by  Shea Zirlott 

In a small church in west Anniston the Sunday before last, about three dozen faithful were spread out amongst the 25 pews. The pews may not have filled, but parishioners were not all that was missing from All Saints Catholic Church.

There was no priest present, due to a “miscommunication with the cathedral” about plans for a visiting priest to celebrate Mass.

Instead, deacon Mike Cova said his first Mass of many that day to the worshippers gathered in the cozy, 75-year-old church.

Mass without a priest is something the parishioners at All Saints have grown accustomed to over the past two decades, and they have learned to adapt and make the most of their situation.

Going without a resident priest dedicated to their parish is an option that many in the congregation prefer to the option they were forced to accept in the past. In the late 1980s, because there were not enough priests to go around, the archdiocese of Birmingham closed the doors of All Saints and merged the congregation with the much larger Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Anniston. “We felt like outcasts there,” said parishioner Rose Munford. “We wanted our church back.”

The doors reopened after about a year, and since then Mass has been led by whomever was available, including deacons and local priests who could fit Mass at All Saints in with Mass at their own parishes.

All Saints has not always been without a priest. When the historically African-American church was established in the 1940s, in the midst of Jim Crow and segregation, the church was home to a Catholic school as well.

“I have always felt that we were given a wonderful education because we were exposed to the orders, and we were held to a higher standard than other kids, and learned art and music,” said Munford. “This is what formed me. Their dedication is why I do so much in the community.”

This past year, All Saints had the same priest come every weekend to lead Mass, but he was not solely responsible for All Saints parish. Then the archdiocese assigned him to a bigger church in Birmingham.

“They pulled our priest and left us with no one,” Munford said. “We are smaller and don’t bring in a lot of money. Our money barely keeps us open.”

Munford considers her church to be “a very blessed church that has been very fortunate.”

Many of her fellow parishioners like the experiences and insights that the visiting priests have brought with them throughout the years, saying they have helped them grow as a parish.

Priests declining nationally

In recent years, the Catholic Church has faced a decline in the number of men and women called to vocations – priests, deacons or members of any holy order – especially young men and women in the United States.

Also, a substantial number of older priests have retired from the active priesthood.

The church has been forced to close or reshuffle parishes. Many priests have come from countries such as India, which has a booming Catholic population and has ended up with more priests than it needed.

What some are calling a priest shortage is actually a “relative phenomenon,” according to M. Rev. Mark Lewis, S.J., provincial supervisor of the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province. “Compared to the 1950s, the numbers are lower, but the biggest drop in clergy numbers seems to have occurred in the 1970s, and it has leveled off now,” he said. “We notice it more because the population of priests is now divided between the much older majority and a growing number of young priests, a group too small to replace every older priest.”

Locally, there are two Catholic churches in Anniston, one in Jacksonville, one in Piedmont and a Catholic school in Anniston.

In the archdiocese of Birmingham, which covers 54 parishes in the state, the number of priests has declined while the number of Catholics has grown, according to Rev. John Martignoni, director of the office of new evangelization and stewardship.

There are 103 priests in the diocese for those 54 parishes. But some parishes do not have a priest, and some share priests amongst parishes. There are 89,000 Catholics in the diocese, which averages out to one priest for every 864 Catholics.

Parishes have been affected because each priest is responsible for more people than in decades past. The ratio, Martignoni said, makes it “harder on the individual priests because they are busier with sacraments, and it is making the priest’s schedules more hectic and their lives busier.”

The archdiocese is taking steps to reverse the trend, Martignoni said, working with a vocations consultant to boost the number of seminary students over the next five to 15 years.

There are many factors influencing the decline in seminarians, including the rising cost of seminary and the recent sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church. Lewis said the real concern should be about quality, not quantity. He thinks changes arising from the abuse crisis, including psychological screenings, have helped the church ordain better priests. “Increasingly, the need for good, holy and well-adjusted priests comes to the forefront,” he said. “If there are fewer, they should be better, stay healthier and be good leaders of the community.”

Not just a Catholic crisis

Rev. Bryan Lowe of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Anniston says the decline in ministries and vocations is not unique to Catholicism.

“It is just not seen as something valuable to do by as many young people as used to see it as something valuable,” he said.

Society has pushed some, he said, to be overly concerned with how much money they can make, or how prestigious they can become. He thinks the church needs to introduce the idea of vocation to its young people, so that when they are thinking about what they will become, religious life can at least cross their minds.

Rev. James Macey of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Jacksonville became a deacon 10 years ago. After his wife died, he began the process to become a priest.

Macey is part of a growing trend of “second career priests.” Macey is a retired military officer and former university professor. Lowe of Sacred Heart Catholic Church is also a second career priest, answering the call after also retiring from the military.

Macey thinks the decline in religious vocations is due, at least in part, to the culture in America.

“I think it has to do with a general deterioration of moral values, that there is this move away from faith and morals. We live in a very secular society,” he said. “A religion that says, ‘thou shalt’ and ‘shalt not’… these aren’t conditions that are conducive to generating a lot of vocations.”

The rise of deacons

As the number of priests has declined, there has been a rise in the number of deacons, like Mike Cova. Deacons are not priests, but can perform many of the tasks of priests. They can lead Mass, bury the dead, marry, baptize and visit the sick. Deacons cannot give absolution by hearing confessions, or consecrate the Eucharist (also called transubstantiation, when the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ). Instead, deacons can lead Mass and use previously consecrated bread and wine.

Prior to 1961, there were no deacons in the Catholic Church, according to Cova. Today, there are close to 16,000. There are 54 deacons in the archdiocese of Birmingham.

One of the major differences between deacons and priests is marital status. Priests are “married to the church,” whereas deacons are allowed to be married. According to Cova, 95 percent of the deacons in the United States are married. (Interestingly, there are no deacons in India because there is such a large number of priests in the country.)

Cova acknowledges there may be a shortage of priests if you just look at the numbers, but thinks the real shortage of priests is because “we want priests to be accommodating for us.”

“We are in a society of convenience. We want it when we want it, and we want it now,” he said. Parishioners want to be able to go to Mass at a time that is convenient for them, he explained, and not necessarily when the clergy is available.

He pointed out that there have been congregations in remote areas that have survived for centuries without the constant guidance of a priest. Instead, the local people carried on and held the church together as a community.

