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Pope Francis Catechesis on Discernment 11
Paul VI Audience Hall – Wednesday, 7 December 2022
Catechesis on Discernment. 11. Confirmation of good choice
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the process of discernment, it is important to remain attentive also to the phase that immediately follows the decision taken (a) to graspthe signs that confirm it or (b) those that contradict it.
I have to make a decision, I make discernment, for or against, feelings, please…
Then this process ends and I make the decision.
Then comes that part where we have to be attentive, to view it.
Because in life there are decisions that are not good and there are signs that disprove it instead the good ones confirm it.
In fact, we have seen how time is a fundamental criterion for recognizing God’s voice in the midst of so many other voices. He alone is Lord of time: it is a mark of guarantee of his originality, which differentiates him from the imitations that speak in his name without succeeding. One of the hallmarks of the good spirit is the fact that it communicatesa peace that lasts over time. If you go deeper, then you make the decision and this gives you a peace that lasts over time, this is a good sign and indicates that the road has been beautiful. A peace that brings harmony, unity, fervor, zeal.
You come out of the deepening process better than you entered.
For example, if I make the decision to dedicate half an hour more to prayer, and then I realize that I live better the other moments of the day, I am more serene, less anxious, I carry out work with more care and taste, even relationships with some difficult people become easier …: these are all important signs that go in favor of the goodness of the decision taken. Spiritual life is circular: the goodness of a choice benefits all areas of our life. Because it is a participation in God’s creativity.
We can recognizesome important aspects that help to read the time following the decision as a possibleconfirmation of its goodness, because the next time confirms the goodness of the decision. We have already encountered these important aspects to some extent in the course of these catecheses, but now they find their further application.
A first aspect is whether the decision is seen as a possible sign of response to the Lord’s love and generosity towards me. It is not born out of fear, it is not born out of emotional blackmail or compulsion, but is born ofgratitude for the good received, which moves the heart to live the relationship with the Lord with liberality.
Another important element is the awareness of feelingin one’s place in life – that tranquility: “I am in my place” -, and feeling part of a larger plan, to which one wants to offer one’s contribution. In St. Peter’s Square there are two precise points – the foci of the ellipse – from which you can see Bernini’s columns perfectly aligned.
In a similar way, man can recognize that he has found what he is looking for when his day becomes more orderly, he feels a growing integration between his multiple interests, establishes a correct hierarchy of importance and manages to live all this with ease, facing with renewed energy and fortitude the difficulties that arise.
These are signs that you have made a good decision.
Another good sign, for example, of confirmation is the fact that you remain free with regard to what has been decided, are willing to question it, even to renounce it in the face of possible denials, trying to find in them a possible teaching of the Lord.
This is not because He wants to deprive us of what is dear to us, but to live it with freedom, without attachment. Only God knows what is really good for us.
Be careful about this, possessiveness is the enemy of good, it kills affection, possessiveness is the enemy of the good, it kills affection. The many cases of violence in the home, of which we unfortunately have frequent news, almost always arise from the claim to possess the affection of the other, from the search for absolute security that kills freedom and suffocates life, making it hell.
We can love only in freedom, which is why the Lord created us free, free even to say no to Him. Offering Him what we hold most dear is in our interest, it allows us to live it in the best possible way and in truth, as a gift he has given us, as a sign of his gratuitous goodness, knowing that our life, as well as the whole of history, is in his benevolent hands.
It is what the Bible calls thefear of God, that is, respect for God, not that God frightens me, no. But respect is an indispensable condition for accepting the gift of Wisdom (cf. Sir 1:1-18). It is the fear that casts out every other fear, because it is oriented to the One who is Lord of all things. Before Him nothing can disturb us.
It is the astonished experience of Saint Paul, who said: “I have learned to be poor and I have learned to be rich; I started everything, in every way: satiety and hunger, abundance and destitution. I can do all things in him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:12-13). This is the free man, who blesses the Lord both when good things come and when things are not so good: blessed be and let us move on!
Recognizing this is fundamental for a good decision and reassures about what we cannot control or predict: health, the future, loved ones, our projects.
What matters is that our trust be 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 always go forward trying to make decisions like this, in prayer and feeling what is happening in our hearts and moving forward slowly, courage!
