LENTEN MISSION 2017 – March 26
Evening 3 – What is discernment, and how can discernment be of benefit to me in my everyday life?
Sr. Regina De Vitto
INTRODUCTION
Discernment is a word that many people have heard and yet are not quite sure what it means or how it is practiced. There are some people who may think that discernment is not so much for them as it is for the professionals in the Church, namely, the priests, the sisters, catechists, lay ministers and Church people in general. There are some people who, when a crisis happens in their lives, turn to God for answers, solutions and help in knowing what to do and how to proceed.
This evening I would like to reflect with you on the charism and treasured practice of discernment. I would like to suggest that discernment is the challenge and the obligation of every baptized person. Predicated on prayer, discernment, when practiced every day, will lead us to peace and greater intimacy with God.
This evening’s presentation will be in 4 parts.
The first part will look at what discernment is and where we find its origins in the Scriptures and in the early Church.
The second part will focus on some heroes and heroines of the faith who are models for us of how we hope to strive to be persons who live a discerning life.
The third part will give us some structure in how the process of discernment works, and how it can be helpful to us in the ordinary-ness of our lives.
Finally, I would like to speak about struggle and its implications for growth in the spiritual life. What does discernment offer us when we find ourselves in situations that have no clear cut resolution and that challenge us to the marrow of our bones?
Opening song: Increase Our Faith by David Haas
Refrain:
Lord, increase our faith
With all our heart may we always follow you
Teach us to pray always.
So I say to you: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and it shall be opened to you.”
Whoever asks, they shall receive; whoever seeks shall find; whoever knocks, the door will be opened.
If you, with all your sins, know how to give, how much more will God give to all those who cry from their hearts!
PART ONE: Discernment: Meaning and Scriptural Origins
Simply put, discernment is that ability to know or to recognize, to discriminate, to distinguish between a spirit, a movement, that leads us toward greater friendship with God and a spirit, a movement, that leads us away from God’s friendship. Discernment is about making choices that foster God’s dream for us in becoming our best selves. It is about paying attention to those movements or “nudges” we feel within our deepest selves that urge us onward as we make our way in faith. As our relationship with God deepens and matures we come to appreciate God creating us at every moment.
Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2
In the ancient Scripture texts discernment is personified as Wisdom.
Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. She is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore, naught that is sullied enters into her. She is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness. And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; and passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets. Wisdom 8:24-27
In St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1Cor 12) Paul writes about the variety of spiritual gifts given for the building up of the Church. “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.…given for some benefit.” It is in verse 10 that St. Paul specifically identifies discernment of spirits as a spiritual gift.
The early Church was taking shape in large cities in the midst of many cultures, customs, philosophies and ideologies that were in competition with the disciples and the neophyte followers of the risen Christ. In addition, many struggles persisted between conservative-minded Jews who wanted to keep their customs and laws and with the more liberal-minded who believed Jesus had already fulfilled the law. (Do not believe that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Matt 5: 17). The liberal-minded were much more attracted to the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law, and were ready to abandon learned customs and laws.
The Church of today and the world in which we live seem to have a lot in common with the Church of Paul’s time. Through the wisdom and foresight of Pope John XXIII, Vatican II called forth the Church to a renewed mission and urged the Church to “read the signs of the times” from a Christian perspective. Today Pope Francis continues that call and urges us to “hear the things of God from God’s point of view so that we can truly interpret the signs of the times in light of the Gospel.
Witnessing to the faith in today’s world is quite challenging. Yet with the proper attitude we can remain faithful to God’s dream for us. St. Paul reminds us through his letter to the Thessalonians: “Examine everything with discernment; keep what is good; keep your distance from every trace of evil.” (1Thess. 5: 21-22)
Discernment, then, is an essential practice for our lives to help us make choices of moral import, life directions for ourselves and families and decisive judgments we make every day that are a necessary part of our ordinary lives.
Let us take a few moments to think about what you have heard from Part 1.
