Discernment
Discernment
With high school students increasingly interested in the possibility of a church vocation (especially priesthood and religious life), more than ever we need useful strategies to teach the skills of discernment to this group. This statement is premised on two basic assumptions: 1) that discernment is not a naturally intuited process but is a set of learned skills, and 2) that high school students are both able and willing to learn these skills. Read more...
In my experience in dealing with people in the vocational discernment process, I continue to gain increasing respect for St. Ignatius of Loyola’s rules for the discernment of spirits and in particular for his descriptions of how the evil spirit tends to work to derail the vocational discernment process. Read more...
An informal NRVC survey last year about houses of discernment turned up tremendous interest in the subject. Houses of discernment come in many shapes and sizes-but no matter how they’re structured, the idea is that some of the lay residents (but not always all of them) are there to explore their vocation while living in a community setting. Read more...
Doing the Truth in Love, by Father Michael Himes. This basic and engaging theology of God, human relationships and service assists readers in reflecting more faithfully and more theologically on their own lives, particularly if they are involved in pastoral ministry or service projects. Read more...
Young adults are bombarded with a multiplicity of choices and options. This multiplicity, coupled with the need to make choices in a timely fashion, at times overwhelms and complicates. Into this muddled situation comes What’s Your Decision? by J. Michael Sparough, SJ, Jim Manney and Tim Hipskind, SJ as a welcome and much needed resource. Read more...
Sheena Iyengar’s book, The Art of Choosing (Twelve, 2010), is a study of how and why we choose all of the things we choose. She illustrates in this extensive narrative that we are surrounded with opportunities to choose; in fact, we live in a culture that bombards us with opportunities to choose. Read more...
I love hearing the vocation stories of my elder sisters, in particular how they first tuned in to God’s call and discovered our community. In many stories, the sister first discovered an inkling of a call in prayer or service, which she then discussed with her pastor or a wise friend who gave her a brochure or suggested she visit the sisters. Other stories revolve around personal relationships with our sisters, either through family connections or our ministries. Read more...
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