Spiritual Reflection.

In the reflection in last week's pew sheet I wrote that to become the “true self” is to become the person God intended us to be. And that knowing who God intended us to be requires discernment.

I also wrote that discernment is a spiritual understanding and an experiential knowledge of how God is active in daily life that is acquired through disciplined spiritual practice. Discernment is faithful living and listening to God’s love and direction so that we can fulfill our individual calling and shared mission.

This week I want to build on that by including the following extract from the book ‘Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life’ by noted spiritual writer Henri Nouwen which talks about discernment as “being seen”.

‘I struck by the way Jesus “saw” Nathanael under the tree in the Gospel of John. Even before meeting him, Jesus said of Nathanael: “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” When the two men met on the road, Nathanael asked Jesus with amazement: “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Jesus’s seeing through Nathanael under the fig tree was such a powerful act of discerning what was in his heart that it caused Nathanael to proclaim: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” To which Jesus remarked, “You believe this because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these…

You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1: 47–51).’

‘This wonderful story about seeing through to the heart of things raises a deeper question: Do I want to be fully seen by Jesus? Do I want to be known by him? If I do, then a faith can grow that will open my eyes to heaven and reveal Jesus as the Son of God. I will see great things when I am willing to be seen. I will receive new eyes that can see the mysteries of God’s own life, but only when I allow God to see me, all of me, even those parts that I myself do not want to see.’

‘Once we are willing to see and be seen by God, we can look for signs of God’s presence and guidance in every appearance presented to our senses. Discernment becomes a new way of seeing (and being seen) that results in divine revelation and direction. This heart knowledge enables us to lead a life worthy of the calling (Eph. 4: 1).’

‘The purpose of discernment is to know God’s will, that is, to find, accept, and affirm the unique way in which God’s love is manifest in our life. To know God’s will is to actively claim an intimate relationship with God, in the context of which we discover our deepest vocation and the desire to live that vocation to the fullest. It has nothing to do with passive submission to an external divine power that imposes itself on us. It has every-thing to do with active waiting on a God who waits for us.’

‘Finding ourselves in a relationship with God is prerequisite to discernment of God’s will and direction. As in any relationship, there will be feelings of rejection as well as attraction, resentment as well as gratitude, fear as well as love. There will be ups and downs in faithfulness as we discover new things about ourselves and God. In our dynamic relation-ship with God, we can be sure of one thing:
“If we are faithless, God is faithful still, for God cannot disown his own” (2 Tim. 2: 13).’

The Lord be with you.
Fr. Michael.