What is spirituality?All three questions are relevant not only to us men discerning the permanent diaconate, but to all of us. So, being the blog addict that I am, I will write about all three of these questions for all of cyberspace to see. The first question, "What is spirituality?" will appear on Catholic Dads as a part of my regular weekly series on A Father's Faith. You can check it out here.
How do you personally define discernment?
Give an example of a defining moment and why it was a defining moment.
I want to take a moment to reflect on the second question now: How do you personally define discernment?
Discernment is a process. It is not so much a process of decision making as it is a process of understanding. That process, that search for understanding, involves input from those directly involved in the thing being discerned (i.e. family and friends), from God through prayer, and, in the case of life's vocation (priesthood, diaconate, and marriage), it requires input from the Church.
There are many competing voices that we must contend with in the discernment process. Take, for example, the process of getting engaged and married. When a couple discerns marriage they will get advice and comments from others about that discernment. Whether it be for good or bad, everyone will give the newly engaged couple advice and their opinion on just about everything. In discerning whether or not you are with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you have to sort through all of those external voices from others and take into consideration the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to getting married.
The second voice we must contend with in the discernment process is that internal voice. This is the voice of doubt, the voice of joy, the voice of confidence, the voice of fear, and the many other voices we hear within our heads. Some of those voices are good, they are from God. Other voices are the voices of the evil one trying to get us to make the wrong decision in the thing that we are discerning. We need to pray about and sort through these voices to truly find where God is guiding us.
The third voice of discernment is the voice of the Church. This voice is particularly apparent in vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life because those vocations are connected directly to the Church. Not as apparent, but still present, is the voice of the Church in discerning the vocation to marriage. The Church should play a role in helping an engaged couple discern their marriage through the sacramental preparation process that they go through. Regardless of your life's vocation, the Church has an important role to play. We must listen to the wisdom and guidance of the Church in discerning our life's vocation.
At the center of all of this discernment process there should be prayer. We need to take the advice of others, the competing voices in our heads, and the guidance of the Church to prayer. We must be willing quiet our minds and to all the other voices and to listen to the will of God.
God calls each of us to a vocation. Discernment is the process that we must go through to understand what God is calling us to. In order to properly discern God's vocation we must be willing to seek the input of our family and friends, of the Church, and of God Himself though our spiritual life. God has a plan for us. We need to go through this discernment process to understand God's plan.
I will write later about the third question.