The future of All Saints

Munford said she looks forward to a time when All Saints will once again have its own priest. She feels the church needs a priest who will be able to bring more people into the congregation, especially children. The congregation now consists of mostly adults with very few children.

“If you don’t bring younger people in to carry on, the church will stop existing,” she said.

Munford has high hopes for the future of her church, and the potential of her fellow parishioners. “Church is a community. If we really learn the Word, any of us should be able to go up and read the Scripture and give a sermon, if we have learned God’s word and speak it in his name.”

There is potential good news for All Saints. According to Cova, parishioners can expect to see the same priest presiding over Mass every Sunday in the near future. The archdiocese has realigned some priests, although the changes have not gone into effect yet.

He said the parishioners at All Saints have dealt well with not having a full-time priest, but he knows they “would be tickled pink to be able to have a daily Mass.”

Read more: Anniston Star – A shortage of priests Catholic church struggles to serve its growing membership

by FRANCIS X. CLOONEY, S.J.

Marlborough, MA. I was invited to speak last evening at an appearance in one of the Boston suburbs of the famous modern Indian teacher, Mata Amritanandamayi (literally, “the mother,” “the one entirely composed of bliss in the imperishable”)- Amma, mother, who tours the world regularly, and has been widely honored for her charitable works for the poor in many places. She is also famous for embracing those who come to see her. For she is also “the hugging guru,” and is known to receive for hours at a time whoever comes to her, embracing them warmly and with a loving smile. She is also considered, by many of her disciples, simply a divine person come down to earth.

So I had the opportunity to speak a few words in introduction to her own lecture (in Malayalam, her native South Indian language, with a subsequent translation read by a discipline) and subsequent devotional hymns and a long evening of embraces. I was invited partly as a specialist in Hindu-Christian relations, and partly, I suspect, as a Harvard professor. But what to do, speaking a few word before nearly 1000 people (mostly Western, most “converted” to being her devotees) gathered to see this person they know to be divine?

One might turn down such a request, of course, but if one does accept it, how to speak in a way that honors the occasion, respects her loving presence and good works, while yet also communicating something of Christian love too? It is quite a challenge to weave everything together in the right balance, definitely a Catholic and definitely standing before so large a group of very sincere devotee of Amma. So I pondered this for days, finally accepted the invitation, and eventually came up with the speech below; I showed up in my Roman collar, gave my talk, garlanded her, was embraced by her, spoke with her in Tamil for a brief moment, and enjoyed it all. But see what you think of my little speech. Did I say too much? too little? would you agree to speak on such an occasion?

Here it is (though also click here for the summary posted by Amma’s organization):

“Namaste, vanakkam, good evening. It is a grace to be here tonight with you. I know that we all travel by so many personal paths, yet by a singular invitation we are here together for a time, and that is good that it is so. I offer you this ancient Jewish blessing as we collect ourselves: “May the Lord bless us and keep us; / may the Lord make his face to shine upon us, / and be gracious to us; / may the Lord lift up his face upon us, / and give us peace. Amen.” (Numbers 6)

“We are here tonight, gathered together with Amritanandamayi Amma. When we speak this name – Amritananda-mayi, “perfect, complete in the bliss of the imperishable” – the Sanskrit scholars among us may think first on a philosophical level, perhaps turning to the Upanisads to probe the meaning of “bliss” and “the imperishable.” We may eventually think of the undying spark within all beings, and of a bliss grounded in the highest immortal Reality.

“But we also know that this name – Amritanandamayi – tells us something simpler and more immediate. We are invited to see how our guest – our host – is open to the undying Spirit that blows where it will – in, through, and around each of us. With her tonight, we learn again to stop covering our light with a bushel basket, and to share the bliss that is within us.

“I am told that Amma does not teach by many words, that she offers no elaborate instructions. When she speaks to you, I have been told, it is a living word that exists not as an idea or lesson, but as the intimate dialogue that happens when two people meet one another, face to face, and receive at some deeper level the gift of words so simple that they have more to do with receiving that giving information, listening than talking. This is the way it should be. Far better, tonight, is a true word that helps us as we need it right now, perhaps even before we know what that need is.

“I think you know that my guru, the only guru I know as my own, is Jesus. He spoke many memorable words as the teacher, living words that surprised and awakened and guided his listeners, but most often he spoke just the word or two needed to change a person’s life: get up and

walk; you are forgiven, go in peace; do not be afraid, I am with you always; come, follow me; go forth and preach the Good News, I am with you always. Think too of Lord Krsna, who said many things to Arjuna, but in the end said a simple word that was enough: “ma sucah, grieve no more.” Bhagavad Gita 18.66)

“And so tonight we listen carefully, we listen in stillness and by song, as we once again become witnesses to God promising to be with us always.

“We also know very well that Amma’s words blossom into the doing of good deeds, acts of compassion. This is what St. Francis meant when he said, ‘Preach the Good News always; use words only when necessary.’ Amma’s concrete and real works of mercy are known everywhere, hers is a faith lived out in compassion, love realized in feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless.

“And so it should be. As St. John puts it, ‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them… There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…. We love because God first loved us. But those who do not love the brother or sister they see, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from Jesus is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters as well.’ (I John 4) True wisdom is not separate from compassion: this core insight gives life once and again, and it emerges with the greatest force when the message and messenger are one.

“From the first time I heard about Amma I, like many of you, have known how she hugs people, envelopes all who come to her in her embrace. This too speaks more than words, showing us in visible form that no one is untouchable, no one is to be kept at a distance, and no one need be the alien or exile, shunned by others. Such compassion flows around us, like a river that recognizes no stopping point. As Jesus said, “The water that I give will become in you a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4)

“When Jesus came, he lay his hand upon the leper and the outcaste, he called the little children unto himself. He was kissed, embraced, touched by those who simply wanted to be where he was. He ate with the sinner and the prostitute, he dined in the house of the tax collector and the Pharisee. In love, the scorned woman washed his feet with her tears. He stretched forth his hands, that he might be nailed to the cross of our suffering and despair. Or think of Rama, who came into the home of Sabari the outcaste woman, accepted her gift, and embraced her.

