A little over four years ago, the Archbishop called me into his office and asked me to consider taking a new assignment. He told me it was okay if I wanted to take some time and pray about his request. He wanted me to ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit, my spiritual director, and afterwards come back and give my answer. He was willing to let me make the final choice, whether or not I moved. I did exactly what the Archbishop asked me. I took the next couple weeks and prayed about what God wanted me to do. I asked the Holy Spirit, do you want me to stay at the Cathedral or do you want me to go to a new assignment? I met with my spiritual director and had him pray with me. After much prayer and thought, after some nights of tossing and turning in my sleep and wondering if I was making the right choice, I finally had my answer. I made another appointment with the Archbishop and informed him the Holy Spirit had told both me and my spiritual director that it would be best if I stayed at the Cathedral. He looked at me and said thank you very much. Two weeks later the archbishop called me and told me “I would like you to move and to practice your vow of obedience”. I suppose his Holy Spirit was much stronger and smarter than my Holy Spirit.
Even though I was surprised when the Archbishop told me I would be moving, I knew that I had taken a vow of obedience on the day of my ordination. And I have to say, even though I did not originally choose to come here to St. Joseph's in Cottleville, these four years have been a great blessing for me and I have learned so much.
This practice of using prayer while making a decision is present in today's first reading. In the Acts of the Apostles, the young church is growing by leaps and bounds and has increasing needs that must be met. Some of the widows are not receiving their portion of bread and are going hungry. People raise this concern to the apostles and they take it to prayer to find a solution. The answer they are given is to select seven holy men who will be in charge of the distribution of bread and other works of mercy so that no one is neglected. These seven men are the first deacons of our Church and they become the hands and hearts of the twelve apostles, enabling them to help more people while still allowing the twelve to remain in their ministry of prayer and teaching.
This method of making decisions is also used to replace Judas, who betrayed Jesus. They know there needed to be twelve apostles to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. This person had to be a witness to the resurrection. They come up with two very good choices. But they allow God to make the final decision, they leave the choice to God's wisdom and his ability to know what is best for them and for the whole church. In the end, Mathias is chosen to replace Judas and he will go on to do great things for the Lord, spreading the gospel and eventually laying down his life in Ethiopia for Christ.
The pattern used by the early church in making decisions is something that we can incorporate into our own lives as Christian men and women. God wants to be a part of our decision-making; not just the big decisions: like should I be a priest or religious or should I get married? He also wants to be involved in the smaller choices that we encounter on a daily basis. God wants to help us to make good and holy decisions that will benefit us and those we care about.
So how do we incorporate God into our process of making choices? First of all, we should invite God into the situation we are considering and ask him to help us see all the factors involved. Secondly, we should pay attention to our thoughts and feelings as we play out the different possibilities in our mind. We might ask the following questions: Do we feel more peace or joy with one option rather than the other? Does one scenario use more of our gifts or lead us closer to God? Does it challenge us to grow spiritually and humanly or is it just maintaining the status quo? Thirdly, as one course of action begins to seem more favorable, we can run it past someone we trust and who has our best interests in mind. They can make sure we are not simply rationalizing or deceiving ourselves. Finally, we can move forward with what we think God has led us towards, confident that if we missed something, he will gently guide toward the better part.
It is important to note that we are speaking about situations where there are two or more good things at stake. This discernment, as it is called, helps us to decide which one is better for us in the given situation. We do not use discernment when there is a choice between good and evil because in that case, we must always choose the good.
It is truly amazing how closely God works with us in these times. He will speak to our hearts if we use this process of discernment, which is very simple and natural. With a little practice and some quiet time to listen, the Lord will show us the path to take. He will help us to avoid settling for less than the wonderful things he wants to give us. He will make use of people and other creative signs to help us know when to take the next step. So let us imitate the faithful example of the early Church and make God a part of our daily decision making. Nothing but good will come of it and this prayerful spirit will benefit every person affected by our decisions.
