True and lasting spiritual discernment rests and depends upon three pillars:

i)        A solid spiritual life

ii)      Our natural human qualities

iii)    The supernatural gifts that the Holy Spirit concedes to us

The veracity of our spiritual discernment will correspond most particularly to the third pillar.  It is the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives which can most perfectly conform us to the divine will of the Father.  But the Holy Spirit is a very delicate, Divine Person… and will only act freely in that heart which has purified itself most fully, developing and perfecting its human qualities through a solid spiritual life.

A Fundamental Truth

We must be careful to situate the work of spiritual discernment within the only “environment” in which it truly takes place.  To make a choice through the use of our human will and intellect is not in itself a righteous act.  Many “bad” choices are made in the name of self, of personal opinions, etc.  Spiritual discernment does not entail “good human choices”, because it is not about our initiated choices and human wisdom, it refers instead to “putting on the mind of God” and to become capable of choosing and willing freely what God chooses and wills, because He is Good, Truth and Life. 

Thus the only true “environment” for spiritual discernment is an intimate, living relationship with the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Secondly, we must come to understand that, even as our intellect, our experiences and our will are very much a part of spiritual discernment, --either directly, by what is chosen, or indirectly, by what we allow God to work in us--; and that even though it is a common effort between our soul and the grace and Life of God, the mayor role belongs to God, springing from the infiniteness of His love for our soul and for the full realization of our human life.  This is the meaning of the words of the great Church Father, St. Ireaneus, “The joy of God is man fully alive.”

Thus, happily so, the “environment” of spiritual discernment is an ever fuller awareness and personal, intimate experience of the depth, height, breadth and constancy of God’s love, who would work all things for our truest good (cf. Rm. 8).  Looked at from this angle, spiritual discernment ceases to be a dry, methodological effort, or the happening of a particular moment of our lives; it becomes a way of life, a relationship:  a continual deepening in the love for God and an allowing oneself to be loved by God, for whom one is willing to “deny himself and take up his cross” (cf. Matt 16:24) if that is what is necessary to follow him.

We should therefore, never make the mistake of forgetting or minimizing the importance of continual growth in our faith in the love and mercy of God.  This should be in fact, the aim of all our earthly efforts.  So much is loss, misunderstood or shattered when we lose sight of who God really is and what it means to be loved by Him. 

Many times, a lack of clarity in this truth is the reason for our poor or half-sighted spiritual discernments, and almost always, the root cause of our anxieties.  We are anxious when we believe, to any degree, that we are solely responsible for our own happiness and well-being.  It is inevitable.  Firstly, because we have learned, at a very early age, that our world is, in fact, a very tough place to live in, suffering is all around and many times inescapable and uncontrollable, no matter how much we may wish it to be different. 

And secondly, because, somehow, within our inner self, we have a natural tendency to want to believe that there is a God who is good, credible and an immutable source of happiness.  Perhaps we have never been able to put this predisposition of our hearts into words, to see it clearly for what it is, because it is an inclination that we didn’t produce, and so therefore can not grasp nor define fully.  But it is there.  And therefore, when our lives do not correspond to this inner inclination, the incoherence causes anxiety.  We carry within us a sense of insecurity that our heart and spirit perceive (even if our intellect does not) born of the fact that our inner, most natural inclination does not correspond to the reality of our outer, perceptible life.

How deep a struggle such an error causes in our life!  And it is perhaps the major reason why we seek, endlessly at times, empty earthly pleasures.  In life, we see more the efforts than the love.  And without the love of God in us, efforts become burdens.  And what is worst, we are now left to our own interpretations of happiness and fulfillment.  From such a scenario, it is our imaginations and egos who take the lead.

Who can better illustrate this to us than Eve.  She began to doubt that God’s words were signs of love, and the immediate consequence was the over-stimulation of her imagination:  “she saw that it was good to eat” (cf. Gen 3; so good, in fact, that it was better than God Himself.  Her imagination and her ego inflated the real goodness of the finite and made her loss the flavor for the infinite.  Discernment, spiritual discernment was at that point, impossible.  She lost love, and as a result, she lost the way. 

But, (mystery of mysteries!)--  what is once our loss, can, through mercy become our gain.  And the love of God to which we are not faithful to because we did not see, we now begin to recognize in the mercy of God.  God reintroduces Himself in our life with greater force… he forgives us.  But as love before, so now, must mercy be accepted.

Thus, in fulfilling the will of God, love is the true “environment” necessary, but trust is the “key”.   Trust is fundamental for love, fundamental for mercy, fundamental for spiritual discernment.  Trust keeps the faithful sons within the grasp of the Loving Father, keeps the rebellious sons within the grasp of the Merciful Father, and keeps the inquisitive and searching sons within the grasp of the Will of the Father.  Trust is key.

So, let us pause now to ask the Father for the gift of trust.  Let us tell Him that even before we ask Him what He wants, we want to ask Him, who He is.  We want to know Him and the greatness of His love.  And by contemplating that love, which in Christ is so fully revealed, we find courage, strength and joy in responding, “Let it be done!”

Return to main page
www.piercedhearts.org

Reproduction of this document is not permitted
except for personal use.

This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary