As promised, here are the notes from Genevieve's presentation last night. Thanks for those of you who could make it--good discussion!
Discernment:
"Thoughts, Questions and Guidelines for Personal Discernment:
· Discernment has to do with making choices within a loving relationship with God.
· If a decision-making process is to be truly discerning, it has to be in partnership with the community to which the person belongs, and the person’s responsibility to consider their own good, but also the good of the community as perceived through the lens of the person.
· In practice, working together in discernment in an honest search for the leading of the Spirit inevitably involves recognizing different points of view and varieties of feeling, acknowledging differences, obstacles, and resistances, and clarifying intentions in a common enterprise.
· Discernment has to do with giving shape and direction to our lives in the present as we move into the future.
· Aids to discernment:
o Being aware and telling the story of our lives in relation to God and reflecting on the different aspects of it help us to recognize where and how God has been and continues to be present and active in that story.
o Knowing the pattern of the presence and action of God in our lives in the past offers a guide to where God is leading us here and now.
· Discernment involves making choices within a setting of prayer, of a continuing dialogue with God.
· God’s wisdom sometimes looks like folly, and true discernment means being ready to be led beyond ordinary prudence and common sense into the unexpected, the unconventional, God’s foolish wisdom.
· Discernment is the ability both to allow one’s own life to be formed and guided by the Word of God and to play an appropriate part in ensuring that this work also guides the life and shapes the structures of the community.
· A process of discernment about an important choice requires the support of a form of daily living in which we are open and sensitive to the movements and leading of the Spirit of God in the path of the gospel. Fidelity to the Spirit in the daily round is the necessary soil in which large, important decisions come to fruition.
· Discernment in everyday life is a matter of regular reflection on daily events, within a framework of prayer, in order to see where the Spirit is leading and to follow that lead. Discernment with respect to a major decision is often a more prolonged and carefully structured process, proportionate to the seriousness of the decision itself.
· Discernment involves the practice of becoming aware of God as a day-to-day presence in our experience, not only in the past but also in the present.
Components for Personal Discernment:
· Regular and serious prayer
· Adequate information relating to choices available
· Reflection on affective responses in relation to God (note and reflect on feeling and desires)
· Weighing the reasons
· Confirmation or unease and the need for further searching
· Discernment is a framework which enables us to join in partnership with God in making choices which will help to bring about the fulfillment of God’s generous hopes and desires for the world and for us.
· Read and reflect
· Share thoughts, ideas and feelings and ask for feedback from people. It may be local community, friends, spiritual director. Then LISTEN!!!
· Obstacles to Discernment:
o (Physical, emotional, psychological and theological blocks)
Fear, depression, a poor self-image or a distorted image of God as tyrant or manipulator—all of these could make discernment difficult, if not impossible. Also, tiredness, ill-health, time anxiety, attachment and addictions and rigidity in attitudes.
· Fundamentally, discernment is the gift of knowing the ways of God and of being able to mirror those ways in one’s own conduct. It means the practical art of living in right relation to God in one’s personal life and helping to order and structure the life of the community in accordance with God’s designs and desires in one’s judgments and choices what is good and creative from what is evil and destructive.
· Read and reflect on books and articles/handouts…
· If we wish to follow the leading of the Spirit we should move with and build upon our experiences of consolation.
· Jesus recognized that his true place was within the circle of fragile needy humankind and who, from that position, placed all that he was and all that he had at the service of his sisters and brothers, and especially to those among them whose needs were greatest.
This discernment process is
courtesy of the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati Vocations office.The Process of making a decision about your life with the help of the Holy Spirit is called “discernment.” It is a process of discovering God’s will for you. In this process you deal with two persons: you and God. During the process, you will get to know both better.
As you begin, remember that both you and God ultimately desire the same thing-your happiness. Your best interest is at the heart of this process and God! You want to make a decision about your life that will bring you happiness. Therefore, you and God are not working at cross-purposes, but for the same goal.
The process of discernment, though often a struggle, is not complicated. It consists of four steps.
Step 1:
Be in touch with yourself.
Know your likes and dislikes, your fears, and dreams, your hopes and interests, your abilities and limitations. Get to know how you work under stress, what kind of leadership you respond to, how much structure you need in your life.
See how others view you in work situations, under stress, and at leisure. Reflect how you view others. Are you able to accept others, to work with them?
One way to look at a call from the Lord is to see God acting through all your life. God created you with a unique personality and allowed you to experience a personal history. Your personality and personal history are part of your call.
