Recap Session 6: February 22nd, 2009

Welcome!

Thank you for taking time to review the recap of Session 6- Discerning God's Call in your life: Choices: The Moment of Reconciliation. If this is your first time viewing the blog- welcome- we're so glad you're here. Please take note of previous sessions as they lay the foundation for the topics discussed in the recap of session 6. Note also the updates on certain sections of the blog- specifically the "Hygiene Kit Inventory Poll". Don't forget your toothpaste, toothbrush and small comb for next week!

If you are seeking a community of faith- you are most welcome to join us! We would love the opportunity know you. For more information about who we are- please see our website-www.goodshepherdvancouver.org. Whether you're in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington area, or far away, please continue to grow in faith with us by checking our blog as we discover more about developing a discerning heart through the lessons of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Holy Scriptures.

In this session we will examine the small decisions made during the discernment process that affect the outcome of discernment. Choices, simply put, are our response to God, to others and to ourselves. Each choice shapes our life and often has significant consequences for the lives of others. The discernment process progresses choice by choice. Gradually, as we learn with the help of reflection, prayer and Examen where and how God is inviting us to respond, our choices take on a more defining character and are marked by a more faith-filled quality (Smith and Merz, 2006).

St. Ignatius offers many insights on making choices in moments of consolation and desolation (Review Session 4). He notes in Spiritual Exercises, Rules for Discernment that "During a time of desolation one should never make a change. Instead, one should remain firm and constant in the resolutions and in the decisions which one had on the day before the desolation, or in a decision in which one was during a previous time of consolation. For just as the good spirit is chiefly the one who guides and counsels us in time of consolation , so it is the evil spirit who does this in time of desolation. By following his counsels we can never find the way to a right decision. ....It is very profitable to make vigorous changes in ourselves against the desolation, for example by insisting more on prayer, mediation, earnest self-examination, and some suitable way of doing penance. ...One who is in desolation should strive to preserve himself or herself in patience. This is the counterattack against the vexations which are being experienced. One should remember that after a while the consolation will return again, through the diligent efforts against the desolation...." (Spiritual Exercises, Rules for Discernment, p. 318-321).

As we have moved through the Spiritual Stages of a Healthy Relationship, we are making an effort to respond to a heightened awareness of our daily gifts and graces, as well as the needs of others. In other words, our desire is to see the action of God and respond to the invitation that God is extending to us to be in relationship with Him. Even though we may be aware of our lack of interior freedom (review Session 5), we are faced with a choice. While discerning a decision- be attentive and maintain with fidelity the choice to follow the gentle lead of God. This is quite opposite of non-reflective reactions rooted in our own expectations, frustrations, fears, or doubts. This type of discernment requires time and patience! (Smith and Merz, 2006).

In turning to God when making a decision we are reconciled. As God gathers the fragments of our broken hopes and hearts, heals the wounds resulting from our limit-bound and, at times, sinful choices, and pulls us to our feet again. The strength to love is new- we've learned that love is possible again with God's help (Smith and Merz, 2006). Discernment in this Moment of Reconciliation focuses our attention on God's ways of loving not that our loving will be characterized more and more by the compassion, patience, surrender, forgiveness, and helping we have experience in Jesus. On our own faith journey it is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that gives strength and meaning to our lives (Smith and Merz, 2006). Now let's take a closer look at the aspects of the Moment of Reconciliation.

Patience
Discernment, a process that unfolds over time, requires patient effort and unselfish care. God is not to be hurried, so we must lovingly embrace the process of moving with the light and the opportunities as God gives them.

Ignatian Insight
"He persevered in his reading and his good resolutions...He often thought about his intention [to go to Jerusalem as a pilgrim] and wished he were now wholly well so he could get on his way" (Autobiography, 11).

Scriptural Insight

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope' the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end' they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The lord is my potion,' my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' the lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (Lamentations 3:21-26).

"May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience." (Colossians 1:11).

"But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in Him for eternal life" (1 Timothy 1:16).

Reflection Questions

• What steps can I take to slow my pace so that I can attend more fully to the action of God?
• What aspect of the life of Jesus helps me to be patient when results are not immediate?
• What helps me to examine an experience of consolation or desolation rather than only to glance at it and move on?
• Consider a relationship- What make me aware of my need to attend more carefully to information shared, questions asked, or feelings expressed?
• How much patience do I have when waiting for others to give me data I need to make a decision?
• Can I recognize the difference between waiting patiently and resistance to taking action?
• What degree of patience and thoroughness do we bring to reviewing any data that is part of our shared project or purpose? Consider this in the context of Good Shepherd and Mission 2018.
• How have the developments in technology made patience more difficult for me?
• What steps can I take so that I do not make demands of persons, including God in the same manner as I make demands of machines?

Surrender

The process of discernment can be carried out with great care, be nurtured by wisdom, and lead to clarity about what God is asking. However, none of those important elements of discernment can eliminate the need for us to surrender to God and God's ways as they become evident.

