Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Discernment: open to God, learning from God

What does today's Gospel (Luke 10: 21-24) tell us about being open to, learning and understanding god's manner of interacting with us, that is, revealing the Father's will in our lives?  I believe the clue is in the phrase "I praise you. Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and clever and revealing them to the childlike."  One of the key elements of discerning god's plan is giving  God praise.  When we praise another human being for who she/he is, we open our beings to God at work in that person.  When we praise God for who God is, we open ourselves to who God is for us and in that openness God's power touches us.  The passage says of God that He has "hidden these things from the wise and learned."  In terms of deciphering the ways of the good Spirit, God's Holy Spirit revealing God's will to us implies that we need to approach God humbly and with a heart open to learning from God. A not knowing is present  as it is in the mind of a child. So three key aspects of discernment are revealed in this passage: praise of God, humility and openness to learning from God.

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