09/07/2026
Father Bill's Pondering for September 6:
I’m going to bring this prayer…
We are all faced with a multitude of decisions. Some of these decisions are as mundane as what we will have for dinner. Some, like deciding if it is the right time to change careers, are of higher importance. Then there are the decisions that are truly about life and death: what is the best treatment for our loved one or ourselves, or should we remove our loved one from life support after consultation with a medical team. It does not take us long to become overwhelmed with decisions.
Of course we can just choose the path of least resistance. We can follow the trends or do what everyone else has done. We can just go with our gut and hope that we have made the right decision. When it comes to decisions about what is for dinner or where to go on vacation, this way will suffice. There is, on the other hand, a very real danger in using these methods to make decisions that have the greatest impact on our lives and the lives of those we love.
Many of us, hopefully, will admit to prayer being a part of our decision making. We bring our needs, our desires, and our fears to God to ask for help, for guidance, for deliverance. A problem arises, however, when we just lump God’s advice in the pool of what others have offered us. We can devalue God’s will when we just make this one of many options.
This is where the distinction between deciding and discernment becomes very clear. Deciding can be reduced to weighing the pros and the cons and choosing the lesser of the evils. Discerning, on the other hand, is about sifting through spirits. It is about distinguishing what is a sincere prompting of the Holy Spirit and what is simply a worldly influence. In other words, discernment is about listening for the voice of God offering us peace, hope, and love. While discernment may not ever point to the easy way, it will always lead us to the way of what is good and holy.
Where deciding is about choosing, about talking things through, about seeking advice, discernment is more about listening. Since discernment is indeed rooted in prayer, when faced with a decision we may find ourselves sitting quietly rather than limiting ourselves to fact finding. Discernment is our way of making our hearts one with God: one with his goodness, mercy, wisdom, and unconditional love. To discern is to listen to God and then to generously and joyfully do the goodness he reveals to us.
Our conscience is the locus of discernment. A well-formed conscience begins with fear of the Lord. This does not mean that we are afraid of God but instead are aware of the bigness of God. Forming our conscience well helps us to be in right relationship to the awesomeness of God and draws us to his plan for our eternal wellbeing. If our conscience is aligned with this reality, our default becomes discernment rather than just picking between multiple options.
If, as followers of Jesus, we are meant to discern our path in life, if we are to discern the more difficult situations in our lives, if we are to discern God’s plan for us, we must commit ourselves to being in relationship with God. This means that discernment begins and ends with prayer: quiet prayer in a comfortable chair or in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Prayer that is rooted in the discovery of the will of God.
Often, when the decisions are of greater consequence we will need the help of a spiritual director. We might need to bend the ear of someone who can help us to determine what God is asking of us. We may need the wisdom of someone who can explain why what is being asked of us is not the same as that for which we were asking. When it comes to life and death situations we may very well need to speak to a priest or a spiritual director about our fears, our concerns, and our confusion.
Since discernment is rooted in prayer and our relationship with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we need to be where this relationship reaches intimacy. It is in the celebration of the Sacraments, most especially confession and the Eucharist, that we prepare our souls to receive the answer to our prayers and to know the fruits of our discernment. In the Sacraments we are set free, we are imbued with goodness, we are cleansed, we are made whole and holy. In the celebration of the Sacraments the will of God becomes clearer to us.
The bottom line is that we all face a variety of decisions daily. Some are mundane and others are life changing. As beloved children of God we are also faced with the decision of how we will decide. We can simply see every decision as a choice between options or we can listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and participate in God’s great plan for us. In other words, we can make choice after choice and wonder what comes next or we can discern the will of God for us and build a life on an unshakeable, unchanging, and eternal foundation.
We should indeed bring this to prayer.
