Many of our guests at Maryville Retreat Center come to reflect and to discern as part of their spiritual experience with us. Yet sometimes our attempts at discernment can feel vague or unclear. What does this reverent process really involve?
I have found that Henri Nouwen, the well-known spiritual writer, helped me understand discernment in a deeper way. Nouwen states that discernment involves a shift from a “deaf, non-hearing life to an intentional practice of focusing on listening to God.”
He has taught me to deliberately turn down the noise and ideas in my mind and slowly focus on God’s active presence—to switch from attending to the thoughts and voice of my mind, to gradually hearing the voice of God in my heart. This takes time, effort, discipline, determination, and above all, for me, consistency and solitude.
Discernment is not a quick, easy practice. Sometimes I am so impatient to find an easy fix, a quick solution or answer to my questions and issues, and my need to readily face and resolve a situation. I have found that when I am intentional to take the time each day to just “sit with God” in a quiet place and as Sister Judy Blizzard says, “turn on the hearing aids of my heart,” I am more able to hear God’s voice.
The sound of God’s voice sometimes comes to me through a passage of the Bible, at times as an “aha” – a sudden inspiration from the readings I heard at Mass that day. At times his wise snippets are heard through a remembered conversation I may have had with others at some point during the day or the recent or even remote past. There have been moments when a comment or an encounter with one of our guests resounds as the words of wisdom that I just needed to reflect on further.
I also have heard God’s wisdom through the lived experiences of those who are suffering, doing without necessities, are being abused or who are struggling in their lives in different ways.
Through deep listening, I find that I can apply some of my heart’s new learnings to my own current struggles. To my amazement, these new “God discoveries” can lead me to a deeper, more rounded and wiser ways of dealing with my struggles for resolution and better outcomes.
So, my kindly sharing with you in this article is mainly to welcome you to you is to listen with the ears of your heart—God’s words are loudest when you are the most quiet. Unlock the inner door of your heart. God is waiting with the key to open it wide for you in His never-ending love and patience for you, whom He created in His very own image and likeness.
May you slow down, listen deeply and be surprised by what God may say to you.
Reference: Henri Nouwen: Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life
About Maryville Retreat Center
Maryville Retreat Center is a sacred place of renewal and encounter, nestled in the natural beauty of Holly, Michigan. Here, away from the noise and demands of daily life, participants are invited to rest, reflect and trust that God meets us in the questions as faithfully as in the answers.
