours) is the vine grower.  The Father “takes away every branch in [Jesus] that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does …[the Father] prunes so that it bears more fruit.”  Jesus also reminds us that we are “already pruned because of the word that…[Jesus speaks to us].”

The Father’s pruning might occur when “a door” or “a window” of opportunity is closed. The pruning or closing of the door or window may be a very painful experience for us, especially if we are not living by faith, knowing that God’s plan for us is full of hope not disaster. God may have diverted us from a decision we were about to make because He has better plans for us. He also may be teaching us obedience to His will and letting go of ours.  Discernment means that we need to allow “closed windows” or “closed doors” to be a sign that God wants something else of us, something that will bear greater fruit than what we envisioned.

How open are you to closed “windows” and closed “doors” as revealing the will of God to you?  Are you open to this being part of discernment?

Discernment: Recognizing God's Voice

Discernment:  How do we grow into recognizing the voice of God speaking to us? The Gospel for today, John 10: 22-30,  gives us the answer. Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  

When we think of parents knowing the voices of their children and vice versa, we know that the ability to discern those voices is built within human nature. It naturally happens beginning in infancy and even before that, namely in one’s mother’s womb.

 I believe that you and I existed in God’s womb from all eternity before we were conceived in the womb of our mothers.  That means, as in the natural order whereby we know the voices of our parents and siblings, so, too, in the spiritual order, we know the voices of God and of spirits, good and evil.  That knowing is built in our spiritual beings.  Humanly speaking, the infant begins in the silence and the darkness of the womb and then, outside the womb. A baby, at first, is all ears for months, listening to voices around him or her. The infant learns the voices of those close to him or her and can discern voices that are caring or non-caring, loving or non-loving, safe or unsafe, nurturing or non-nurturing. Spiritually speaking, from infancy on, we also grow to recognize the voice of God, the Beloved, the unconditional Love of the Holy One.  We can be taught to pay attention to God’s voice speaking within us, around us,  within the darkness, within the silence.  We need to learn to be “all ears,” so to speak, as we were as infants to human voices around us.  Only then is discernment of the will of God for us possible. 

Discernment: A Gift from God

Discernment:  In today’s first reading, Acts 9: 31-42, Peter, totally transformed by the outpouring of the Spirit upon him at Pentecost, is an instrument in the hands of Christ, healing the sick, the paralyzed, raising those who have died and proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection. He is doing everything in the name of Jesus, the Son of God, the Holy One whom he had denied, whom he had challenged when He spoke of going up to Jerusalem to be killed by the chief priests and leaders of the people, the man who jumped in to the waters to walk to Jesus and sunk out of fear of the elements, the one who chopped off the soldier’s ear, and the one who locked himself in the upper room out of fear of the Jews.  Now, baptized in the Spirit, he feared no one and never said “no” to Jesus again. He opened his mind, his heart and his will to the Spirit of Christ leading him, strengthening him,  and challenging him to act in His name without fear, without giving in to weaknesses, without pride, knowing, beyond doubt, that only in Christ Jesus is his salvation and only in Christ Jesus does he do the will of the Father.

Are you growing in the ability to discern when you are relying upon strength alone or trusting in the Lord? Are able to discern when you are challenging God, complaining against God and when you are cooperating with God?  When you and I begin a project and abandon it when the going gets tough, it is then that we are most likely not cooperating with the Lord, or we may have entered into that project without calling upon the Lord.  When we rely only upon ourselves, we increase our vulnerability to deny the Lord in crucial circumstances or to engage in behaviors that are contrary to what God expects of us. On the other hand, when we are working with, in and through Jesus, we then recognize our dependence upon grace, and grace alone. When we call upon the Lord in humility and trust, we are able to get across the troubled waters of our lives.  Yes, only in God will we leave our comfort zones, as Peter did,  and be receptive to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, sent my Jesus, to take possession of our minds, our wills, and our hearts. It is then that we are truly capable of discerning that to which God is calling us, be that a vocational call, a career call, or a relationship call, or any other,  even when previously we deemed the obstacles too great.

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: When the Suggestion seems Ludicrous

Discernment:  In today’s Gospel, John 21-1-19, Peter and six of his companion apostles go fishing.  They work all night long and catch nothing. Jesus meets them in the morning on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias and asks them if they have caught anything to eat. “No,” they respond.  Jesus suggests that they cast the net over the right side of the boat and “you will find something.” Without hesitation, they do so and haul in 153 fish.  It is only then that they recognize the man on the seashore!

At times the Lord invites us to do that which sounds ludicrous, like date so and so, consider religious life or priesthood, or even respect the vocation of the single lifestyle; or choosing a career that we truly want to pursue but others are against it because “it won’t yield a lot of money—you won’t get wealthy doing that kind of work.” Once we say “yes” and experience the power of God at work in our lives, we recognize that it was Jesus calling us.

Most times, the Spirit’s invitation is not as weighty as vocational or career choices. It could be engaging in a task that is difficult to do at work or within one’s family. It could be changing one’s attitudes or behaviors that frustrate growth in love and forgiveness and mercy toward self or a family member.   It could be getting help to overcome an addiction or to face some limitation that, with help, can be overcome.

Discernment: following suggestions that seem ludicrous to those who do not understand or when viewed without faith and prayerful consideration!  Being true to one’s inner self is difficult at times but possible through the power of the Spirit: our innermost self is hidden. Without developing a life of prayer and reflection, solitude and quiet, we are likely not to recognize “Jesus on the shore of “Tiberias,” and trust God’s suggestions!