The Early Church faces a crucial decision…together

Acts 15: 19-22.

Comment: The issue was full of emotion and tension. Would the Church include non Jews? Or would it remain a group within the Jewish community? The passage shows how there was listening involved, a willingness to hear another point of view, the ability somehow to manage the fears and tensions and, in the middle of all that, to hear the voice of the Spirit.

There are different kinds of discernment that go on in the lives of groups and individuals.

Situational discernment could involve, for example, discerning the secular challenge in a country; the atmosphere in a community; the wider Province; or, indeed, in the whole Society of Jesus. It involves reflecting on data, basically asking “What is happening in this situation? What are our different reactions to it? What are the different movements that go on in our hearts?” Discerning these movements is important. A province or community may be in basic consolation, in which case, the thoughts, reaction and interactions are trustworthy. But a Province or a community can be in a kind of desolation with different thoughts emerging from that desolation. However, as we know from St. Ignatius, the analysis of the situation can’t be trusted when one comes from a situation of desolation.

Decisions…Decisions

Ignatius identifies three kinds of decision situations. One is where one is so clear that a particular option is from God that you just go ahead. Another is a time of rationality, where you weigh the pros and cons dispassionately. Another is where the group or individual is swayed by different ‘movements’ of heart, where prospect of that decision evokes strong reactions and movements of heart and mind and soul. If one is in desolation or if one is experiencing movements of the bad Spirit, Ignatius says "don’t change”. Try not to be influenced by those movements. Wait until consolation occurs.

Discernment is not, in its essence, about making decisions or about resolving questions or problems. It is, fundamentally, a way of being. It is about seeing how the Spirit is at work in our lives and in our world. It is about learning how to feel where the Spirit is moving and to learn how to follow that direction. If we learn to tune in like this then decisions on concrete points will follow more easily. Conversely, if we don’t know about discernment of the Spirits we can’t really decide very well in accordance with those Spirits. But tasting the Spirits is the first thing.

This separation of Decision making from the rules for Discerning spirits has its basis in the Spiritual Exercises; there the rules for discerning the Spirits are in a separate section from the guidelines for the election.

It is vital to avoid being trapped in a mechanical methodology that sees discernment as just another method. It is deeper than that. It is a whole way of being. Because of this we can't make a proper Apostolic Plan without discernment.