Discernment As A Plague

[ToJesusMyHeart]

The woeful fashion trend in young American Catholics: "Discernment" 

 

We've been conditioned to believe that before we do anything, we must "discern." It is plaguing our generation and preventing us from truly following God’s will for our lives! We’re so worried about not following God’s will, that we have to think about deciding, to think about deciding to do something.

It’s a spirit of passivity disguised as “discernment”.

Speaking of discerning Priesthood or Religious Life: the ACTUAL discernment happens once you’re in the seminary or convent. It’s no surprise that there is a decline of vocation to the Priesthood, and we have an increase of priests from overseas (God bless them for saying yes to His will!) leading our congregations.

Do you feel a calling to the Priesthood so you have been discerning about entering the seminary for years? ENTER THE SEMINARY. Is He calling you to Religious Life and so you’ve been spending 3 nights a week volunteering at the soup kitchen that the Missionaries of Charity work at just to see what it’d be like to be a Sister? APPLY TO A CONVENT.

 

 

http://adverticem.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/the-latest-catholic-fashion-trend-discernment/

 

with thanks to the171 for posting this on Facebook.

[AccountDeleted]

Reminds me a bit of this thread we had recently

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/131659-dont-just-discern-your-vocation/#.UnBMUyW4bDc

 

The same comments apply to this article IMO.

 

Perhaps this one doesn't take it quite as far - it suggests visiting a convent or dating a person but it does say that if you are considering the seminary you should just enter the seminary. I'm just not so sure that leaping before looking is the right answer, but it's certainly thought provoking.

 

Edited October 30, 2013 by nunsense

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

Reminds me a bit of this thread we had recently

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/131659-dont-just-discern-your-vocation/#.UnBMUyW4bDc

 

The same comments apply to this article IMO.

 

Perhaps this one doesn't take it quite as far - it suggests visiting a convent or dating a person but it does say that if you are considering the seminary you should just enter the seminary. I'm just not so sure that leaping before looking is the right answer, but it's certainly thought provoking.

"We need to be more bold. There's a difference between being rash and being bold."
 

[maximillion]

On the other hand, there is no way of truly knowing from the outside (and it's still darned difficult even after you've entered!)

[NotreDame]

Reminds me a bit of this thread we had recently

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/131659-dont-just-discern-your-vocation/#.UnBMUyW4bDc

 

The same comments apply to this article IMO.

 

Perhaps this one doesn't take it quite as far - it suggests visiting a convent or dating a person but it does say that if you are considering the seminary you should just enter the seminary. I'm just not so sure that leaping before looking is the right answer, but it's certainly thought provoking.

 

Nunsense is right.  This article is deeply problematic for many of the same reasons.

 

"It’s a spirit of passivity disguised as “discernment”."  - many people in general are indecisive.  Some who are catholic will say they are "discerning" as an excuse to be indecisive - thought they aren't actually discerning.  Discernment is anything but passive - at least according to the doctors of the Church.  

 

However, many will genuinely try to discern, but just not have the right resources or direction.  Well-formed priests are in short supply, not to mention well-formed spiritual directors.   When is someone indecisive and when are they actively trying to discern, but lacking proper guidance?  If they are the latter, when should, for lack of progress, they just make the jump?  That's aren't easy questions to answer and young lay-people - recent converts no less - should be careful giving such strongly worded spiritual advice. 

"It’s the same of discerning Priesthood or Religious Life: the actual discernment happens once you’re in the seminary (or convent)."  - This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  If he actually read books on the subject, he'd know how silly this sounds.   Or, as to the earlier post, maybe he is just very clumsy making his point and this isn't what he means. 

[PhuturePriest]

Reminds me a bit of this thread we had recently

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/131659-dont-just-discern-your-vocation/#.UnBMUyW4bDc

 

The same comments apply to this article IMO.

 

Perhaps this one doesn't take it quite as far - it suggests visiting a convent or dating a person but it does say that if you are considering the seminary you should just enter the seminary. I'm just not so sure that leaping before looking is the right answer, but it's certainly thought provoking.