As you get to know yourself, accept what you find. You might want to change some aspects of yourself in the future, but begin by accepting yourself as you are.
You might keep a journal to record your feelings over a period of time. Going back over this journal and reflecting on changes in your feelings and ideas will give a picture of the person you are.
Another road to self-discovery is to develop a relationship with a spiritual director or someone else whom you trust and who can be objective with you. If you are open and honest with this person, self-knowledge will increase.
Step 2:
Be in touch with the Lord.
Develop a life of prayer, not just in times of crisis, but regularly. No relationship develops between persons unless they listen to each other. You must learn to listen to the Lord in prayer and not merely ask God to listen to you. You have to spend time with God, listen to God, be honest with God, and occasionally be willing to wait on God.
Prayer is a highly personal response to a personal love that God has for you individually. Because you are unique, your prayer response is going to be unique. Don’t hesitate to experiment with various forms of prayer until you find those which best express your relationship with the Lord.
Look for God in nature, in circumstances of your life, in other people. God is in all. The better you get to know God, the more you will be able to perceive God’s activity.
Step 3:
The decision-making process itself.
As you become more in touch with yourself and with the Lord, prayerfully gather the facts about your decision. Consider alternatives. Write out the pros and cons of each alternative. Try to project what effect each alternative will have on you in five or ten years from now.
As you gather the facts about the alternative life choices open for you, be particularly attentive to your feelings. If you have been open and honest with yourself in Steps 1 and 2, you can trust the feelings you have with greater ease. Choose what appears to be best for you and what appears to be the will of God.
Step 4:
Confirm your decision.
After you have made your decision, spend time in prayer for an extended period to see if the decision still seems right. If it is, there should be a continuation of inner peace and satisfaction. This period of confirmation should go on for an extended interval, several weeks or more, to be sure that the peace you feel is true tranquility and not simply the relief that follows a difficult decision.
You can also be confirmed in your decision by sharing it with your spiritual director or someone else with whom you have worked throughout the process.
10 Questions to help Search for Inner Freedom:
1. Given my stronger inclination toward one choice rather than another, am I willing to accept the possibility that even the choice toward which I am less inclined might be the Word of God for me at this time?
2. Have I consciously or unconsciously dismissed any of the possible choices as a way in which God may be calling me because I do not trust that God really wants me to be happy?
3. Do I trust the process or am I suspending my enthusiasm until I know the direction in which I seem to be called?
4. Do I really believe that God is concerned in the matter enough to show me the way?
5. Do I distrust human efforts to seek God’s way in this matter?
6. Do I believe that the others involved in this decision-making process are open and willing to be led by the Holy Spirit?
7. Does my mistrust of God, of others, even myself make me fearful, timid, cautious in the search and choice of alternatives?
8. Can I accept the fact that God may not choose to speak in the most humanly efficient way or process undertaken to make decisions?
9. Am I willing to be honest in the process and admit that I could be prey to self-deception?
10. Am I aware of my fears, of the areas where I lack freedom, and my need for ongoing conversion?
A Way of Growing in Discernment:
Goal: To “let God happen to me” and to learn to respond to the urging of the Spirit in the events of daily life.
Means: A daily prayerful experience of honest self-confrontation and renewal.
Another Method:
1. In the morning take a few minuets to look ahead to the expected events of the day and the calls they might contain. How do I want to respond? Pray for the needed grace?
2. Towards evening, set aside time to spend with God in a quiet place.
a. Be quiet- take time and energy to erase the day’s problems and pressures. Enjoy God’s presence within and around you.
b. Give thanks- as a person possessing nothing but gifted in and through everything:
i. Humility- Joy
ii. Faith- Filled gratitude for TODAY’S GIFTS
iii. Praise- God’s goodness, God’s forgiving love, God’s care for me…
c. Beg the Spirit- Admit darkness of mind and heart. Recall “lights” received in the past and today. Ask for insights. Ask for courage to accept and respond to what God reveals. Ask for grace to be sensitive to the Spirit.
d. Look at Myself- What happened today? To me? In me? (outstanding events) Was the Lord speaking to me in these events? What did God ask? Is this a “new” message or does it come through often in my daily life? How did I respond? Interior moods, feelings, actions, words, etc. Prayer? Did I (do I?) feel at peace about my response? If not, why? Do I need to see what is causing me to respond in this way? Is there one particular area where the Lord seems to be calling me to conversion? Am I responding?"
~Compiled from a variety of sources, including: the Archdiocese of Cincinatti, Thomas Hart, Thomas Merton and the College of St. Benedict-St. John's University Vocations Project.