PART TWO: Heroes and Heroines
Who comes to your mind as a person who lives or who has lived a discerning life? Hold them in your mind and heart.
I have many persons in mind, yet, for the purposes of this presentation I have chosen 4 people that speak to me of a discerning life. One person is from the Old Testament, one is from the Gospels and two others are from the 20th century.
There are many people from the Old Testament who are models for us of a discerning life. The person that has always inspired me, however, is Solomon, the son of King David and Bathsheba. In the First Book of Kings 3:5ff God appears to Solomon in a dream and says: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” And Solomon says this: “You have shown great favor to your servant, my father David, because he behaved faithfully toward you, with justice and an upright heart; and you have continued this great favor toward him, even today, seating a son on his throne. O Lord, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong, for who is able to govern this vast people of yours?”
Do you think that God was pleased? How did God respond? God said:
“Because you have asked for this – not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right – I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you, there will come no one to equal you. In addition, I give you what you have not asked for, such riches and glory that among kings there is not your like. And if you follow me by keeping my statutes and commandments, as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
Following this amazing conversation is the famous story of two women, both of whom have given birth to a child, one dies and the other lives, and both women laying claim as the mother of the living child. After listening to their appeal, Solomon’s discernment was to give each woman her due, by cutting the child in two. At this the identity of the real mother was revealed, through the bitterness of one woman and the compassionate stance of the other.
A woman in the Gospel of Mark 7: 24-30, whom I have always admired, remains nameless and yet we know her as the Syrophoenician woman.
This is the story of a non-Jewish woman, a Greek, who goes to Jesus and asks for the healing of her daughter possessed by an unclean spirit. She falls at his feet and begs him to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus is not initially moved by this woman, neither her posture nor her begging touches him because she is outside the House of Israel. “Let the children be fed first,” Jesus says to her, “for it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She is an outsider to his mission. But the woman is not intimidated and will not take “no” for an answer because she believes in him. “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Her quick response compels Jesus to pay attention and notice the challenge that she presents to him. Jesus is moved to rethink for whom he has come, and so, he grants her request. “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
“The unnamed Syrophoenician woman,” in the words of Robert Ellsberg, “deserves to be remembered as one of the foremothers of the gentile church who intuited, even while Jesus lived, that his gospel was for everyone. She may also be honored as an example of the countless women, who, having refused to accept their marginalization as the final word, have challenged the church to comprehend the universal and liberating logic of salvation.” All Saints p 447
Now I would like to turn to the 20th century to present two martyrs of the faith. Each of them offers us a further glimpse into discernment as a process of conversion and transformation.
In 1977 Oscar Romero was named archbishop of San Salvador. He possessed a conservative piety, someone who would not be a threat to the existing status quo of Church or ruling government. Within three years, however, he became a voice for the suffering poor of that country. No one could have foreseen that Romero “would be denounced by his fellow bishops, earn the hatred of the rich and powerful of El Salvador and generate such enmity that he would be targeted for assassination.” All Saints by Robert Ellsberg, p 132 A Jesuit priest friend of Romero’s, Rutilio Grande, was murdered because of his passion for social justice. Romero was very much shaken by his death and began to pay attention to the surge in violence overtaking the country. Little by little he began to speak out against this violence in his homilies and over radio airways. While publically seen as a subversive to the nation he continued to experience a profound transformation not only in his thinking but in his understanding of the faith.
On March 23, 1980, he appealed to members of the military to disobey orders. “We are your people. The peasants you kill are your own brothers and sisters. When you hear the voice of the man commanding you to kill, remember instead the voice of God. Thou Shalt Not Kill…In the name of God, in the name of our tormented people whose cries rise up to heaven, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you, stop the repression.”
Two weeks prior to this appeal he said the following in an interview:
“I have frequently been threatened with death. I must say that, as a Christian, I do not believe in death but in the resurrection. If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadoran people…If God accepts the sacrifice of my life then may my blood be the seed of liberty, and a sign of hope that will soon become a reality…A bishop will die, but the church of God – the people – will never die.”
