Discernment

Discernment:  Discerning one’s call does not just refer to discerning one’s vocation in life, although it is that as well. At baptism, each of us is called to serve the Lord. Every day, God  re-initiates that call to serve Him: to believe in Him, to give birth to Him in the events of our lives, to love Him by loving and serving others,  to become  one with His plan of salvation  that is being worked out within us in the days challenges.  As each day unfolds, each of us needs to be alert to God’s call to live as Jesus lived.  In terms of one’s vocation in life, we  have a prototype of that call in the book of Samuel. First of all, the call can come at a very early age, as it did for Samuel. Second of all, the call is personal. Samuel heard someone call his name several times.  No one else heard God calling Samuel personally.  And, thirdly, the call needs to be authenticated by another person. In Samuel’s case, it was Eli who authenticated Samuel’s life’s call and advised him that next time he heard his name called to say: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”  (Source:  Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues, OP, "Vocation as a Lifelong, Personal Adventure for Every Christian, Horizon, Winter 2012, p. 6)