What is Discernment Anyway?

To discern means to decide. However, it’s not a rush decision made in the heat of the moment. It’s a decision made after careful thought, planning, prayer and feedback. Sometimes there’s even schooling, research, or counseling involved.

Pope Francis says this, “Discernment is that reflection of the mind, of the heart, that we have to do before making a decision (General Audience of 31 August 2022 - Catechesis on Discernment: 1. What Does It Mean to Discern? | Francis, 2022).”

We make decisions every day. Most of them are ones we don’t put much thought or effort into. What to wear today? What’s for dinner? Should I really eat that donut in the break room?

The general everyday decisions are good practice for discerning life’s major choices We can learn to give all our tiny decisions over to God. Then when we do have the major decisions that require true discernment, we will already be in the habit of surrendering ourselves and our choices over to God’s will. That way when the big decisions in life hit – like: ‘is this person the one?’ ‘should I buy a house right now?’ ‘what should I major in?’-then we will already be taking that first, most important step of discernment. Start with prayer in your decision making and God will guide you to the correct answer for you.

One note of caution, though, very often our idea of the correct choice is not God’s idea of the correct choice. Don’t expect everything to go according to your plan or timing. That doesn’t allow for following God’s will. Rather, that is the opposite of following God’s will, buy trying to impose your own will and dictate the results.

You still have your own work to do in the discernment process. Do your research. Learn all you can about the choice you’re facing. Make pro and con lists. Speak to others who have had similar choices to make. All the while keep praying.

The next step is the hardest. Make the leap. If you have multiple options that could be a good solution, go for all of them. Let God open or close the doors for you. There’s a reason it’s called a leap of faith. Most likely when you are finally required to make your decision, you still won’t know what the outcome will be, but have to make the choice anyway. You’ve prayed about it. You’ve done your research. Go ahead and jump. This is where the faith portion comes into play. Trust that God will catch you. And know that if he does let you fall, God has a lesson in there for you somewhere.

This is what it means to have free will and have a relationship with Christ. Like any relationship, it’s a two-way street. One can’t do all the work. Both have to put in their share of the effort. Our part is to ask God for His help and guidance. Trust in Him to provide that wisdom and open the doors of opportunity for us. Surrender to his will, even when the outcome is not exactly what we expect, knowing Jesus always wants what is good and best for us.

References

General Audience of 31 August 2022 - Catechesis On Discernment: 1. What does it mean to discern? | Francis. (2022, August 31). https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2022/documents/20220831-udienza-generale.html.