Discernment

Hello Zeteo world,

I sincerely hope you all are enjoying this August as it absolutely flies by. Seriously, where did the summer go? We are going camping for the next ten days with my family, and are pretty excited for the welcome chance to relax. Our summer has been packed so far, with not a lot of down time. Jerome is super excited to eat some dirt and try the sand down at the lake, seriously I cannot keep him from putting absolutely everything in his mouth.

God bless you all!

Olivia Fischer

Week One: Discernment 

Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

St. Ignatius Loyola

Discernment. Catholics think about it in regards to vocation: does God want me to enter a religious vocation, am I called to the married life. What about discernment beyond vocation? What does God want us to do in the little areas of our lives, in our daily struggles?

Pope Francis is a Jesuit, the order of priests founded by St. Ignatius Loyola. He is the first Jesuit to be elected Pope, which came as a bit of a shock. A Jesuit who interviewed Pope Francis is credited with saying "We Jesuits are supposed to be at the service of the pope, not to be a pope." According to this article, Jesuits take an oath that requires them not to seek higher office in the Church. They are devoted to the poor and to the marginalized, which explains why Pope Francis has chosen to put away many of the more extravagant articles of the papacy. 

How is it, then, that Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope?

At the age of thirty six, he was appointed the senior Jesuit of Argentina right around the time of the reign of terror of the military junta. He has said that his "authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led [him] to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative." This lead to a time of estrangement from the Jesuit community, at which time he became close with the archbishop of Buenos Aires and was ultimately appointed assistant bishop. 

From then on, he rose in the hierarchy, and now sits in the Chair of Peter.

Fr. Humberto Miguel Yanez, also an Argentinian Jesuit has said, "the fact that he had been somewhat rejected, internally, by the Jesuits, if not for that he probably would not have become a bishop." 

Pope Francis describes the period of estrangement as "a time of great interior crisis." However, a pillar of the Jesuit tradition is discernment, and Pope Francis sought God's will at this time in his life. Little could he have known the amazing and unprecedented plan God was working through the difficulty he was experiencing. When Pope Francis was asked recently the most challenging aspect of being a Jesuit, he said it was continuing to do God's will, which gives a sense of peace.

God works in ways that are mysterious to us. What could look like a complete crisis to our human understanding - an estrangement from our religious order, could be God's way of leading us to something we could never have dreamed of - becoming the first Jesuit Pope. Really, this is terrific news for us because the human heart has an infinite capacity to deceive and to be deceived. As Father Carlos articulated, we live each day in the battle arena of our own minds, we are our own worst enemies - the devil knows this, and unfortunately he is very cunning. Instead of revealing sins for what they are, he disguises them as something we mistake for being harmless or even good. We need to learn how to discern every aspect of our lives, not just the seemingly big or "important" decisions. 

This is why Father Carlos stresses the importance of daily prayer, of reading the Bible regularly. Without this daily tune-in to the voice of God, how are we supposed to know what is truth? In my next blog I will go into detail on the reflections Father Carlos offered on the armour of God, and on the daily examine that St. Ignatius Loyola told us to love, even if the rest of our prayer life has fallen apart. 

The word trust has been a huge part of my journey. At a Search, many years ago, it was put on my heart, and ever since, it has been a focus, a struggle, and a constant learning curve. Hand-in-hand with trust has come a reminder to discern, and to surrender. Even after all this time, after all these blaring reminders to trust, it is still something that I struggle with. Pope Francis talked about discernment as the road to lasting peace - something we are all searching for. I am so excited to delve more deeply into the amazing substance of Father Carlos' talk and to unpack the reality of how we can learn to discern the truth, and to turn to God on this daily personal battlefield.

Thank you so much for reading, and stay tuned for the next blog!




      Bell, Caleb K. "Why the First Jesuit Pope Is a Big Deal - Religion News Service." Religion News Service. Religion News Service, 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Aug. 2015.
      Gibson, David. "To Understand Pope Francis, Look to the Jesuits." To Understand Pope Francis, Look to the Jesuits. Religion News Service, 12 Mar. 2014. Web. 14 Aug. 2015.
      Stanford, Peter. "The Story of the Outsider Pope." National Post Peter Stanford The Story of the OutsiderPope Comments. National Post, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Aug. 2015.