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POPE FRANCIS GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 4 January 2023
Catechesis on Discernment. 14. Spiritual accompaniment
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Before beginning this catechesis, I would like us to join those who are paying homage to Benedict XVI and turn my thoughts to him, who was a great teacher of catechesis. His acute and polite thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us to the encounter with Jesus.
Jesus, the Risen Crucified One, the Living One and the Lord, was the goal to which Pope Benedict led us, taking us by the hand. May he help us to rediscover in Christ the joy of believing and the hope of living.
With today’s catechesis we conclude the cycle dedicated to the theme of discernment, and we do so by completing the discourse on the aids that can and must support it: supporting the process of discernment.
One of these is spiritual accompaniment, important above all for self-knowledge, which we have seen as an indispensable condition for discernment. Looking in the mirror, alone, does not always help, because one can alter the image. Instead, looking in the mirror with the help of another, this helps so much because the other tells you the truth – when it is true – and so it helps you.
The grace of God in us always works on our nature. Thinking of a Gospel parable, grace can be compared to the good seed and nature to the soil (cf. Mk 4:3-9). It is important first of all to make ourselves known, without fear of sharing the most fragile aspects, where we discover ourselves more sensitive, weak or afraid of being judged. To make oneself known, to manifest oneself to a person who accompanies us on the journey of life. Not that it decides for us, no: but that it accompanies us. Because fragility is, in reality, our true wealth : we are rich in fragility, all of us; true wealth, which we must learn to respect and welcome, because, when it is offered to God, it makes us capable of tenderness, mercy and love. Woe to those people who do not feel fragile: they are tough, dictatorial. Instead, people who humbly acknowledge their own frailties are more understanding of others. Fragility – I can say – makes us human. It is no coincidence that the first of Jesus’ three temptations in the desert – the one linked to hunger – seeks to steal our fragility, presenting it to us as an evil to get rid of, an impediment to being like God.
And instead it is our most precious treasure: in fact, God, in order to make us similar to him, wanted to share our own fragility to the end. Let us look at the crucifix: God who descended precisely to fragility. Let us look at the crib that arrives in a great human frailty. He shared our fragility.
And spiritual accompaniment, if it is docile to the Holy Spirit, helps to unmask even serious misunderstandings in the consideration of ourselves and in our relationship with the Lord.
The Gospel presents several examples of Jesus’ clarifying and liberating conversations.
Let us think, for example, of those with the Samaritan woman, who read it, we read it, and there is always this wisdom and tenderness of Jesus;
let us think of the one with Zacchaeus,
let us think of the sinful woman,
let us think of Nicodemus and the disciples of Emmaus:
the Lord’s way of drawing near.
People who have a true encounter with Jesus are not afraid to open their hearts to him,
to present their vulnerability, their inadequacy, their fragility.
In this way, their sharing of self becomes an experience of salvation, of forgiveness freely accepted.
Telling in front of another what we have experienced or what we are looking for helps to clarify ourselves, bringing to light the many thoughts that inhabit us, and that often disturb us with their insistent refrains.
How often, in dark moments, thoughts like this come to us: “I have done everything wrong, I am worth nothing, no one understands me, I will never make it, I am doomed to failure”, how many times has it come to us to think these things.
False and poisonous thoughts, which the comparison with the other helps to unmask, so that we can feel loved and esteemed by the Lord as we are, capable of doing good things for Him.
We discover with surprise different ways of seeing things, signs of good that have always been present in us.
It is true, we can share our fragility with the other, with the one who accompanies us in life, in the spiritual life, the teacher of spiritual life, be it a layman, a priest and say: “Look what happens to me: I am a wretch, these things are happening to me”.
And the one who accompanies answers: “Yes, we all have these things”.
This helps us to clarify them well and see where the roots come from and thus overcome them.
The one who accompanies – the accompanist – does not replace the Lord, he or she does not do the work in place of the person accompanied, but walks at his/her side, encourages him or her to read what moves in his heart, the place par excellence where the Lord speaks.
The spiritual accompanist, whom we call spiritual director – I don’t like this term, I prefer spiritual accompanist, it’s better – is the one who tells you: “All right, but look here, look here”, draws your attention to things that perhaps pass; helps you to better understand the signs of the times, the voice of the Lord, the voice of the tempter, the voice of the difficulties that you cannot overcome. This is why it is very important not to walk alone. There is a saying of African wisdom – because they have that mystique of the tribe – which says: “If you want to arrive quickly, go alone; If you want to arrive safely, go with others”, go accompanied, go with your people. It’s important.
