23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

FROM THE DESK OF FATHER JACOB LIVECCHI YOUR PRIEST IN RESIDENCE AT EPIPHANY OF THE LORD PARISH 

Hi All, 

Have you ever had a tough decision where you couldn’t decide what the right option was? How do you know God’s will in these times? How do you know what to do when you are faced with a big decision that has life-changing consequenc-es? The answer is Discernment. 

Discernment is a way to make a decision with the Help of God, it is the process by which we discover God’s will for us. When we think of discernment we might think of discernment of vocation when one is discerning if he or she is called to a religious vocation (Like I am doing in the seminary), but really discernment is for everyone. Discernment is for each of us be-cause we are all trying to find God’s will in our lives. Thus, discernment can be used for big life decisions what vocation am I called to, what career, etc.) or for smaller decisions that are hard in our everyday lives. 

There are principles for helping discern God’s will. St. Ignatius Loyola developed rules for what he called the discern-ment of spirits. He came up with 14 rules of discernment that have been used to help make big decisions. He would focus on discernment based on interior disruptions of the soul. He would say do you feel the calm peace within your Soul, that is from God, he called this consolation. If you feel anxious and unrestful in your soul that is not from God and St. Ignatius called this desolation. He cautions you only to make decisions if you feel consolation and to never make one if you are in desolation. I encourage you to look into these if you are interested and you want to learn more. However, to make things simple here are 5 helpful questions for discernment. 

• Have you asked God for help? Pray! Every good decision must come from and in prayer. So pray to God first and ask what He wants you to do. Ask for grace from the Holy Spirit to make a wise decision. We should always turn first to God for help. 

• Is it a good decision? This means we need to ask ourselves when making a decision: is it good and not evil? Is what we are trying to decide not going to hurt anyone or ourselves? Is it within the teachings of the Church? God never wills us to do something that is evil or wrong so when deciding what God wants us to do our decision should never cause evil. 

• Is it possible for me? I know this sounds kinda of obvious but is the decision we are trying to make something we can do? God will never ask us something that we are unable to do. For example, God does not will me to become a profes-sional basketball player because it simply is not possible for me. Nor is God calling me (a guy) to discern the life of the religious sister, it is not possible. God’s will for you is not going to do something you can’t do. So we need to ask is the path I am discerning something even possible? 

• Is it a wise decision? This is a harder question, we must ask, would this decision be good for me if I chose it? This requires prudence which is good for you particularly. Is this going to be something that will make you a better and holier person? You must take into account what you know about yourself and the situation. 

• Is it a decision you want to pursue? This is where our part comes in. God is not a dictator telling us what we must do, rather He gives us freedom. We have a part to play. The responsibility of the decision relies upon us. God does not force us to do something we hate. 

These are simple guidelines for helping make decisions and find God’s will. They are not hard and fast rules but ra-ther help us slow down and discern where is God calling us. The important thing to remember is that no matter what decision we make God is with us, He is always present with us as we journey down our path of life. 

In Christ, 
Fr. Jay