“It seems right then that Amma, a mother indeed, should open herself to all who will come near to her, and by a hug offer so intimate a pathway to bliss: a smile, just a word, a deed that is good news for the lonely and the brokenhearted today – and still more simply, the loving embrace that welcomes us home. Such is the great gift we share tonight.

“I close by sharing with you the very first Indian prayer that touched my heart, Rabindranath Tagore’s words of recognition of God who is wondrously near to us:

‘You have made me known to friends whom I knew not. / You have given me seats in homes not my own. / You have brought the distant near / and made a sister of the stranger… / Through birth and death, / in this world or in others, / wherever you lead me / it is you, the same, / the one companion of my endless life / who ever links my heart / with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar. / When one knows you, / then alien there is none, / then no door is shut. / Oh, grant me my prayer / that I may never lose / the bliss of the touch of the one / in the play of the many.'” (from Gitanjali; adapted)

Amen.

Francis X. Clooney

Applications to religious volunteer programs have risen dramatically this year as a result of the shrinking job market. In “Will Work for Free,” assistant editor Kerry Weber looks at how the influx of volunteers and the poor economic conditions are affecting programs like the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. On our podcast Kerry discusses why she chose to spend a year with the Mercy Volunteer Corps after graduating from college and what spiritual lessons she learned from the sisters of Mercy and the families she worked with on an Indian reservation.

Download MP3

“As he saw the crowds, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were worried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt. 9:36)

Couples waiting to get married

When I started my legal ministry among the Adivasis/Tribals/Indigenous Peoples in Gujarat, India, as part of the SHAKTI-LAHRC Jesuit human rights centre, I had a feeling somewhat similar to that of our Master when he said “They were like sheep without a shepherd”. In India the Adivasi population is 8%, in Gujarat 15% and in the area where I am working it is as high as 65 to 98%. The Adivasis have faced, and continue to face various challenges. Among these are a crisis over Adivasi identity, erosion of their culture, unity and dignity, loss of control over their natural resources, and violations of their Human Rights. One of the main causes is a lack of value-based Adivasi “shepherdship”, which could lead these people to green pastures! At this juncture, the hope was that “one day, their own people could lead themselves”. With this hope, we started using our legal ministry to foster Adivasi leadership. Today there are some signs that our effort is bearing fruits.

42 years ago, a major dam called the Ukai dam was built, displacing over 150 Adivasi villages without proper compensation and rehabilitation. That dam was supposed to have had two main canals: The Left canal going beyond Surat city, and the Right canal irrigating 59 Adivasi villages. The Left canal is functioning, but not the Right one. The people believed that their leaders would see to it that it would, but nothing happened. Three years ago, some awakening was brought about among the people and a few Adivasi leaders took the initiative. They blocked the roads and forced the Government to give them a promise. That promise has not been kept. So they have taken the Government to the High Court of Gujarat to fulfil its promise.

In a remote town called Songadh, 250 Adivasi men and women have been selling vegetables for many years. Now they are being pushed out by outsiders and harassed by different elements. They (the sons and daughters of the soil) have no place to sell their goods, reminding us of Jesus’ saying, “The Son of man has no place to lay his head”. The women took the initiative, went to different authorities but all in vain. Now they have taken the Municipal authorities to the High Court to redress their rights.

Several such struggles are on by the people to gain their dignity and restore their unity and identity. Their ongoing struggle for getting their rights over forestlands is a good example of the rising level of awareness and growing Adivasi leadership.

The celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, the yearly Adivasi Cultural Festival at Songadh and the recently concluded Mass Weddings in which 29 couples of different Adivasi groups participated, ignoring their various sub groups, religious, political, geographical differences are all indications of the gradual transformation that is taking place.

The Mass Weddings were a particular occasion for rejoicing, since in India (and maybe everywhere in the world), people spend a lot money on weddings. This does not bother the well-to-do, but what about the poor who cannot afford it? Deep down everyone would like his or her marriage to be celebrated in grand style, as indeed every parent would like perform their children’s weddings in grand style. But poverty is a very real issue and leads quite a few to elope and start living together. This causes problems for the community. Even of those who are married very few obtain legal registration of the marriage, and the couples and their children are then deprived of Government welfare schemes.

The Mass wedding was planned keeping these things in mind. It served as a platform for many to have their weddings in style with no expense and allowed them to receive gifts from others. Their marriages also get legally registered and they are then eligible for benefits from government schemes.

All these initiatives are helping to bring together all the Adivasis as one Community on one platform and to shout with confidence, joy and pride the slogan, “Jai Adivasi, Jago Adivasi” (Victory to the Adivasis, Awaken O Adivasis!).

J. Stanny SJ (Jebamalai Stanislaus)

SHAKTI-LAHRC (Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre)

Songadh, Gujarat, India

Read a news item about the mass wedding and see pictures here.

Where does a Jesuit come from?

Why does he join the Society of Jesus?

How does he know his calling?

The Jesuit Conference of the United States has launched a new video series interviewing Jesuits from across the country discussing their vocations, their various paths to becoming a Jesuit and what it has meant to them to answer God’s call. National Jesuit News will feature a new video interview each week. You can watch additional videos by going to the Jesuits Revealed channel on YouTube.

Today’s video features Jesuit Brother Jim Siwicki discussing the unique calling for Jesuits who are brothers. Fr. Siwicki is a Jesuit from the California Province of the Society of Jesus where he is the vocation director for the province. You can watch additional videos with Siwicki here and here at the Jesuits Revealed channel on YouTube.

By Nj Viehland, Quezon City

Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila incenses Bishop Francisco Claver’s coffin

More than 50 Philippine bishops paid their last respects to Jesuit Bishop Francisco Claver during his funeral Mass in Quezon City July 7.

The late bishop was one of Asia’s greatest Church leaders, Oblate Archbishop Orlando Quevedo told the gathering, which included priests, nuns and lay Church workers.

He also had a keen eye for detail, seen in his supervision of construction projects inMalaybalay diocese, said Jesuit Father Calvin Poulin in his homily.

Father Poulin was the late bishop’s vicar general, secretary and companion during his first assignment as bishop in Malaybalay in the southern Philippines in 1969.

Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila presided over the Mass, held at the Jesuits’ Loyola House of Studies chapel, and concelebrated by Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu and Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines.

Bishop Claver was later buried at the Jesuit Sacred Heart Novitiate cemetery in Novaliches, Quezon City.