 

My spiritual director says you must be balanced and not just jump into things the moment you feel like it. He said to imagine marriage and the priesthood are two magnetic poles, place yourself in between them, and through discernment see which one pulls you in. If I did everything I wanted to simply off impulse, I would have joined sixty communities, went sky diving, joined every branch of the military except the Air Force, climbed Mount Everest, had every popular dog breed imaginable, etc. You have to discern and be smart about things. Jumping in blindly will do you little good in the long-run and can have a lot of negative consequences.

[AccountDeleted]

My spiritual director says you must be balanced and not just jump into things the moment you feel like it. He said to imagine marriage and the priesthood are two magnetic poles, place yourself in between them, and through discernment see which one pulls you in. If I did everything I wanted to simply off impulse, I would have joined sixty communities, went sky diving, joined every branch of the military except the Air Force, climbed Mount Everest, had every popular dog breed imaginable, etc. You have to discern and be smart about things. Jumping in blindly will do you little good in the long-run and can have a lot of negative consequences.

 

 

Absolutely spot on FP. We can get led astray by strong emotions masquerading as signs from God. Discernment is a balance and your SD gave you great advice.

 

If I had followed every impulse of mine when I was young, I would have been a spy, an astronaut, a ballet dancer, a bird doctor (not a veterinarian - just a bird doctor!:p) and too many other things to mention.

[PhuturePriest]

Absolutely spot on FP. We can get led astray by strong emotions masquerading as signs from God. Discernment is a balance and your SD gave you great advice.

 

If I had followed every impulse of mine when I was young, I would have been a spy, an astronaut, a ballet dancer, a bird doctor (not a veterinarian - just a bird doctor! :P) and too many other things to mention.

 

He's a really, really super smart Priest in his fifties, and he has a lot of great advice. I remember when I saw him last week, on top of that advice he said to remember we are all called to marriage: it's just a matter of if you are called to marry a girl (or man) or the Bride of Christ.

 

I don't mean to shock you, but when I was a kid, I wanted to be a new thing every five seconds. :P

[AccountDeleted]

He's a really, really super smart Priest in his fifties, and he has a lot of great advice. I remember when I saw him last week, on top of that advice he said to remember we are all called to marriage: it's just a matter of if you are called to marry a girl (or man) or the Bride of Christ.

 

I don't mean to shock you, but when I was a kid, I wanted to be a new thing every five seconds. :P

 

 

Nothing anyone could do would shock me much. I'm old and I've seen it all (or nearly all).

 

 

Let's just say I've been around ----- or at least nearby :P

[PhuturePriest]

Nothing anyone could do would shock me much. I'm old and I've seen it all (or nearly all).

 

 

Let's just say I've been around ----- or at least nearby :P

 

Don't tempt me.

 

[Desert Walker]

I wanted to be a priest (I guess I still do, but I am not a very good person).

 

I joined a religious community to discern, started questioning the moral authority of bishops, then my family started telling me they didn't know who was anymore.  So I thought, "Indeed.  I have adopted strange ways and strange thoughts.  What is going on here?!"

 

Then I decided to leave.  Ever since then my life has been a series of incredible and highly destructive moral failures interspersed with  comebacks.  I'm the biggest sinner I know.

 

I am at a point now where I don't know what to do anymore except pray in an orderly fashion every day and hope I don't do something really, really stupid.

 

So I've been given a life.  There's not much left of it, but I still have it to some degree.  I don't know what the hell to do with it, though.

 

I am not looking for excuses.  It's just that I am not that much to look at.  If I told a vocation director about how my life has actually proceeded in the last few years, he'd no doubt encourage me to stop while I'm ahead and play it safe where I'm at.  Same goes for a potential Catholic wife.  There are plenty of pagan women who'd have no problem with me at all if I just gave up the Catholic thing to "explore possibilities" with them.  But I can't do that.  The Church is my anchor in Reality.  Without it, I'm toast.

