Day 85. The Call: Conclusions and Considerations
Christian sacrifice does not consist in a giving of what God would not have without us but in our becoming totally receptive and letting ourselves be completely taken over by him. Letting God act on us – that is Christian sacrifice.
Benedict XVI /Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity
Of the four ways we’ve considered, listening with all our strength is, ironically, the weakest. It is a double irony that in pursuing God’s will, most of us should follow our strengths until the other ways – heart, soul, and mind – indicate a different direction. In other words, we go with our gifts – mindful of their source – until God says otherwise. This is important because discernment happens, for the most part, while we’re busy pursuing other plans. Most of the scriptural scenes of vocation occur when those called are doing exactly what they’re good at: fishing (Andrew, Peter, James and John), shepherding (Moses and David) or business management (Matthew). So long as we understand that our strengths must yield to God’s voice and intervention, we may peacefully develop them and go after the Godly goals to which they lead us. Most of us, that is.
Our gifts, as long as we use them in a way that glorifies God, are meant to be enjoyed and pursued. So, if my strength is finance and investment, I stay in business school unless/until I am clear that God is sending me elsewhere. If I’m gifted in communication, I’ll stay with the marketing company until I hear otherwise. We recall here the image of a vocation as a cross. The horizontal beam is formed by the discerner pursuing his or her own gifts, dreams and goals. The vertical beam is formed as God’s call, leading us to heaven, intersects with our own plans. Note that neither cancels out the other. Rather they become interwoven through the process of discernment – the wrestling match between human and divine wills – and form something that is fully ours and fully God’s.
If God is glorified by our gifts, why is listening with our strengths the least reliable way to know and follow his will? The answer has to do with self-sufficiency. I know in my own life that where I am most confident in my own abilities I am least likely to ask for God’s guidance or help. These strengths, therefore, can be subtle areas of resistance to his reign in my life. It’s as if I say to him, “Lord you’re in charge of all of me…except for this particular thing I’m really good at. I can cover this area on my own, thanks.” So what is for me a strength is actually a great weakness. It tempts me in a part of my life to go it alone.
When we consider this, it sheds light on the fact that God calls people to perform important tasks not because they are good at those tasks but precisely because they are ill-suited for them. So Moses with his speech impediment is called by God to speak to pharaoh on behalf of the Israelites. St. Peter, often rash and impulsive, is called to be the stable rock on which Jesus builds his Church. And St. Paul whose public speaking is unimpressive is made the apostle to the Greeks who highly esteem rhetoric and eloquence.
The pattern continues throughout Church history. In the 14th century, when the papacy was hopelessly divided and the true pope was reigning from Avignon rather than Rome, God called an illiterate woman, Catherine of Siena, to set the matter straight by writing letters. The patron of priests is St. John Vianney who almost flunked out of seminary because he couldn’t learn Latin, and the patron of missions is St. Therese of Lisieux who never left her convent and died young. God’s call is directed at our weaknesses not our strengths. When the Lord summons you, be ready to step out of your comfort zone.
As we conclude this section, it should be made clear that God may speak to us through more than one way of listening. He may signal me through a direct word to my soul, but then confirm it through consolations. He may bless my rational deliberations with an answer and then back it up with an external sign which assures me I’ve chosen well. In fact, a multiplicity of external confirmations is always a welcome encouragement that we’re on the right track.
You may be curious. You may have noticed that my advice above about waiting on God’s voice and going with your gifts in the meantime was not addressed to all, but only to most. That’s because I can’t fail to mention one other approach to discernment that is, to be honest, very risky. You may wind up taking a considerable detour. You may not obtain what you seek. Or you may win big. That’s why I feel I must mention it. I won’t describe it here, but we’ll explore it in the workbook section below. For the present, I offer this hint: most people discern while on retreat. There is a small minority, however, who discern on the attack
Another closing note I’d like to make is a repeated cautionary note about signs. We must be careful about how much weight we assign to external signs. In my experience, we tend to credit them more heavily because we believe we have less influence on them than internal senses or leadings. Thus, when an opportunity opens up – a job offer, a new relationship, or acceptance to a prestigious academic program – we may quickly baptize it as God’s will and dismiss hard won convictions gleaned from hours of prayer.
An external opportunity can just as easily be a test and a temptation as a true sign from God. Further we must acknowledge that our fallen nature with its inclination to resist God’s will can misunderstand external signals as easily as internal ones.