The late prelate was born in Bontoc, Mountain Province, in 1929. He entered the Society of Jesus on May 30, 1948, and was ordained a priest in 1961 after completing theology studies at Woodstock College in Maryland, US.

He obtained a master’s degree in anthropology from the Jesuit Ateneo de Manila and later a doctorate in the same field from the University of Colorado.

He served as first bishop of Malaybalay from 1969-1984 and bishop of his home vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe from 1995-2004.

In between these assignments and even during them, he taught and wrote articles on social justice and violence.

He drafted the 1986 Philippine bishops’ statement believed to have triggered the People Power movement that unseated President Ferdinand Marcos.

Bishop Claver died on July 1 from pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lung. He was 81.

• PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH
• The Road to Daybreak – A Spiritual Journey

13th Week in Ordinary Time

• 1 Jul
• 2 Jul
• 3 Jul  St Thomas, Apostle

14th Week in Ordinary Time

• 4 Jul  Sunday
• 5 Jul
• 6 Jul
• 7 Jul
• 8 Jul
• 9 Jul
• 10 Jul

15th Week in Ordinary Time

• 11 Jul  Sunday
• 12 Jul
• 13 Jul  St Henry
• 14 Jul  St Camillus de Lellis, priest
• 15 Jul  St Bonaventure, bishop & doctor
• 16 Jul  Our Lady of Mount Carmel
• 17 Jul

16th Week in Ordinary Time

• 18 Jul  Sunday
• 19 Jul
• 20 Jul
• 21 Jul  St Lawrence of Brindisi, priest & doctor
• 22 Jul  St Mary Magdalene
• 23 Jul  St Bridget of Sweden, religious
• 24 Jul  St Charbel Makhluf, priest

17th Week in Ordinary Time

• 25 Jul  Sunday
• 26 Jull  Ss Joachim and Ann
• 27 Jul
• 28 Jul
• 29 Jul
• 30 Jul  St Peter Chrysologus, bishop & doctor
• 31 Jul  St Ignatius of Loyola

From the Curia

Tempo forte. Father General, together with his council, was out of Rome from the 6th to the 10th of June for four days of intense consultation, prayer and reflection on many subjects regarding the governance of the Society. The major theme was a synthetic re-reading of this year’s “ex-officio” letters. Consequently, the major part of the time was devoted to reflection on the collaboration with laity and on the nurturing of vocations in the Society today. Other subjects on the agenda were formation in Ignatian spirituality and the evaluation of the work done by the Consulta during this year. “To be gone out of the Curia as a Council,” said Fr. Echarte, secretary of the Society, “being in close contact with nature, made the meeting deep, but not wearying. This tempo forte lived up fully to what the tradition of the Curia expects from these special days of consultation: a time of prayer, reflection and discernment as a special help to Father General for his governance.”

Task Force on Ecology. The first meeting of the members of the task forceon ecology (see Electronic Service n. 7 of 12 April 2010) will be held at the General Curia in Rome from the5th to the 10th of July. The meeting will consist of three parts: first of all a reflection on the responses given by Jesuits to the question of what are the ecological challenges all over the world. Then, there will be a reflection on documents on the subject published by the Society in the last ten years. During the second part the members of the task force will listen to the contribution by some representatives of different religious orders based in Rome and by Jacques Blamont, internationally renowned scientist. The third part will be devoted to discerning the Jesuit commitment for the future and on the kind of practical recommendations to submit to Father General.

Appointments

Father General has appointed:

– Father Francisco José Ruiz Pérez, new Provincial of Spain. Fr. Ruiz Pérez, who is presently Provincial of Betica, will replace Fr. Elias Royón. Fr. Francisco José was born in 1961, entered the Society of Jesus in 1981 and was ordained a priest in 1994.

– Father Jose Changanacherry, new Provincial of Gujarat (India). Father Jose was born in 1938, entered the Society of Jesus in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1971. Until now he has been instructor for Third Year in Goa. He has been already Provincial of Gujarat from 1989 to 1995.

From the Provinces

ASIA-PACIFIC: Joint communications strategy

The Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) at a recent creative communications workshop held in Manila with professionals from different countries of Asia has developed a communications action plan aimed at pooling its communication resources.  “We are not isolated units in different parts of the world, but we are part of one common international body. We need to be able to see ourselves in this way so that we can meet the challenges that are coming in a global way… New ideas can be developed and our communication bodies are involved in the production of a wide variety of products, including films, magazines, online journals and websites,” said Fr. Mark Raper, President of JCAP.  It is important to remain relevant in the media world because with the prevailing focus on physical appearance people are no longer interested in their spiritual needs. At the workshop the importance of communications training during formation was also discussed, to ensure that Jesuits are equipped with communications skills suitable to a range of ministries.

AUSTRIA: Night of the open churches

This year the “Night of the open churches” took place for the second time in Austria and for the sixth time in Vienna on May 28. The Jesuits have also participated with various events in and near different Jesuit churches: in Graz visitors were welcomed at the John Ogilvie Haus, while in Innsbruck the renovated crypt was opened for visitors and a saxophone band played. The program ended with the Eucharist. In Linz and Steyr the agenda contemplated also musical programs with pieces by Bach, Händel and Mozart. In Linz there was also a lecture on Matteo Ricci and inculturation. In Vienna apart from a guided tour through the church (a master piece of Andrea Pozzo S.J.) and a presentation of the mission work of St. Paul, two Jesuits talked about what is important for the Society today and what Jesuit life looks like.

BURUNDI: A clinic against AIDS

Service Yezu Mwiza (SYM), a Jesuit programme for AIDS care and HIV prevention in Burundi, has inaugurated a small clinic on 12 June. The clinic represents a significant milestone for SYM: recognition, earlier in the year, as a centre for the distribution of antiretroviral therapy (ART). “We give thanks to God for this success, which will allow those we serve, most of whom are very poor, to save the money they would have spent on transport to collect their medication from other centres and hospitals in or around the town,” says Fr Désiré Yamuremye SJ, SYM Director. “Given our strategy to bring services to the people by going to parishes or nearby health centres, our doctors and nurses will at last be able to distribute ARVs to those who need them. This has always been our target and our beneficiaries are very happy”. The aim is to offer holistic care: medical, psychosocial, nutritional, micro-credit for income-generating activities. Children benefit from educational and other support. The opening of the clinic has been possible thanks to cooperation between AJAN, the Jesuit Region, the local Jesuit AIDS ministry, and the generosity of benefactors in Canada and Holland.