 

On the other hand, I feel largely disconnected from Catholics in my local diocese (I generally feel disconnected from everyone period, though).  That's why I am posting here I suppose.

[AccountDeleted]

Don't tempt me.

 

 

 

Just try. Sad failure on your part, I guarantee. :)

[AccountDeleted]

I wanted to be a priest (I guess I still do, but I am not a very good person).

 

I joined a religious community to discern, started questioning the moral authority of bishops, then my family started telling me they didn't know who was anymore.  So I thought, "Indeed.  I have adopted strange ways and strange thoughts.  What is going on here?!"

 

Then I decided to leave.  Ever since then my life has been a series of incredible and highly destructive moral failures interspersed with  comebacks.  I'm the biggest sinner I know.

 

I am at a point now where I don't know what to do anymore except pray in an orderly fashion every day and hope I don't do something really, really stupid.

 

So I've been given a life.  There's not much left of it, but I still have it to some degree.  I don't know what the hell to do with it, though.

 

I am not looking for excuses.  It's just that I am not that much to look at.  If I told a vocation director about how my life has actually proceeded in the last few years, he'd no doubt encourage me to stop while I'm ahead and play it safe where I'm at.  Same goes for a potential Catholic wife.  There are plenty of pagan women who'd have no problem with me at all if I just gave up the Catholic thing to "explore possibilities" with them.  But I can't do that.  The Church is my anchor in Reality.  Without it, I'm toast.

 

On the other hand, I feel largely disconnected from Catholics in my local diocese (I generally feel disconnected from everyone period, though).  That's why I am posting here I suppose.

 

 

Get help. You sound depressed. No one is beyond redemption - but depression can cause one to think so. Rejoice that Jesus came for you - not for the righteous. Honestly.

 

As for your life, until it's over, there is always hope. Pray of course, but do something practical about it as well. First, get some help.

[Desert Walker]

I won't take psychoactive drugs because they can actually reduce the strength of inhibition responses to destructive thoughts.

 

I just seem to have trouble maintaining consistent focus and energy long enough to achieve something (but I am also pretty negative, I guess).

 

But for some reason I will never understand I also tend to attract energy vampires into my life.  Then I get entangled in some bizzare fashion with them and stuff in my life just starts falling apart (grades, jobs, healthy friendships, hobbies, interests, family relationships).  Utter insanity ensues.  Three times in the last six years I have had to literally drop everything to recover and pick up the pieces after events like that.  Fortunately, I have the best family in the world...

 

But what's wrong with me?

[AccountDeleted]

I won't take psychoactive drugs because they can actually reduce the strength of inhibition responses to destructive thoughts.

 

I just seem to have trouble maintaining consistent focus and energy long enough to achieve something (but I am also pretty negative, I guess).

 

But for some reason I will never understand I also tend to attract energy vampires into my life.  Then I get entangled in some bizzare fashion with them and stuff in my life just starts falling apart (grades, jobs, healthy friendships, hobbies, interests, family relationships).  Utter insanity ensues.  Three times in the last six years I have had to literally drop everything to recover and pick up the pieces after events like that.  Fortunately, I have the best family in the world...

 

But what's wrong with me?

 

 

I wasn't suggesting drugs- but counseling of some kind - therapy if you can afford it. You need to shake yourself out of a victim mentality. If you attract 'energy vampires', then try doing something about that - you shouldn't be helpless if you are an adult. you have choices and free will. Focus on what gives you strength and encourages positivity in you.

 

If your family is so good - then ask them to help you get yourself sorted out. A lot of the things that happen to us are the product of our own choices. Those things that we can't control, we need to learn how to work with them or around them.

 

And stop berating yourself all the time. Negative self-talk doesn't do anyone any good unless it is somehow combined with an action plan to change unwanted behaviors! Try encouraging yourself a little more. And make your prayers ones of hope - thank God for the good things in your life and ask for His help to move forward in a positive way. Nothing is impossible for Him, but put in a little effort as well.

 

Prayers for you. :pray:

Edited October 31, 2013 by nunsense