Pope Francis is dedicating his Wednesday teaching series to the theme of discernment, that is, finding God’s will and voice in the midst of all the distractions and temptations of life.
On December 7, the Pope stopped to consider various factors that help us confirm that we’ve made a good decision, that we’ve discerned well — “signs that confirm it or those that disprove it. … Because in life some decisions are not good and there are signs that disprove them, while on the other hand, good ones are confirmed.”
One of those signs, the Pope said, is a sense of “one’s place in life” — a sense of “tranquility” that accompanies the sensation, “I am in my place.”
It is “feeling that you are part of a larger plan, to which one wishes to make a contribution.”
The Pope illustrated the feeling with an example from St. Peter’s:
In St. Peter’s Square there are two precise points – the focal points of the ellipse – from which one can see Bernini’s columns perfectly aligned. Similarly, a man can recognize that he has found what he is looking for when his day becomes more orderly, when he feels a growing integration among his many interests, when he establishes a proper hierarchy of importance, and when he is able to experience this with ease, facing the difficulties that arise with renewed energy and fortitude.
“These are signs,” the Pope said, “that you have made a good decision.”
Build with the Lord
Another of the signs is what the Pope called the circular element of the spiritual life.
For example, if I make the decision to devote an extra half hour to prayer, and then I find that I live the other moments of the day better, that I am more serene, less anxious, I do my work with more care and zest, that even relations with some difficult people become smoother… These are all important signs in favour of the goodness of the decision taken. Spiritual life is circular: the goodness of a choice benefits all areas of our lives. For it is participation in God’s creativity.
See other signs by reading the whole address here.
What matters is that our trust is placed in the Lord of the universe, who loves us immensely and knows that we can build with Him something wonderful, something eternal. The lives of the saints show us this in the most beautiful way. Let us go forward, always trying to make decisions in this way, in prayer and feeling what’s going on in our hearts, and going forward slowly. Have courage!
And today we celebrate...