COLOMBIA: More death threats

On the 3rd of June Fathers Peter Balleis, international director of JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service), Alfredo Infante, JRS director for Latin America and Caribbean and John Jairo Montoya, JRS director for Colombia, issued a communiqué in which they asked the Colombian government to investigate some events and to offer protection to organizations and people who suffered intimidations from the Comando Conjunto de Limpieza. Among other things the communiqué affirms: “On the 26th of May 2010 many organizations of displaced persons and defenders of human rights, among them the JRS of Barrancabermeja (Colombia) received death threats through personal and institutional e-mails… We ask the Colombian government for quick and effective justice and clarity about what has happened as well as protection for organizations and threatened people.” The communiqué ends assuring that JRS will continue to work on the side of the population by reaching for peace through the development of dialogue and respect for human rights. CINEP, the Colombian Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular also issued a communiqué regarding the same threats. And, the Bishop of Barrancabermeja joined the protest with a communiqué in which he showed solidarity with Jesuit fathers and their collaborators.

EUROPE: Effects of detention  in European Centers for migrants

23 countries of the European Union commissioned a study to investigate the effect of detention on those in migrant centers, especially on women and children.  According to Sir, the news agency of the Italian Episcopal Conference, the study, facilitated by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), was submitted on the 8^th of June to Brussels.  The study, “To become vulnerable during detention”  analyzed over 18 months the consequences of compulsion and deprivation of freedom at the psychological and sanitary level, on the life of the asylum seekers and migrants confined in the centers scattered all over Europe. The results of this research, says the JRS, show that “young women, children and people detained for more than three months suffer from a severe form of stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia and loss of weight.”

INDIA: Consultation for food security

Some 100 participants attended a June 5-6 consultation organized by the Delhi-based Jesuit Indian Social Institute. Participants called on the Indian government to make food available, accessible and affordable “at all times in all circumstances”. Saying they opposed “the unhealthy use of fertile agricultural land” participants also demanded that the government promote agricultural sector growth. “Everyone has a fundamental right to be free from hunger and to receive a required-level of nutrition”, a consultation statement said. The draft bill defines food security as a “situation that exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Father M. K.George, ISI director, said he hoped that the consultation would launch an intensified campaign for a “just and humane act.”

INDONESIA: Threats to national character

Rampant consumerism and religious extremism pose a dual threat to Indonesia’s national character; Father Franz Magnis-Suseno of Jakarta’sDriyarkara School of Philosophy warned speaking to about 80 participants at a June 2 symposium in Jakarta organized by the Democratic National, an organization dedicated to creating integral freedom in Indonesia. “Narrow-minded religious extremism has also emerged today. This also threatens society,” he said underlying that the national character needs basic values which are already contained in the Pancasila (five principles) enshrined in the 1945 Constitution, and that calls for a belief in one God, a just and civilized society, national unity, consensus-led democracy and justice for all. Indonesian people need openness and tolerance, Father Suseno said. “These exist in Indonesia. But they are being threatened by fanaticism and religious and ethnic narrow-mindedness. We must uphold our basic values since they unite us.” And he urged Indonesians to resist the threats and to learn to accept ethnic and religious differences.

LATIN AMERICA: Message from the meeting of Major Superiors

The XX meeting of Major Superiors of the Society of Jesus in Latin America was held in Guatemala at the end of May. At the end of the meeting the participants sent a message “to our Jesuit brethren and those with whom we collaborate in the apostolic service to the mission.” After mentioning the goal of the meeting, that is: “to build together our Common Apostolic Project”, the superiors say: “in a climate of prayer, discernment and union of souls we have selected six priorities for our common apostolic work…The aim is to fix the options we, as Latin American, collectively want to stress and in this way to collaborate in the process of reflection and apostolic planning that we have in every Province. Together in  this work we have listened to the human tragedies of Haiti and Chile…Thinking of the victims and the work the Society of Jesus may develop in these circumstances, we have commissioned the presidency of CPAL (Conference of Jesuit Provincial of Latin America) to elaborate a protocol to face emergency situations.” After mentioning other moments and situations lived during the meeting, the Provincials end: “through the priorities we have taken up, we ask our Lord to help us  proclaim of spiritual richness as well as be its heirs.”

USA: A statement of California Province

The California Province of the Jesuits has published a statement declaring solidarity with migrants in opposing the new anti-migrant law that was passed in the state of Arizona (SB 1070)http://www.jesuitscalifornia.org/Document.Doc?id=436). Another statement condemning the law has been published by the Jesuit Service for Migrants (SJM) of North and Central America. Read the statement here (in Spanish):http://www.sjweb.info/sjs/articles/documents.cfm?LangTop=3. In addition, the students at a Jesuit school in Arizona, Brophy College Prep have been very active since the passing of SB 1070. The school’s office of Faith and Justice organized the students to take several trips to the (Arizona) Capitol to lobby. Students made signs and stood along with other Arizonans who opposed SB 1070. Headlines 2010/05.

VATICAN: Summer school again at the Specola

The 12th Summer School of the Specola is under way from the 30th of May to the 25th of June. The 27 participants come from from 24 countries. For them this is an occasion to deepen their knowledge of an illuminating theme in modern astrophysics and observational cosmology: the chemistry of the universe. The course will alternate theoretical lessons and laboratory exercises, in which the students will test themselves as “creators” of theoretical universes toward the realization of evolutionary models of the chemistry of the universe. The goal of this biennial initiative of the Specola Vaticana is to offer to a group of deserving students, at the end of their university studies, a privileged opportunity to deepen some topics of their astronomical studies and to weave professional friendships with professors and students of an international sphere. It is worth noting that, among the criteria for the selection of candidates, the Observatory favours students coming from developing countries, and that, for many, it is their first opportunity to participate in international courses. This year, the professors are former students of the Observatory’s summer courses.

