Kingdom Revelator Australia – Issue 46
A child I know said, “When I grow up, I want to be a football player”. The following year he told me he wanted to be a teacher, then he decided he would be a doctor. As we grow older we all have to discern what we want to do with our lives. And I am not just talking about discerning the priesthood or religious life, discernment is for everyone. You, me and the person next door. Once upon
a time, it was easy to say the first thing that came to mind when we were asked, “What do you want to be?” But for many of us young people, we’re caught up in a cycle of questions, confusion and even more questions. “What should we do?”
The Holy Father’s prayer intention for this month is that the Church will recognise the importance of formation in spiritual discernment, both personally and as a Christian
community. I will try to explain it.
Spiritual discernment is the ability to make decisions based on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In other words, tuning in to the will of God. Our whole lives are spent making decisions; they might be small things like how to spend our evenings or bigger things like choosing our vocation. As Christians, discernment is important and should come as second nature to us. It is for every day and not simply a one-off exercise. At all times, we are called to be aware of and tuned in to the voice of God. In this issue, we touch on several of these themes, for example: trusting in God, seminary life and reaching out to others.
If like me, you find yourself panicking when you hear the word discernment, remember that it is simply an everyday choice that helps us to respond to the will of God.