With the modes of listening better understood, we take some time to consider the cost of God’s call. We ask the Lord to stir our radical gratitude to a new level now. As we take measure of the treasures we must surrender, we hold firmly in mind the Treasure that was given on our behalf.
Novena Prayer
Jesus says: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Pier Giorgio responds: To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living but existing.
Let us Pray: Blessed Pier Giorgio, teach me silence in the face of personal humiliation and unjust criticism. But guide me to be courageous like you in standing on the side of God’s truth. Help me to be faithful to Him in all things, so that His will may be done in and through my life. Show me how to persevere in the struggle for those things which are holy and honorable.
Blessed Pier Giorgio, I ask for your intercession in obtaining from God, Who is the source of grace and truth, all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I confidently turn to you for help in my present need: (in your own words, ask for the Lord to give you the grace to listen with your whole soul).
A Book of Prayers in Honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, by Rev. Timothy E. Deeter
Make it My Own
Daily Discernment Workbook
BREAK OPEN YOUR BIBLE
1. Discernment by Attack
In the following scripture passage, Jonathan takes a bold approach to discernment. Rather than waiting for the Lord to take the initiative – to signal the attack against the Philistines through his father, King Saul, or through the traditional means of discernment (the ephod, see 1 Sam. 30:7, 8), Jonathan sets the attack in motion himself by an aggressive move. He uses a combination of four things: one, knowledge of God’s revelation; two, willingness to take a bold risk based on this knowledge; three, faith in God’s power and, four, humility in letting God guide his actions through external signs and confirmations. Can you pick out (and circle) some of these elements? To set the stage, the Israelite army is encamped opposite their ancient enemies the Philistines. Tension is high. Neither side is ready to make a move. Here’s the passage:
1 One day Jonathan, son of Saul, said to his armor-bearer, “Come let us go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But he did not inform his father. 2 (Saul's command post was under the pomegranate tree near the threshing floor on the outskirts of Geba; those with him numbered about six hundred men. 3 Ahijah, son of Ahitub, brother of Ichabod, who was the son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the LORD at Shiloh, was wearing the ephod.) Nor did the soldiers know that Jonathan had gone. 4 Flanking the ravine through which Jonathan intended to get over to the Philistine outpost there was a rocky crag on each side, one called Bozez, the other Seneh. 5 One crag was to the north, toward Michmash, the other to the south, toward Geba. 6 Jonathan said to his armor-bearer: “Come let us go over to that outpost of the uncircumcised. Perhaps the LORD will help us, because it is no more difficult for the LORD to grant victory through a few than through many.” 7 His armor-bearer replied, “Do whatever you are inclined to do; I will match your resolve.” 8 Jonathan continued: “We shall go over to those men and show ourselves to them. 9 If they say to us, 'Stay there until we can come to you,' we shall stop where we are; we shall not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we shall go up, because the LORD has delivered them into our grasp. That will be our sign.”
11 Accordingly, the two of them appeared before the outpost of the Philistines, who said, “Look, some Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding.” 12 The men of the outpost called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer. “Come up here,” they said, “and we will teach you a lesson.” So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the grasp of Israel.” 13 Jonathan clambered up with his armor-bearer behind him; as the Philistines turned to flee him, he cut them down, and his armor-bearer followed him and finished them off.
1 Sam. 14:1-13
Wasn’t God upset that Jonathan didn’t wait for the right signal? Apparently not. As the story unfolds, I identify (circle) some signs that God is pleased with Jonathan’s boldness and is expressing his approval?
14 In this first exploit Jonathan and his armor-bearer slew about twenty men within half a furlong. 15 Then panic spread to the army and to the countryside, and all the soldiers, including the outpost and the raiding parties, were terror-stricken. The earth also shook, so that the panic was beyond human endurance.
16 The lookouts of Saul in Geba of Benjamin saw that the enemy camp had scattered and were running about in all directions. 17 Saul said to those around him, "Count the troops and find out if any of us are missing." When they had investigated, they found Jonathan and his armor-bearer missing. 18 Saul then said to Ahijah, "Bring the ephod here." (Ahijah was wearing the ephod in front of the Israelites at that time.) 19 While Saul was speaking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp kept increasing. So he said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand." 20 And Saul and all his men shouted and rushed into the fight, where the Philistines, wholly confused, were thrusting swords at one another.