The 4th centenary of Matteo Ricci’s death

Circulating exposition. Last months the Jesuit Centre Sèvres in Paris hosted an exhibition with twenty panels illustrating the scientific contributions of Fr. Matteo Ricci to cartography, astronomy and mathematics and the welcome they received in Ming China (the imperial dynasty of Ricci’s time). The exposition underlined that it was an encounter of two major traditions, rich and complex, in a specific time in history, the end of XVI and the beginning of XVII century.

Rome: A new stamp. The Pontifical Gregorian University promoted at the Mail Bureau of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta the printing of a commemorative stamp devoted to its distinguished “alumni” Father Matteo Ricci, S.J. on the occasion of the 4^th centenary of his death. The stamp, issued on the 30^th of April 2010, for the value of 2,50 euro, with a circulation of twelve thousand specimens (every sheet contains 12 stamps), reproduces the classical painting by Emmanuel Yu Wen-Hui, kept in Rome at the Gesù Church.  The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has the international right to issue stamps, but these are not accepted for mail service for the most part of  the countries of the world.

Portrait of a Jesuit-Matteo Ricci. Recently, the Macau Ricci Institute (MRI) has published a short biography of Fr. Matteo Ricci, based on a collection of essays presented in the Institute respectively by Fr. Gianni Criveller and Dr. César Guillén Nuñez. This modest publication which would like somehow to contribute to the worldwide commemoration of Matteo Ricci’s death in Beijing in 1610, intends to inaugurate a series of MRI studies related to the Jesuit history in the old China mission. It will be published under the name of Jesuítas Publication Series and will introduce to the readers such outstanding figures of the past as Alessandro Valignano, Melchior Carneiro and Tomás Pereira. Each title of the series will be available in English and Chinese simplify versions. The book is available from: [email protected]

New in SJWEB

A podcast with Fr. Paterne Mombe, a Jesuit from West Africa who has been appointed coordinator of AJAN, the African Jesuit Centre in the struggle against AIDS, in Nairobi.

by Fr. David A. Brown, S.J.
David Brown, S.J., is an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

The course of history is sometimes punctuated by points in time that witness the passing of one seminal figure only to see the birth of another who builds on the work of his predecessor. One example is seen in the figure of Isaac Newton (b. 4 January 1643) who was born less than a year after Galileo’s death (8 January 1642). Thus it was also with the famous Jesuit missionary and sinologist Matteo Ricci, who was born (6 October 1152) in the same year in which St. Francis Xavier had died (3 December) on Shangchuan island off the coast of China, his hope of entering the mainland remaining unrealized. Xavier’s hopes would be fulfilled in Matteo Ricci, whose endeavors in Asia would change the course of history.

The year 2010 marks the 400th anniversary of Matteo Ricci’s death in Beijing on 11 May 1610. To commemorate the occasion, Pope Benedict XVI has asked Bishop Claudio Giuliodori of the Diocese of Macerata (the region in Italy that was home to the young Ricci) to sponsor a Jubilee year, as stated in the Pontiff’s letter of 6 May 2009. Given the Pope’s emphasis on the importance of such an occasion, combined with the emergence of China as a superpower and a shifting of the global economic center of gravity toward Asia, it seems an opportune moment to examine the importance of Matteo Ricci’s legacy for these modern times especially with regard to the challenges confronting the Church in its efforts to spread the Gospel. This article will discuss the broad themes of Ricci’s missionary enterprise that both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have deemed as worthy of note for the present in some of their recent speeches: Pope John Paul II’s Lettera di Giovanni Paolo II al Vescovo di Macerata (LettJPII, 1982), Address to the Gregorian University Commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the Arrival in China of Matteo Ricci, S.J. (AddressJPII, 1982), and Dialogue of Cultures: the Road to Peace (DialogueJPII, 2001), and Pope Benedict XVI’s Message to the Bishop of Macerata on the Occasion of the Fourth Centenary of the Death of Fr. Matteo Ricci (LettBXVI, 2009).

In many ways, the current situation faced by an increasingly eastward looking Church is not too different from that of 500 years ago. From centuries ago, one can hear echoes of the following words: “Whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God beneath the banner of the cross in our society, which we desire to be designated by the name of Jesus, and to serve the Lord alone and the Church, his spouse, under the Roman pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth, is a member of a Society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine” (Formula of the Institute, 1540). These are the opening lines from the foundational document of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), initially approved by Pope Paul III in 1540. Freshly penned from Ignatius and his companions, they inflamed the hearts of men and inspired them to enter the ranks of the Society of Jesus with zeal and fervor for the Lord even as they faced a rapidly changing world fraught with much turmoil but also replete with opportunity and new horizons. Even as the Protestant Reformation divided Christendom in northern Europe, the discovery of the Americas and travel to other parts previously inaccessible in the Orient inaugurated a new age in which the Church looked outward to new realms both East and West. Within Europe itself, the old Medieval order and Scholasticism of the universities were passing and being supplanted by an urban culture permeated with the new Renaissance humanism. This demanded men formed in Renaissance culture, men open to a new and bigger world, and men who could engage it by communicating effectively. With its printing press and newly-encountered lands, it was a world not entirely different from our own, a modern world awash in more information and having more education than ever, yet torn by culture wars as the dominance of the old Western order is increasingly supplanted by a “multipolar” world made smaller by globalization and by the mass media.

