Discern.
This post first appeared on Instagram on December 31, 2020.
Many people like to choose a word of the year. This past year the word for me was DISCERN. It will be again next year.
It didn’t come through a word generator, though. It was a desperate cry, an act of survival in a world gone mad.
“Lord, give me eyes to see and ears to hear!”
And so, I have spent the year learning to discern. My primary areas of discernment have been:
-God’s will for me in areas both great and small
-Who to listen to and who to be skeptical of
It struck me this year that American Catholics should know better than to blindly trust people in positions of authority. There were priests who violated the trust of children and their families because few people thought a priest was capable of abuse.* This blind trust led many people astray. 💔 (Can you imagine if you had been one of the mothers who had trusted your instinct, even while others scorned you? Or the mother who ignored her instinct because of the rampant clericalism of the time?)
So why do we continue to ignore our own instincts (and our catechesis) and listen only to “experts,” the majority of whom have spent the year telling us one thing only to retract it and then say another?
Please understand: I’d never tell you not to listen to medical professionals, or to priests, or to other people in places of authority. They have training we don’t and often provide incredible insights. Thank God for them.
It’s how we listen that is important.
Are you discerning? Are you looking at the advice in the context of the greater picture of truth? Are you turning to scripture again and again to hear God’s word? Are you placing it in the context of Church teaching? Are you asking God in prayer to make the muddy waters clear?
This is discernment.
Today someone DM’ed me to let me know that she finds it “shady” that I stay anonymous on this account.
I have discerned, along with husband, that this account will remain anonymous for now. In our circumstances, it is the most prudent course of action. My spiritual director has given his blessing and I have a handful of faithful IRL friends who keep me honest.
I respect that woman’s right to discern away from the content here. She can follow her instinct and I can follow mine.
DISCERN.
As I have made clear on a number of occasions, I am not a medical professional and I do not offer medical advice. I do not diagnose or treat any illness or disease. I am not in any way trying to lead anyone into or away from any medical decision.
But I believe in your ability to discern.
I once read in a parenting book (Compass by James Stenson) that as parents we won’t always make the right decision, but we have the right to make decisions.
That’s discernment.
*I love so many priests. I know the vast majority of them are good and holy. But I also know there are evil men in any uniform, and I don’t believe it does us any good to pretend there aren’t.