Preparation to Free and Receptive Disposition

The 4th Part of the Catechism is especially concerned with prayer, and it is not until we develop a mature understanding of prayer that we are able to understand what discernment looks like.

It is highly encouraged that if a decision is life-altering that a point is made to spend significant time in prayer about it and a spiritual director is sought out to help make the decision. In day-to-day decisions, there still may be a choice that God encourages over the other, and some he simply leaves to us. Through cultivating a heart of prayer i.e. of constant attention to the relationship with God we can grow to be more sensitive to the movements of the Holy Spirit. Ignatian retreats are a privileged means of discernment. The exercises are linked below but for our purposes here we will also carry over some of the text to give you a brief and practical taste, but if you go further there is also the link.

The Process Itself

First Considerations and Orientation

When: When asking what God has in mind for me and my life...

1. We first look to Scripture, Magisterium, and Tradition

   1. Our whole being is oriented toward knowing, loving, and serving God.

   2. God has laid his laws before us to protect the harmony of His creation without us and within us. 

      1. These laws are the universal direction He calls us. If there is any question that might differentiate between good and evil, we ought to always choose good by the standards of law and conscience.

         1. Ultimately, this law is love. Love can demand uncomfortable, unpredictable (if not accustomed to it), and even heroic things of us, but there is no other goal for man's life with God than a properly ordered love. Love is never concerned with minimum but at least practical maxima if not absolute maxima. What cost may be considered too large to permit sin? Truly, none is worth it.

            1. Baptismal vocation (love of God): Toward spreading the kingdom, suffering well, prayer (one of the fourfold fuel of the Christian life), striving for maximum holiness/virtue/love(one of the fourfold fuel of the Christian life), frequenting the sacraments(one of the fourfold fuel of the Christian life), growing in ever better knowledge of the faith through study/service(one of the fourfold fuel of the Christian life), and remaining part of the kingdom through avoidance of vice. Live God's narrative not one's own.

            2. State in life vocation (love of neighbor): Student, parent, priest, child, spouse, monk, or nun, we all have a situation given to us by the mechanics of reality God ordained. These responsibilities still have a primacy and in cases where there is more than one applicable vocation, there may still have a precedent among the 2 or more.  Very often we must love ourselves well to make the above possible/fruitful. If we are lay married persons, supporting the Church through donation, holiness as an example, raising children well in the faith, and educating oneself on the faith is paramount. If we are single, we prepare for our vocation if we can enter a vocation in the future or take on a role in between married life and consecrated, dedicating time to praying community, and mission supporting the Church materially and evangelically. The consecrated religious are called to live lovingly in prayer, mission, and community according to their charism, chastity, poverty, and obedience. Nothing from this level can take precedence over the Baptismal vocation, there is nothing more precious to God than you and all is meant to support that primary vocation, if something comes contrary to the primary a spiritual director and grave consideration must take place.

            3. Spare time (well-ordered love of self): God does not only call us to the cross but also resurrection and renewal thereby. Knowing one's limits and living in a balance that promotes virtuous joy, God gives us time for rest. There is tow-fold importance: knowing it as a gift not to be squandered/undermined and Sundays are respected as a gift for rest and greater encounter with the Lord. Our particular mission may grow in a particular way giving up some of this insofar as it is healthy.

            4. We continue the path of considerations circling back to these ideas and also continuing further discernment insofar as clarity is not given above. Sometimes we must look beyond these considerations or perhaps more deeply into these considerations. 

2. Next, we look to virtue

   1. If there is ever a question between two goods and one is greater,

      1. God calls us to the greatest possible good i.e. usually an expression of love.

      2. We might remember that our first parents in wandering about the garden of Eden found themselves tempted to the edge of good and evil. This ought to be avoided.

   2. Very often, what keeps us from greater virtue is either ignorance of the virtues or ignorance of the self.

      1. From our corruption and ignorance, virtue can seem other and oppressively so. The reality, however, is that a healed and informed would reveal to us that it is truly what we desire i.e. inner harmony, mental health, peace, and freedom of choice. 

      2. It is not the absence of a good but rather a presence of ordered engagement with the good in harmony and toward perfection, conformity with realities.

   3. Next, to our relationship with God

      1. We have moved from the general to the particular, having established order in our lives through God's grace and direction from His inspiration of Saints and Scriptural authors, we have opened ourselves up to and become more familiar with the voice of God.

      2. If we are to continue, we must dedicate a significant amount of time in silence, familiarize ourselves with Scripture, and very frequently receive the sacraments.

      3. Having conformed our lives to his general intent we can begin to inquire more about His specific ordaining will for us in particular. Bearing this in mind and habit, we continue...

First Principle and Foundation of Discernment (St. Ignatius)

Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this mean to save his soul. The other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he is created. Hence, man is to make use of them as far as they help him in the attainment of his end, and he must rid himself of them as far as they prove a hindrance to him. Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition. Consequently, as far as we are concerned, we should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, or long life to a short life. The same holds for all other things. Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created.

 Discernment between Two or More Equally Opportune Goods

This process depends entirely on insights given (or not given) by God and discussed with a Spiritual Director. There are only three general possibilities here...

1. God gives unmistakable clarity.

2. God gives clarity over time

3. God does not give clarity, meaning the question is left to one's practical wisdom

Find a Spiritual Director

There is a singular verse in the Catechism of the Catholic Church on spiritual direction (it's the one below). This is significant because it matters who you choose. The Carmelite took this very seriously, and rightfully so when your life at large is synonymous with your prayer life. More often than not, the diocese will keep a list of spiritual directors to choose from to help you out. In general, you will want to look for someone capable of understanding you, allowing God to be the sole advisor, and still calling you higher where needed.

CCC 2690 The Holy Spirit gives certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith, and discernment for the sake of this common good: prayer (spiritual direction). Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer.

 According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should "take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son." And further: "In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced. . . . If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them."

It is also worth noting that you should first discuss your sins and troubles rather than that which is working well, but don't leave it out. Vulnerability and authenticity are key to growth.

St. Teresa of Avila Words of Wisdom

Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices.