In the next seven entries on discernment, I will address the qualities necessary in an authentic search for the will of God. The first quality is openness. Whatever decision we are making, we must approach that decision with openness of mind and of heart. All pre-conceptions, all biases, all prejudices, the inclinations of our self-will need to be set aside if we truly want to know what God wants of us. If we want God to “write” down His will for us, we need a blank slate, not a journal filled with our ideas. As my retreat director said to me after my first day of retreat this summer: “If you need another day to empty yourself, I will give you that. God cannot fill up a space that is already occupied with an agenda.” If we come to God wanting to know His will and yet we limit Him with what we want to happen, we then put limits on the decision and on our freedom. It is no longer an open decision. Source: Discernment of Spirits by Warren Sazama, SJ, National Religious Vocation Conference, Chicago, IL 60615.
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