Gulf Pine Catholic

8 Gulf Pine Catholic • March 1, 2024 Learning to Discerning God’s Will means listening to our heart and intuition and following what God wants for our lives. It is through discernment that we prac- tice being an active and engaged listener, we strengthen our rela- tionship with God through prayer, and we learn to have a deeper trust with God. Life is complicated enough when we are faced with trials and tribulations, but when we choose things of our will rather than God’s will, we add unnecessary difficulties to our life. So, what are some ways to Discern God’s Will? Awareness “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 We must first recognize and become aware of the situation in need of discernment. Awareness of the situ- ation can sometimes be the only step that is needed to make the right choice. Be sure that the matter being discerned involves choosing between “goods” (such as between a life of celibacy or marriage) and not between good and evil. If our decision is between something good and something evil, that’s not a matter for discernment. We just need to do what we know is right. Identify the Motive “For God will bring every act to judgment, every- thing which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14 The Webster dictionary defines motive as, “some- thing that causes a person to act.” Our actions can be beneficial or destructive. They can be centered around the heart or centered around the ego (Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, ego stands for Etching God Out). Every choice we make in life can be narrowed down to one of two core motives. These two motives are ‘Love of Power’ or ‘Power of Love.’ Acting on the love of power involves the need for control, manipulation, or convincing someone to bend to your will rather than you bending to God’s Will. The love of power can also be baby steps towards these out- comes, or ways that we are just trying to position our- selves one step ahead of someone else. Power can make us think we need to look better than someone else or feel as though we are better than someone else. Acting on the power of love is the opposite. It is the ability to surrender control. Love allows us to be free from manipulation, and to think of how our actions are affecting others first. The power of love provides the freedom to trust God’s Will without fear of the out- come. You begin to see that with God, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26) If we are wanting to simplify our circumstances when discerning God’s Will, we must ask ourselves… Do our actions lean towards the Power of Love, Or Love of Power? God’s Word “Your word is a lamp to my feet and alight to my path.” Psalm 119:105 The clearest way to hear God speak is within Sa- cred Scripture. It helps us to understand our motivations through the emotions we feel when reading scripture. Taking the time to turn to scripture regularly can also help us find the blessings within any situation, or the graces to help us rise above our current struggles. Take it to Prayer “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:12 Be Still… “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Find a quiet space and a time when you won’t be rushed or interrupted. Leave your phone and any other distraction somewhere else. When you separate your- self from the noise in today’s world for a while, you’re able to hear God more clearly. One of my favorite plac- es to talk to God is at the beach, or in nature near free- flowing water. I believe when you are surrounded by nature, you al- low yourself to be open and fully aware of God’s pres- ence within every moment experienced in life. A life of sin doesn’t happen overnight. We don’t wake up one day and decide to turn away from God. Life is far more complex than that. Our journey towards light or darkness is filled with many gray moments. These gray moments are times when it is hard to determine what is right or wrong, or when we tell our- selves that one wrong choice won’t make a difference in our life. But every choice we make in life counts. Every choice we have made up to this point has led us where we are at this very moment. But regardless of where we are on our journey, God gives us the graces to overcome our struggles and grow stronger. Discerning God’s Will grants the courage not to be led by fear, but to instead lead a life of faith. As St. Augustine once said, “Love God, and then do what you will.” That’s probably the best advice anyone could give. Ashley Bonney is a member of Most Holy Trinity Parish, Pass Christian. Discerning God’s Will Bonney Guest Columnist Two years ago, Russian forces attempted a Hitlerian blitzkrieg in Ukraine. According to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, its goal was to eradicate Ukraine: both the Ukrainian state and the Ukrainian nation, with its distinctive language and culture. The blitzkrieg failed, thanks to an epic Ukrainian resistance, defined by Homeric acts of valor and sustained by remarkable social solidarity. Thus one irony of Putin’s war: the Ukrainian nation is more united than ever, its steely resilience and will-to-prevail forged in a Russian blast furnace. The price paid by Ukraine is incalculable. No one knows exactly how many Ukrainian soldiers, reservists, volunteers, and civilians have died; the numbers are certainly in the hundreds of thousands. The Russian way of war -- including wanton destruction of economic infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and cultural centers -- has caused what is likely a trillion dollars’ worth of damage, even as Russian forces have made Ukraine the world’s largest minefield, which will take decades to clear. As many as 14 million Ukrainians have become international refugees or internally displaced persons; yet there are no refugee camps in Ukraine or its European neighbors, as those with homes have opened them to their fellow-citizens or allies. (As Arch- bishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Church put it recently, “In the winter of 2022-23, when Putin damaged or destroyed 40% of Ukraine’s electricity net- work, no one froze. People literally shared their warmth.”) Ukraine’s churches have not been spared: some 600 houses of worship have been damaged or destroyed in the past two years. Where Russian forces hold Ukrainian territory, religious freedom has been extinguished for Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims -- and those Ukrainian Orthodox who will not bend to the Russian Orthodox patriarchate of Moscow, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, echoes the jihadist language of Sunni and Shia Islam in his blasphemous support for Putin’s genocidal war. And yet Ukraine remains unbroken. No one with a heart or soul could possibly watch a brief, 90-second video ( https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=WF6VQQjKyAs) of Ukrainians wounded in the war and not be moved to respect and admiration for such people: an eight-year old boy with terrible facial burns taking dancing lessons; amputee children and adults, most with prostheses, swimming, running, learning martial arts, holding their newborn children -- all amidst a devastating war. Yet there are Americans -- ncluding lawmakers and one prominent presidential candidate -- who continue to imagine, somehow, that there is a morally and politically acceptable outcome to this struggle that does not involve the defeat of Putin’s determination to reconstitute the Russian Empire: an ambition that does not stop at the borders of the late, unlamented Soviet Union. SEE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE, PAGE 12 The Catholic Difference Weigel Two years on, still unbroken