It was into a world in flux that Matteo Ricci was born on 6 October 1552 in the Italian city of Macerata. As the eldest of 13 children, he was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, Ricci entered the Society of Jesus in 1571, partly due to the influence of his former teacher, whom he deeply admired and who had entered the Society a few years before. Having completed his time at the novitiate of Sant’ Andrea Quirinale, he then did part of his Jesuit seminary training in Rome at the Roman College, where he studied philosophy, theology, mathematics, and astronomy. There he would have met Jesuits of great learning such as the mathematician Christopher Clavius and the theologian Robert Bellarmine. Imbued with the spirit of the new learning in such an environment and filled with zeal for being a missionary in the Orient — partly due to hearing about the great deeds of missionaries already there — Matteo Ricci was finally granted his request to work in the missions. He departed for Asia from Lisbon and arrived in Goa (India) in 1578. After four years there, he was dispatched by Alessandro Valignano, his former novice master, to the Portuguese island-colony of Macao (off the coast of southern China) in 1582 to begin preparations to enter mainland China in the hope of establishing a permanent mission there. Together with another Jesuit, Michele Ruggieri, Ricci was instructed to master the Mandarin Chinese dialect, the language of the educated class and of official government administration in the Chinese imperial bureaucracy. Having done this and having learned the customs of the culture, both Ricci and Ruggieri were finally authorized to enter the city of Zhaoqing (Shiuhing/Chao-King) in China in 1583 by the governor of Canton, Wang-Pan, a Mandarin official who was intrigued by Western skills in cartography, mathematics, astronomy, and clocks. Seeking the acceptance of the culture into which they had entered, Ricci and Ruggieri came dressed in the clothing of Buddhist monks, but quickly realizing the marginal status of that class in Chinese society, they changed their attire to that of Mandarins who were well-respected in Confucian society. Their stay in Canton was based on the condition that they become fully Chinese in their ways and allegiances, something to which they agreed. It was there and later in Nanjing and Nanchang that Ricci labored patiently, constantly adapting himself to Chinese culture, and in the process, built up a network of friendships based on trust and on a mutual exchange of what both East and West saw as important, characteristic, curious, and desirable in the other. Here, Ricci’s knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, calendars, and maps was a source of fascination and invaluable to Chinese scholars who deeply respected him. Then in 1601, Ricci’s dream was finally realized when he entered Beijing and was allowed to enter the Forbidden City in the hope of having an audience with the Ming Emperor himself, Wan-li. Though he never met the emperor face-to-face, he was given access to the Forbidden City, and the Jesuits were henceforth made beneficiaries of the emperor’s patronage. Ricci spent the next nine years of his life at the imperial court placing his mathematical skills at the service of the emperor and laboring slowly to introduce Christianity to the people and their culture using Chinese concepts, philosophy, and, of course, the language. He died in Beijing in 1610. As a measure of the esteem in which he was held at court by the emperor and officials, special permission was granted to the Jesuits to bury him in Beijing, a privilege not ordinarily granted to foreigners in that age.

By the time of his death, Matteo Ricci (Li Madou) had facilitated an unprecedented meeting of East and West and had planted the seeds of the Gospel in the very heart of China. Moreover, he had done what had been viewed as impossible: to formulate an entirely new non-Western framework by which to communicate Christianity to a culture utterly unlike his own. The result is seen in the many writings he produced, including a translation of the 10 Commandments into Mandarin, his famous Treatise on Friendship, and his great apologetic work The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven. This latter work, perhaps his most famous, was characteristic of Ricci’s attempt to begin with Chinese considerations, in this case from natural, philosophical and political premises: “Every state or realm has a sovereign (lord); would it ever be possible that only the universe would not have a (sovereign) lord” (Ricci, True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven and Earth)? In the realm of mathematics, Ricci also translated Euclid’s Elements of Geometry into Chinese.

Matteo Ricci’s legacy is an impressive one, the effects of which are still felt today. As such, the Church can still draw many lessons from it in its rapport with different cultures (including that of Western secularism) in modern times. With the Apostolic See ultimately in charge of setting the Church’s general evangelization priorities, it is important to examine what it sees as the key elements of Ricci’s methodology, which is of relevance to the Church’s present and future missionary efforts. Something of this can be gleaned from letters written by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI in the last 30 years commemorating the different anniversaries of events in Ricci’s journey in the Orient.

In some ways the style of evangelization that characterized Ricci and his contemporaries was nothing new. It had its precedent in the early missionary endeavors of the first Christians as they engaged the Greco-Roman culture of their day, as St. Paul did at the Areopagus 2000 years ago. What made Ricci’s methods and those of other Jesuits novel 1500 years later in the Age of Discovery was the sharp contrast between their methods and those of the European colonizers with whom they had to deal and on whom they depended. The colonizers often tended to coerce local indigenous populations into embracing Christianity, the motivation often being simple economic gain. Their first-hand witness of the brutality of some of the colonizers, combined with encountering the advanced cultures of Japan and China — cultures which would not so easily bend to European ways — indicate that a different approach had to be found by missionaries to bring the Gospel to the peoples of the Orient.

The seminal figure, who in many ways set the tone and standard for the methods which Ricci and contemporaries would later follow, was Alessandro Valignano. He had been appointed Visitor to the East Indies Mission in 1573 by the Jesuit Superior General Mercurian. An immensely talented man, Valignano knew that the only way that the Christian faith could take root in such different lands was if it were truly received into the hearts and minds and culture of the people. The Gospel had to be received in a way they could call their own, understood in terms familiar to themselves and not through the prism of the European worldview. This would require the ability to respect their culture and customs by inserting oneself into it, which if done correctly, could win the good will of the people and promote true friendship. Of course, all of this would begin with the ability to learn the language of a particular culture. For Valignano, these steps served as the basic prerequisites to any long-lasting form of evangelization.

Beginning with Francis Xavier and continuing with Valignano, experience of the missions in Japan and in other territories quickly led to the realization that China was the central cultural power in the Orient, the source from which many other nations had derived their own cultures and to which they looked for continuing developments. Thus, engagement with Oriental culture, an establishment of a link between East and West, between country and Church, all built on dialogue, would (and continues to) find its test case in the Church’s rapport with China. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI note that, above all, Ricci’s emphasis on inculturation of the Gospel in Chinese culture has been and continues to be of crucial importance. First, they observe that a certain amount of pre-evangelization is a requisite for the process of inculturating the Gospel. That is, there has to be an engagement with the culture itself, beginning with a working knowledge of its language, then an acquaintance with its ways and mores, all properly understood through a knowledge of the philosophical or credal system that shapes and provides a narrative for the culture. Further, both popes note that the evangelist also has to inculturate himself (in as far as this is possible without compromising the basic tenets of the Christian faith) so as see the world through its own culture, as was the particular case of Ricci who had to learn how the Chinese perceive things. Only then will the next step in evangelization come: inculturation of the Gospel message itself. In the case of Ricci, it was not just the presentation of Christianity to the Chinese in their own language (Mandarin) but also promotion of its understanding through the Confucian worldview which pervaded China at that time. For both popes, two fundamentals can be identified in Ricci’s methodology: 1) Chinese neophytes would not have to abandon their culture and become any less Chinese when embracing Christianity; 2) rather than uproot or destroy it, the Christian faith would complete, perfect, complement, and enrich all that was best in Chinese tradition (DialogueJPII, 2001 & LettBXVI, 2009). That is, the Incarnation itself, the Word becoming flesh, can only ennoble — grace perfecting nature.