On March 24, 1980, as Romero was saying Mass in the chapel of the Carmelite Sisters’ hospital where he lived, a single rifle shot was fired from the rear of the chapel and struck Romero in the heart. He was immediately acclaimed by the people of El Salvador as a true martyr and saint. In 2015 Romero was beatified in a ceremony in San Salvador in the midst of controversy. Critics said his death was politically motivated whereas the Vatican declared he died as a martyr suffering “hatred of the faith.”
Edith Stein was born in Germany of Jewish parents on October 12, 1891. She was a gifted child and by the age of 13 decided to abandon the faith of her parents and declared herself an atheist. She was drawn to the study of philosophy and completed her doctoral work at the age of 23 on the topic of empathy.
After World War I she began to experience a growing interest in religion. In 1921 she came across an autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. She underwent a profound conversion and became a Catholic. She believed that in accepting Jesus Christ she had been miraculously reunited with her Jewish roots. In 1932 Edith secured a teaching position in Munster which was short lived due to the rise of anti-Semitism sweeping the country. After her teaching position she sought entrance into the Carmelite convent in Cologne and took the name Sister Teresa Benedicta a Cruce – meaning Teresa Blessed by the Cross. By 1938, believing that her presence in the convent endangered the lives of the sisters she was smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. Even though she had the status of a cloistered sister she was still required to wear the Yellow Star of David on her habit. Her own sister Rosa, who also converted to Catholicism, joined her in the Dutch convent living as a laywoman. On August 2, 1942 Edith and her sister were arrested and sent to Auschwitz. She died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942.
Pope John Paul II canonized Edith Stein as a confessor and martyr of the church in 1998, an event marked by considerable controversy. Many Jews complained that like 6 million others, Edith had died as a Jew, and not for her Catholic Christian faith. The remarkable fact is not so much how she died but how her mystical understanding of her death was an act of atonement for the evil of her time that not only united her in solidarity with her people but also consciously identified her with the cross of Jesus Christ. All Saintsby Robert Ellsberg, p345
Let us pause to reflect upon how discernment shaped the lives of these witnesses.
PART THREE: How the Process Works
How often do we really “pay attention” to what happens to us in a day? Various decisions are routinely made every day, such as, what we eat for breakfast, what we choose to wear, what tasks we hope to accomplish and which tasks can put off until tomorrow. Our lives are so often lived on automatic pilot and in the fast lane.
So what is discernment and how can it help foster a more deliberate and thoughtful way of living? What makes the process of discernment different from ordinary decision-making and how will this process help us live with greater wholeness and integrity?
Discernment is a process which cultivates an attitude of “working things out” with God. It helps us to notice and to pay attention to movements of the heart in the details of our days, our relationships, our lives. It grounds us in knowing that God is present in all things, in people, places, and even in the interruptions of our best laid plans. Discernment calls us to reflect honestly and thoughtfully on our circumstances, our limitations and our God-given gifts. It requires truthful assessment about information held in our minds but also from feelings and intuition as well. A discerning person appreciates a situation, evaluates it with the help of the Holy Spirit and then decides how to proceed. Feelings of peace, consolation and well-being are indications of how we know that God has validated our choice. Conversely, restlessness, agitation and anxiety are good indicators that this choice is probably not leading us toward God.
The bare bones of a discerning life, says Fr. Joseph Tetlow,SJ, is that faith puts roots into our heads, our hearts and our hands. We live with the awareness of the constant interplay of complex human realities and so discernment engages the head, the heart and the hands. Our heads hold memory, knowledge, understanding of truth and revelation; our hearts hold our convictions, our commitments and our yearnings for God; our hands put into action what we want to be about and who we really are. It is the engagement and interfacing of these three elements together that make visible our response to Christ’s call to discipleship. Discernment, then, is the extent to which we reflect upon what we do, how we do it and most importantly, why we do what we do.