February 5, 2023 - Pastor Message
December 21, 2024THE YEAR OF MISSION THE MISSION TO DISCERN
THE YEAR OF MISSION
THE MISSION TO DISCERN
“At that time, as the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So the Twelve called together the community of disciples and said, ‘It is not right for us to neglect the Word of God to serve at table. Select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.’ The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. The word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly” (Acts 6:1-7).
During the month of January, we reflected together on the importance of listening to both God and other people if we would carry out our mission fruitfully and thus achieve our vision, a bountiful harvest of passionate disciples united to Christ. Listening is the first of three vital steps in the process of carrying out our mission fruitfully. The other two are discerning and acting.
In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles above, we see the early Church engaged in this three-step process. They begin by listening, the apostles to the people, the people to the apostles, and all of them to the Holy Spirit in prayer. They then discern what to do. “Discern” literally means to separate or distinguish, and, in the context of serving the mission of the Church, it means to separate or distinguish the options in front of us, weigh their relative value, and choose the one that will best serve the mission and achieve the vision. In the story above, the apostles discern the need to appoint assistants in the ministry, which we know today as deacons, and the people then discern which men to choose to serve this new ministry. The third step in the process is to act, to carry out the decision reached by listening and discernment, which the people do by presenting the seven men who would become the first deacons and the apostles do through prayer and the laying on of hands, ordaining these men to serve the needy in their community. The story concludes by telling us the result of this process: “The word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem greatly increased.” In other words, they more fully realized the vision of a bountiful harvest united to Christ.
We will reflect together this month on the second step in the process, discerning. Listening makes us aware of the needs and gifts of our community. Discerning brings those needs and gifts together with our mission and enables us to see how they intersect, distinguishing the options in front of us, weighing those options, and choosing the ones that will most fruitfully serve our mission. A good place to start our reflection on discernment is by doing some reading on the great master of discernment in our Church’s tradition, St. Ignatius of Loyola. I came across the following article online that may serve as a helpful introduction: https://www.marquette.edu/faith/ignatian-principles-for-making-decisions.php. Let’s keep working on our listening skills, and stay tuned for a deeper dive into discerning next week.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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