Ignatian Insight
"The person...will benefit greatly...by offering all their desires and freedom to him so that His Divine Majesty can make use of their persons and of all they posses in whatsoever way is in accord with his most holy will." (Spiritual Exercise, 5).

Scriptural Insight
"The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...for nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to you word'" (Luke 1:35, 37-38).

"Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit.' Having said this, he breathed his last" (Luke 23:46).

Reflection Questions

• What thoughts and feelings are evoked in me by the word "surrender"?
• What have been my experiences of surrender throughout my life?
• How peaceful am I when faced with illness or the inevitability of death?
• Consider a relationship- Have I learned to distinguish between legitimate invitations to surrender and imposed acts of power which forced me to surrender?
• Have I enough maturity and interior freedom to be able to yield to others when that is necessary?
• Consider the life of Good Shepherd- What aspects of the past may we need to surrender in order to move forward into mission?
• What does that require of you as an individual?
• When I ponder the causes of violence in the world, what happens to my own willingness to engage in respectful dialogue with those with whom I am in conflict?

Forgiveness

God's merciful love is the source and model of the grace to reach out in forgiveness. Our human experience will inevitably include times when we are called to forgive those by whom we have been hurt or when we need to ask the forgiveness of others. Without forgiveness, our discernment can be distorted and our moving toward even apparently unrelated decisions can be blocked. Forgiveness, given and received, often brings significant new light and energy to our discernment process (Smith and Merz, 2006).

Ignatian Insight
"Consolation is experienced when the soul sheds tears which move it to love for its Lord- whether they are tears of grief for its own sins, or about the Passion of Christ our Lord, or about other matters directly ordered to his service and praise" (Spiritual Exercises, Rules for Discernment, p 316).

Scriptural Insights

"Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, 'This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.' so he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety- nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:1-7).

"So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift....Give to everyone who begs from you...Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them...Forgive others their trespasses..." (Matthew 5:23-24,42,44, 5:1,14).

Reflection Questions

• Have I learned to rejoice in the mercy of God?
• Are there persons I need to forgive? Am I forgiving myself?
• What happens to my prayer when I nurture resentment or anger after a painful experience?
• Consider a relationship- Are we able to be mutually vulnerable when we need to give or receive forgiveness?
• Have we been faithful to incorporating forgiveness in our relationship?
• Can we reflect together on how moments of forgiveness are helping our relationship to grow?
• Do we recognize that forgiveness contributes something uniquely valuable to our reviewing and process our mistakes as a group? Consider a specific example related to Good Shepherd.
• What world issues demonstrate to me that peace can never be lasting without forgiveness?

Healing
God's light is healing. It searches out any place within us that awaits the touch of God's grace to make us whole and ready for the new invitation of God that discernment will make evident.

Ignatian Insight
"[Ignatius suffered greatly from scruples at Manresa; he was interiorly besieged by different spirits.] In this way, the Lord deigned that he awake as from sleep. As he now had some experience of the diversity of spirits from the lessons God had given him, he began to examine the means by which that spirit had come. He thus decided with great lucidity not to confess anything from the past anymore' and so from that day forward he remained free of those scruples and held it for certain that Our Lord had mercifully deigned to deliver him" (Autobiography, 25).

Scriptural Insight
"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved; for you are my praise" (Jeremiah 17:14).

"A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, 'If you choose, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do choose. Be made clean!'" (Mark 1:40-41

"By his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24)

Reflection Questions

• What periods of my life held particular pain or hurt for me?
• What have I done to open myself to the healing of any painful memories that resulted?
• Are there painful memories that are blocking my freedom now?
• What more can I do in order to become less controlled by that restriction?
• Consider a relationship- what impact has my personal experience had upon my developing a compassionate stance toward others?
• How have I experienced woundedness as a place of special grace for me and for others?
• Have we as a church found ways of being a healing presence to one another after experiencing the pain of misunderstanding or the sorrow in the midst of transition?
• How have my experiences of being healed of physical or emotional pain made me committed to legislation to help people with disabilities or mental illness or chronic medical conditions?

To Sum Up

Discernment in this moment focuses our attention on God's ways of loving so that our loving will be characterized more and more by the compassion, patience, surrender, forgiveness, and healing we have experience in Jesus. on our own faith journey it is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that gives strength and meaning to our lives (Smith and Merz, 2006).

Let Us Pray

Heavenly Father, Grant us the grace to exercise the patience that is needed in order to attend to the unfolding action of God in ourselves, others, and the world around me. Help us to surrender with humility and trust to God's mysterious and reconciling ways. We desire to be alert to the gentle urging of the Spirit to accept both God's forgiveness and the forgiveness of others, and to forgive ourselves and others. Lastly, help us to be open to God's healing of any pain or hurt that continues to block our freedom to be available for God's new invitations in our lives. In Jesus name- Amen.