21 In addition, the Hebrews who had previously sided with the Philistines and had gone up with them to the camp, turned to join the Israelites under Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise, all the Israelites who were hiding in the hill country of Ephraim, on hearing that the Philistines were fleeing, pursued them in the rout. 23 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day.
Make the connection
We learned above that discernment for a vocation, since it is a gift of God from start to finish, is something only God can set in motion. Wait on him. He knows where I live. He can contact me when he chooses. Good advice…for most people.
How is it, then, that Jonathan breaks all the rules? He doesn’t wait. How is it that instead, the Lord’s warrior takes action and this action becomes the Lord’s will? Maybe Jonathan’s boldness was itself a gift from God and therefore his willingness to take a risk was blessed by God. He just as easily could have been acting on his own impulses – out of pride or recklessness – and the outcome would have been very different. In fact, it might have been a disaster. So how can we know the difference? How indeed.
In discerning celibacy, some young people did as Jonathan did. They experienced no clear directions from God. They were ready for action, and had made every human effort to find out God’s will. Still, nothing was coming through to them. So, like Jonathan, they took action. They used their knowledge of God’s revelation (the understanding that celibacy is a higher calling than marriage) and combined it with a willingness to take a bold risk (they entered seminary/religious life anyway), faith in God’s power (the Lord, they reasoned, would either open the door or close it), and the humility to seek external signs of confirmation (they allowed those in charge of admissions to signal whether they would be permitted to enter, and took that as God’s will).
Saint Teresa of Avila, a doctor of the Church, is a notable example of this approach to vocation discernment. In her autobiography she writes about her own time of discernment with blunt honesty:
After a year and a half in the convent school…I began to recite many vocal prayers and to seek that all commend me to God so that He might show me the state in which I was to serve Him. But I still had no desire to be a nun, and I asked God not to give me this vocation…. These good thoughts about being a nun sometimes came to me, and then would go away; and I could not be persuaded to be one. p. 61f
Finally Teresa decided to enter the convent, not because of a feeling that she was being called, but because she thought it would benefit her soul. Here’s how she states it:
…in this final decision (of entering) I was determined to go (into the convent) where I thought I could serve God more or where my father desired. For I was already thinking more of a remedy for my soul than of any easy way of life for myself.
What happens next? Did Teresa go through the motions of convent life waiting passively for God to tell her what to do? No, she forced herself to embrace the life fully:
As soon as I took the habit, the Lord gave me an understanding of how He favors those who use force with themselves to serve Him. No one noticed this struggle, but rather they thought that I was very pleased. Within an hour, He gave me such great happiness at being in the religious state of life that it never left me up to this day, and God changed the dryness my soul experienced into the greatest tenderness. All the things of religious life delighted me…. (I) experienced a new joy which amazed me. And I could not understand where it came from.
The risk is real. Some who take this approach are unsuccessful and spend months or even years pushing hard to enter a vocation that it becomes clear is not for them (though, it is worth noting that many express satisfaction with what was gained in the struggle). Others are thriving as priests and religious today. God blessed their boldness and gave them what they lacked – a confidence that his will for them was indeed a celibate vocation.
Are these bold discerners wringing their hands today and wondering if they made the right decision? I can’t speak for all, but I know of one who is not. He is the religious brother who taught me almost everything I know about evangelization. And he is very content in his vocation today.
St. Teresa writes: “And so I would never counsel anyone…to fail out of fear to put a good inspiration into practice when it repeatedly arises. For if one proceeds with detachment for God alone, there is no reason to fear that the effort will turn out bad; for God has the power to accomplish all. p. 65
If I experience God’s silence and no clear direction, then it seems reasonable to ask the Lord: Shall I discern on the attack? As likely as not, I’ll get no answer. It’s not really a question that anyone can answer but me, and I understand that I will bear the consequences of my decision.
Here’s How.
If I want to begin Discerning on the Attack, I can start by praying regularly for God to grant me the gift and grace of celibacy. Take a moment to reflect and then answer below…
Yes, I choose to make this prayer a regular petition for the remainder of this novena and beyond.
No, I’m not willing to make this prayer a regular petition.
I’ll think about it. (Note: the offer will not come up again in this novena).
Write down your thoughts.
Conclude with
“Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be.
World without end, Amen.”