Discernment Tools

How Will I Know?

Most men who have ever wondered if the vocation to the Permanent Diaconate was for them must have asked the question, “How will I know?” It comes in many forms. “What is God’s will in my life?” “How do I find happiness and fulfillment in my life?” “What is the ultimate purpose of my existence?” “How will I know that God is calling me to become a Permanent Deacon?”

An inherent part of life is the responsibility to make difficult, challenging, and sometimes even painful decisions. To make important decisions often requires time, prayer, and discernment. Perhaps today more than ever, we face a greater multiplicity and complexity of decisions in ordinary day-to-day living. In the discernment process, we consider the options, balance the advantages with disadvantages, and carefully examine the consequences. “How will I know . . . what is good, right, or best? How will I know what God is calling me to?”

Before the rainbow shown in the sky, perhaps Noah wondered, “How will I know?” Before John the Baptist sent his disciples from his prison cell to find Jesus he must have asked, “How will I know?” When Thomas heard from the disciples that Jesus rose from the dead, he must have struggled with the question, “How will I know?”

Today, as in Jesus own time, God continues to give signs to help us to decide, to discern and to know what the Lord is asking us. In particular, there are four general signs which are often seen:

Availability and Openness

• Am I open-hearted to whatever God is calling me?
• Am I disposed and free to respond to that call?

Desire

• Do I sense a degree of potential satisfaction, hope, or joy when I consider the diaconate?
• If it is God’s will, do I trust that it can be fulfilled?

Proper Motivation

• Is my primary motivation of a spiritual nature, such as serving and loving God and God’s people?
• Would I experience adequate happiness and fulfillment?

General Disposition

• Do I have reasonably good health, emotional stability, social ease, and spiritual-centeredness?

In a more specific way, there is a rather practical spiritual discernment process which can be a tool or guide to help us determine what God is calling me to. This discernment process combines reflection, prayer, dialogue, and Scripture.

How Does One Begin Discernment?

One way to prepare for discernment is to make a timeline of your life story, from your birth to the present day. Reflect upon the following:

Significant Persons in My Life

• Who have been the people in my life?
• What has my relationship been to them?
• How have they influenced me positively and negatively?
• Who has had the most impact on me?
• Reflect on your experience of family
  • What have I learned?
  • What do I value?
  • What do I want to let go of?

Educational Experience

• What did I like, dislike, favorite memories, activities, friends, significant events, people?
• What did I learn of life that I want to keep? What gets in the way?

Work History

• Jobs held, how long? where? preparation for positions, responsibilities, initiative.
• What did you learn and what skills did you acquire in each job or preparation process?

Faith Experience

• What’s your earliest recollection of God?
• Who taught you about God?
• Who has had the greatest influence in your faith development?
• How was Church, faith, God in your family?
• How do you care for your faith life?
• Where did you learn about these practices?
• Who is God in your life?
• How did your experience of God impact your life?
• How do you see God in the everyday circumstances of your life?
• How do you nurture this relationship?

Adapted with permission from “Discernment Tools”  by the Priests of the Sacred Heart.