Discernment Advice from the Pope

Discernment is a word we hear again and again as Catholics. We hear it tucked into the homilies at Mass. We hear it in small groups during retreats. We see it on the brochures pushed into our hands by smiling priests and nuns. It’s whispered by the stones in the grotto, our academic textbooks, and in our late night conversations with friends, when we sigh and say, “I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

For better or worse, discernment isn’t just a college thing. In the same way that discernment doesn’t necessarily mean deciding between married life or a religious vocation or what career to pursue. Discernment can mean deciding if you want to pursue a relationship, if you want to try out for a musical, or apply to spring break in Appalachia. It can mean small decisions, big decisions, and everything in between.

Pope Francis recently said, “Discernment takes time. For example, many think that changes and reforms can take place in a short time. I believe that we always need time to lay the foundations for real, effective change. And this is the time of discernment. Sometimes discernment instead urges us to do precisely what you had at first thought you would do later. And that is what has happened to me in recent months. Discernment is always done in the presence of the Lord, looking at the signs, listening to the things that happen, the feeling of the people, especially the poor. My choices, including those related to the day-to-day aspects of life, like the use of a modest car, are related to a spiritual discernment that responds to a need that arises from looking at things, at people and from reading the signs of the times. Discernment in the Lord guides me in my way of governing.”

We all want fast answers, quick fixes. We want our lives to make sense easily. The Pope tells us though, that making good decisions through true discernment takes time. It means taking time to reflect on all we experience and seeing, then listening to God’s voice in it. I often tell the kids in my catechism class, that God has many voices. Sometimes it is a loud voice telling us exactly what to do. Other times God speaks in whispers, giving us little hints, signs, and feelings that help us decide.

I was recently with another Domer at a job interview. When discussing why he decided to apply he said that he had been reflecting on this quote from the Pope: “Do precisely what you had at first thought you would do later.” He had always assumed he would apply for this job later on in his life. Hearing this quote though helped him realize that this job wasn’t something to put off, but do right now.

Our lives are constant practices in discernment. Just as we must approach prayer in different ways, we all must approach our own discernment in different ways as naturally we are all called to different vocations.