Discernment

Henri Nouwen has, of course, long been one of my favourite and go-to authors. My latest exploration of his insights came in reading his book Discernment, one of a number of books put together posthumously from his notes and records of his lectures and speaking. As always, there is lots of value.

Discernment is not necessarily easy, or something that helps us find a way of avoiding difficult things. As the book’s introduction says – “In Henri’s view, discernment should proceed from a person’s grounded, ordinary life. He did not want people to think that our goal is to escape from our everyday stresses and conflicts. Instead, we should invite the Holy Spirit into our direct experience, into our thoughts, memories, worries, and plans. Instead of seeking a life free from pain and suffering, we should trust that Jesus is present in our pain and suffering.”

Nouwen points out that discernment is about discovering where God wants us to be. “To discern means first of all to listen to God, to pay attention to God’s active presence, and to obey God’s prompting, direction, leadings, and guidance.”

He adds: “When we are spiritually deaf, we are not aware that anything important is happening in our lives. We keep running away from the present moment, and we try to create experiences that make our lives worthwhile. So we fill up our time to avoid the emptiness we otherwise would feel. When we are truly listening, we come to know that God is speaking to us, pointing the way, showing the direction. We simply need to learn to keep our ears open. Discernment is a life of listening to a deeper sound and marching to a different beat, a life in which we become “all ears.””

God is there for us, but it is all too easy not to notice that – if we lack discernment. It is important to notice that we are valued by God. As Nouwen puts it – “Claiming our belovedness does not come easily for many of us. There are competing voices we hear. When one voice says we’re nothing but a sinner and another voice says we are the beloved of God, we are called to discern the spirits and follow the inner voice of love.” Yes, we matter!