Discernment
The Christian tradition offers many tools to help us make decisions in our daily lives. In promoting discernment, a parish goes a step further than promoting gospel values as generalities, and helps its members connect the dots between the gospel and their lives. We share just a few starting points here.
Books
Listening Hearts: Discerning Call In Community
Suzanne G. Farnham, Joseph P. Gill, R. Taylor Mclean, Susan M. Ward Written to make the often elusive and usually clergy-centered spiritual practice of discernment accessible to all people, Listening Hearts features simple reflections and exercises drawn from scripture and from Quaker and Ignatian traditions. The seminal work in the Listening Hearts Series, this book has been a beloved resource for tens of thousands of individual readers, retreat participants, small groups and church leaders, listening for and responding to God's call in their lives. (Amazon) |
Discernment: Reading the Signs of Everyday Life
Henri Nouwen This book features the wisdom that spiritual leader and counselor Henri J. M. Nouwen brought to the essential question asked by every Christian and seeker: What should I do with my life? Nouwen emphasizes listening to the Word of God—in our hearts, in the Bible, in the community of faith, and in the voice of the poor as a way to discern God’s plan. Although the late Henri J. M. Nouwen counseled many people during his lifetime, his principles of discernment were never collected into a single volume. Now, in association with the Nouwen Legacy Trust, Michael Christensen—one of Nouwen’s longtime students—and Rebecca Laird have taken his coursework, journals, and unpublished writings to create this and other books in the series exploring God’s will for your life. (Amazon) |
The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide to Everyday Living
Timothy M. Gallagher St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, is one of the most influential spiritual leaders of all time, yet many readers find his Rules for Discernment hard to understand. What can Ignatius teach us about the discernment of spirits that lies at the very heart of Christian life? In The Discernment of Spirits, Fr. Timothy Gallagher, a talented teacher, retreat leader, and scholar, helps us understand the Rules and how their insights are essential for our spiritual growth today. By integrating the Rules and the experience of contemporary people, Gallagher shows the precision, clarity, and insight of Ignatius's Rules, as well as the relevance of his thought for spiritual life today. When we learn to read Ignatius correctly, we discover in his remarkable words our own struggles, joys, and triumphs. This book is for all who desire greater awareness of God's action in their daily spiritual lives, and is essential reading for retreat directors, spiritual directors, priests, and counselors. (Amazon) |
Articles
- Discernment: Making Choices and Decisions - an overview of the Ignatian discernment process (Herb Robles)
- An Approach to Good Choices (IgnatianSpirituality.com)
Related To
A spirituality of discernment, including practical tools, is a key aspect of the Spiritual Exercises.
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An extremely helpful tool in making Christ-centered decisions is regular spiritual direction.
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More About Discernment
Discernment is a process for making decisions in line with God’s will for us. It is not enough to formulate gospel values theoretically or what our call should be; we must struggle with how they apply to our daily lives and then actually apply them! Some may associate discernment with significant and infrequent decisions, but it applies perhaps more importantly to the smaller, frequent decisions we make that define the kind of persons we are and are becoming.
One way a parish can support its members in discernment is teaching approaches to discernment from the Church’s tradition. St. Ignatius of Loyola offers one model in his Spiritual Exercises in which one prays for indifference and guidance, lists advantages and disadvantages, and seeks confirmation from God after coming to a decision. Over 700 people have experienced the Spiritual Exercises at St. Joseph Parish in Alameda through a “retreat in daily life” offered in weekly meetings over the course of a year, enabling them to apply this model to their own lives. This, as well as other forms of prayer and discernment tools can all be offered to parishioners to equip them in the decisions they will make.
However, a parish should go beyond teaching methods and continue to help their members through their ongoing discernment. Priests, religious, and some lay ecclesial ministers take spiritual direction for granted, but few lay members of the church are even aware of this important ministry. Parishes should promote this practice—meeting with a professional who helps a person see God working in his or her life—for all its members and offer it for free. St. Mary Parish in Colt’s Neck, NJ paid for a parishioner to receive professional training in spiritual direction, and then hired that person to offer the service full-time at the parish without cost to members. One director is not not enough to support all members in most parishes, but it’s a start.
Another means of supporting discernment in a more applied way is facilitating small groups of parishioners that allow members to work through daily life issues. The book Listening Hearts: Discerning God’s Call in Community offers one format, drawing on scripture, Christian writers, and the Quaker tradition. It suggests a model of gathering a group of people in the midst of making an important life decision, giving each person a dedicated meeting to share their situation, be asked questions, and be the focus of prayer. Small, intentional communities can also provide ongoing support to Christians as they consider both large and small decisions.
One way a parish can support its members in discernment is teaching approaches to discernment from the Church’s tradition. St. Ignatius of Loyola offers one model in his Spiritual Exercises in which one prays for indifference and guidance, lists advantages and disadvantages, and seeks confirmation from God after coming to a decision. Over 700 people have experienced the Spiritual Exercises at St. Joseph Parish in Alameda through a “retreat in daily life” offered in weekly meetings over the course of a year, enabling them to apply this model to their own lives. This, as well as other forms of prayer and discernment tools can all be offered to parishioners to equip them in the decisions they will make.
However, a parish should go beyond teaching methods and continue to help their members through their ongoing discernment. Priests, religious, and some lay ecclesial ministers take spiritual direction for granted, but few lay members of the church are even aware of this important ministry. Parishes should promote this practice—meeting with a professional who helps a person see God working in his or her life—for all its members and offer it for free. St. Mary Parish in Colt’s Neck, NJ paid for a parishioner to receive professional training in spiritual direction, and then hired that person to offer the service full-time at the parish without cost to members. One director is not not enough to support all members in most parishes, but it’s a start.
Another means of supporting discernment in a more applied way is facilitating small groups of parishioners that allow members to work through daily life issues. The book Listening Hearts: Discerning God’s Call in Community offers one format, drawing on scripture, Christian writers, and the Quaker tradition. It suggests a model of gathering a group of people in the midst of making an important life decision, giving each person a dedicated meeting to share their situation, be asked questions, and be the focus of prayer. Small, intentional communities can also provide ongoing support to Christians as they consider both large and small decisions.
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