In the spiritual life it is better to be accompanied by someone who knows our things and helps us. And this is spiritual accompaniment.
This companionship can be fruitful if, on both sides, sonship and spiritual brotherhood have been experienced. We discover that we are children of God when we discover that we are brothers and sisters, children of the same Father. For this reason it is essential to be inserted into a community on the move. We are not alone, we are people of a people, of a nation, of a walking city, of a Church, of a parish, of this group … A community on the move.
One does not go to the Lord alone: this is not good.
We have to understand this well.
As in the Gospel account of the paralytic, we are often sustained and healed thanks to the faith of someone else (cf. Mk 2:1-5) who helps us to move forward, because all of us sometimes have inner paralysis and we need someone to help us overcome that conflict with help.
We do not go to the Lord alone, let us remember this well; At other times we are the ones who make this commitment in favor of another brother or sister, and we are companions to help that other. Without experience of sonship and brotherhood, accompaniment can give rise to unreal expectations, misunderstandings, forms of dependence that leave the person in an infantile state. Accompaniment, but as children of God and brothers with us.
The Virgin Mary is a teacher of discernment: she speaks little, listens much and keeps in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19). Our Lady’s three attitudes: speaking little, listening a lot and keeping in the heart. And the few times she speaks leaves her mark.
For example, in John’s Gospel there is a very short phrase pronounced by Mary which is an instruction for Christians of all times: “Do whatever he tells you” (cf. 2:5).
It is curious: once I heard a very good old woman, very pious, she had not studied theology, she was very simple. And he said to me: “Do you know what is the gesture that Our Lady always makes?”.
I don’t know: he cuddles you, calls you … “No: this is the gesture that Our Lady makes” [she points with her index finger]. I didn’t understand, and I ask, “What does that mean?”
And the old woman replied: “Always point out Jesus”.
It is beautiful: Our Lady does not take anything for herself, she points Jesus out.
Do what Jesus tells you: this is how Our Lady is.
Mary knows that the Lord speaks to the heart of each one and she asks us to translate these words into actions and choices. She knew how to do it more than any other, and in fact she is present in the fundamental moments of Jesus’ life, especially in the supreme hour of his death on the cross.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us conclude this series of catecheses on discernment:
discernment is an art, an art that can be learned and that has its own rules.
If properly learned, it allows one to live the spiritual experience in an ever more beautiful and orderly way.
Above all, discernment is a gift of God, which must always be asked, without ever presuming to be expert and self-sufficient.
“Lord, give me the grace to discern in the moments of life, what I must do, what I must understand. Give me the grace to discern, and give me the person to help me discern”.
The voice of the Lord can always be recognized, it has a unique style, it is a voice that pacifies, it encourages and reassures in difficulties.
The Gospel reminds us continually of this: “Do not be afraid!” (Lk 1:30 – And the angel said to her,[a] “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God).How beautiful that angel’s words to Mary.. “Do not fear!
Do not be afraid!” is precisely the Lord’s style: “Do not fear!”.
“Do not be afraid!”, the Lord also repeats to us today.
If we trust his word, we will play the game of life well, and we will be able to help others.
As the Psalm says, “Thy word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path (Ps. 119:105).
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Summary of the Holy Father’s words
Dear brothers and sisters: Today we conclude our catecheses on discernment as the process of coming to a sound understanding of the Lord’s will for our lives.
An important aid to discernment is the practice of spiritual direction, in which we share with another person the movements of the Spirit in our heart and, in confronting our own frailty, draw closer to the Lord, who took upon himself and redeemed the weakness of our humanity.
The Gospels speak of Jesus’ many encounters with persons who opened their hearts to him and experienced his mercy and forgiveness.
In conversation with a spiritual guide, we often discern more clearly the true direction of our lives and the quiet working of God’s grace in our hearts.
Spiritual accompaniment also expresses the communitarian nature of our journey to perfection, since together we are members of Christ’s body, sons and daughters of the Father and sharers in the life of the Spirit.
As our teacher in the art of discernment we can look to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who leads us to Jesus, who urges us not to fear, but to trust in him and in his words of eternal life.
