July 2025; For Formation in Discernment
- Pauline Books & Media
- Jun 30
- 7 min read
Pope's Intention
Lets us pray that we might again learn how to discern, to know how to choose paths of life and reject everything that leads us away from Christ and the Gospel.
Pope Francis on DISCERNMENT
"How can we know if something comes from the Holy Spirit or if it stems from the spirit of the world or the spirit of the devil? The only way is through discernment, which calls for something more than intelligence or common sense. It is a gift which we must implore. If we ask with confidence that the Holy Spirit grant us this gift, and then seek to develop it through prayer, reflection, reading and good counsel, then surely we will grow in this spiritual endowment."
"The gift of discernment has become all the more necessary today, since contemporary life offers immense possibilities for action and distraction, and the world presents all of them as valid and good."
"Without the wisdom of discernment, we can easily become prey to every passing trend."
"Discernment is necessary not only at extraordinary times, when we need to resolve grave problems and make crucial decisions. It is a means of spiritual combat for helping us to follow the Lord more faithfully. We need it at all times, to help us recognize God’s timetable, lest we fail to heed the promptings of his grace and disregard his invitation to grow."
"I ask all Christians not to omit, in dialogue with the Lord, a sincere daily “examination of conscience”. Discernment also enables us to recognize the concrete means that the Lord provides in his mysterious and loving plan, to make us move beyond mere good intentions."
"The Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work, through others and at every moment. Yet we simply cannot do without the silence of prolonged prayer, which enables us better to perceive God’s language, to interpret the real meaning of the inspirations we believe we have received, to calm our anxieties and to see the whole of our existence afresh in his own light. In this way, we allow the birth of a new synthesis that springs from a life inspired by the Spirit."
"We must remember that prayerful discernment must be born of a readiness to listen: to the Lord and to others, and to reality itself, which always challenges us in new ways. Only if we are prepared to listen, do we have the freedom to set aside our own partial or insufficient ideas, our usual habits and ways of seeing things."
"Naturally, this attitude of listening entails obedience to the Gospel as the ultimate standard, but also to the Magisterium that guards it, as we seek to find in the treasury of the Church whatever is most fruitful for the “today” of salvation."
"An essential condition for progress in discernment is a growing understanding of God’s patience and his timetable, which are never our own. God does not pour down fire upon those who are unfaithful (cf. Lk 9:54), or allow the zealous to uproot the tares growing among the wheat (cf. Mt 13:29). Generosity too is demanded, for “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Discernment is not about discovering what more we can get out of this life, but about recognizing how we can better accomplish the mission entrusted to us at our baptism. This entails a readiness to make sacrifices, even to sacrificing everything."
Excerpts from APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE
Pope Francis
19th March 2018
Discerning God's will and road trips
Discernment is a lot like road trips. We must figure out how to get from point A to point B, on the mission that God has given each of us. Thankfully, we have the wonderful gift of discernment, which allows us to ascertain God's will for our lives through prayer, consideration, and reason, even though we lack a tangible resource for navigation. Figuring out one's journey, mission or vocation isn't as simple as using a sat nav or tracing a finger on a road map. The saints' wisdom and example can help us get where we're going.
Saints to Turn to When Making a Decision Is Difficult
St. Joseph (spouse of Mary, father of Jesus, carpenter, Patron of the Universal Church)
We know that Joseph was a lowly carpenter (cf. Mt 13:55), betrothed to Mary (cf. Mt 1:18; Lk 1:27). He was a “just man” (Mt 1:19), ever ready to carry out God’s will as revealed to him in the Law (cf. Lk 2:22.27.39) and
through four dreams (cf. Mt 1:20; 2:13.19.22).
Pope Francis, 8 December 2020
"And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as you wife, for that which she conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 1: 20-21
Joseph embraced his calling, secure in the way that God had selected. He acted with assurance and without hesitation. We can pray to St Joseph and ask for his intercession to help us embrace our calling.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
(soldier, founder, saint)
The path to sainthood for St. Ignatius was paved with suffering, tragedy, injury, and depression. In the years that followed his loss of one leg in a cannonball attack while serving as a commander in the Spanish military, St. Ignatius read, prayed, and pondered God's will for him. God, he realized, was at work in him, inviting, guiding, and prompting. He kept a journal and his writings eventually developed into a set of spiritual exercises. His writings and meditations have helped seekers understand God's will for their lives for centuries, guiding both religious and lay people.
Saint Francis de Sales
(Doctor of the Church, patron saint of the Catholic press, writers and of the deaf)
Living during the Protestant Reformation, Francis' evangelization and preaching of the Catholic faith were strictly prohibited. He was like a Catholic Robin Hood, distributing pamphlets under doorways and spending nights in the forest, sleeping outside in inclement weather. His evident devotion to the faith sustained him throughout this challenging work. Bit by bit he won back many souls from Calvinism, converting tens of thousands of Protestants when he became Bishop of Geneva.
But at one point in his life, he became so hopeless about his own salvation that he pinned the Creed close to his heart, in the hope that he would not lose his faith. During a pilgrimage to the Saint-Étienne-des-Grès church in Paris, where he prayed the Memorare before an image of Our Lady with considerable difficulty, his confidence returned. He received the grace that salvation was available to those who did what God commanded. Francis had a profound spiritual awakening and surrendered himself entirely to God. Francis wrote spiritual master pieces, such as Introduction to the Devout Life, filled with timeless wisdom.
Be at peace.
Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life;
rather look to them with full hope as they arise.
God, whose very own you are, will deliver you from out of them.
He has kept you hitherto, and He will lead you safely through all things;
and when you cannot stand it, God will bury you in his arms.
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;
the same everlasting Father who cares for you today
will take care of you then and every day.
He will either shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.
Saint Francis de Sales
The path towards living a life in the service of Christ and the Gospel
Jesus says, “I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved” (Jn 10:9). He wants to tell us that to enter into God’s life, into salvation, we need to pass through him, not through anyone else, through him; to welcome him and his Word. Just as to enter into the city, one had to “measure” oneself against the only narrow door that was still open, so too the Christian life is “measured against Christ”, founded and modelled on him. This means that the measuring stick is Jesus and his Gospel — not what we think, but what he says to us. And so, we are talking about a narrow door not because only a few are destined to go through it, no, but because to belong to Christ means to follow him, to commit one’s life to love, in service and in giving oneself as he did, who passed through the narrow door of the cross. Entering into the project God proposes for our life requires that we restrict the space of selfishness, reduce the presumption of self-sufficiency, lower the heights of arrogance and pride, and that we overcome laziness, in order to traverse the risk of love, even when it involves the cross.
Let’s think, to be concrete, about those daily acts of love we struggle to carry out: let’s think of parents who dedicate themselves to their children, making sacrifices and renouncing time for themselves; of those who concern themselves with others and not only with their own interests — how many people are good like this; let’s think of those who spend themselves in service to the elderly, to the poorest and most vulnerable; let’s think of those who keep on working, with commitment, putting up with discomfort and, perhaps, with misunderstanding; let’s think of those who suffer because of their faith, but who continue to pray and love; let’s think of those who, rather than following their own instincts, respond to evil with good, finding the strength to forgive and the courage to begin again. These are just a few examples of people who do not choose the wide door of their own convenience, but the narrow door of Jesus, of a life spent in love.
Pope Francis
Angelus, 21 August 2022
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