Going beyond the theoretical framework of evangelization, both popes stress that what was novel about Ricci in practice was his profound empathy with and respect for the Chinese people, their ways, and their culture. The means by which this would be realized in daily life was in the cultivation of friendships and relationships with persons, a mutual trust built up slowly over the 28 years that he was in China. This process required great patience. Given its length of time, the number of visitors received, and the many setbacks experienced, the mission always seemingly in danger of failure. Yet, reciprocation in good will from the Chinese would follow. A testament to Ricci’s cultivation of friendships was the remarkable success which his Treatise on Friendship (Cicero’s De Amicitia) met in the country when printed in Mandarin. A wide network of friendships had been formed with Christian charity at its center.

For Pope John Paul II, an important dimension in this role of friendship in the process of inculturation is the virtue of honesty, expressed in transparency. The early missionaries came to China with no ulterior motives and put themselves at the service of governors and, ultimately, the emperor himself. Pope John Paul II notes: “What the Chinese people particularly admire in Matteo Ricci’s scientific work in China is his humble, honest, and disinterested attitude, not inspired by ulterior motives and free from links with any foreign economy or power” (AddressJPII, 1982). Indeed, violation of already-established trust would have doomed the mission, given the suspicion with which foreigners were held. Instead, there was to be a mutual enrichment. The missionaries came with certain practical skills which would be of benefit to the Chinese. Here, good will was accompanied by a practical cultural exchange from which both sides stood to benefit.

As successful as the Church’s initial rapprochement with China came to be under Ricci’s sojourn there, it was not without its difficulties and failings. Ricci himself, notwithstanding his successes, is not beyond criticism for his methods employed, one example being a tendency to overemphasize how strongly Christianity is implicit in Confucian philosophy. The issue at hand was how far the Christian faith could be stretched to accommodate an almost-entirely different worldview and still remain true to its evangelical proclamation, and his expert knowledge of Chinese culture was inevitably subject to criticism, including that of some fellow Jesuits. It is one of the central tensions which has always been at the heart of the Church’s missionary endeavors throughout the generations: the tension between a robust Christian orthodoxy and creativity required to give the Gospel a new expression, something which was to become a major issue in the Chinese rites controversy 150 years later. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI speak about this creative tension, noting that true creativity in inculturation is at its best when it is able to maintain the integrity of the faith in its totality: “I therefore willingly join those who are commemorating this generous son of your region, an obedient minister of the Church and a daring and intelligent messenger of Christ’s Gospel. Given his intense scientific and spiritual activity, it is impossible not to be favorably impressed by his innovative and special skill in bringing together with full respect China’s cultural and spiritual traditions in their totality” (LettBXVI, 2009). Another source of tension is of a more temperamental nature: desire for immediate results and conversions as opposed to the patience required by the long view: planting the seeds which others will reap. Any missionary — and Ricci was no exception— knows that he is planting the seeds which others will reap years after him.

In noting the various anniversaries connected with Ricci’s encounter with China, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI highlight important lessons for establishing dialogue with different cultures, especially with China. Although China remains in some ways a society strongly resistant to foreign influences and yet desirous of some Western innovations — a situation not unlike that of the 1500s — its cultural context is entirely different than that of the past. With the Marxist Revolution having overturned and destroyed the old Confucian order on which China had based its daily rhythms of life, and with more recent secularism eroding its last vestiges, the cultural reality now dominant in China is entirely unlike that faced by Ricci centuries ago. Ironically, the Church’s dialogue with secularism, in particular its emphasis on the role of reason as the starting point for dialogue, will be of enormous assistance in future years. Likewise, the provision of men who can provide certain practical skills to help the Chinese to develop their society is still of great relevance today.

“Just do it.”

Sounds easy, right? On the one hand, there’s something to be said for spontaneity. On the other hand, some of our choices in life require deep thought, prayer, and consideration, lest we find ourselves facing the consequences of a poor decision. That’s where the art of discernment comes in.

Discernment is a time-honored practice in the Christian tradition. In essence, discernment is a decision-making process that honors the place of God’s will in our lives. It is an interior search that seeks to align our own will with the will of God in order to learn what God is calling us to. Every choice we make, no matter how small, is an opportunity to align ourselves with God’s will. Here are some tried-and-true pointers that can help you discern God’s will.

Talk to Someone You Respect.
God often speaks to us through the wisdom of others. Seek out the wisdom of at least one and perhaps several people who you feel have the gift of wisdom and ask for their advice.

Find Some Solitude.
It’s good to talk to other people when making important decisions, but at some point, it is crucial to make some time to be alone with your thoughts and with God. Invite God into your decision-making process.

Start with What You Know.
Lay out all of the facts in front of yourself so that you can deal with the known before you delve into the unknown!

Tell God What It Is That You Desire and What You Fear.
Be honest and tell God what your deepest desires and fears are in this situation is. Before you can say the words, “thy will be done,” be sure you are truly in touch with your own will; otherwise it will come back to bite you anyway!

Let God Speak to You.
Most of us don’t actually hear a voice when God speaks to us. However, pay attention closely to the ways that God is speaking to you. What kinds of thoughts, feelings (especially love, joy, and peace, or a lack thereof), and memories might God be stirring within you to help you make your decision? What Scripture story or saint’s life comes to mind that might enlighten your decision? Find the passage or story and prayerfully read it.

Know That God Has a Plan for You.
Remind yourself that you are not on your own and that you don’t have to yell and scream to get God’s attention to help you in this matter. On the contrary, remind yourself that God has a plan for you and that his plan is driven purely by love.

Pray to Do God’s Will.
As difficult as it may be, pray the words, “thy will be done,” asking God to give you the strength you need to continue to discern his will and to follow it.

Wait.
If circumstances allow, wait before making your decision. Continue to pay attention to your feelings to see which direction you are being drawn to.

Prayerfully Commit.
At some point, you need to act. Knowing that you have sought God’s will, set forth to do the loving thing.

Check Out the Fruits.
Discernment is ongoing. After you make a decision, prayerfully evaluate it. If the fruits (outcomes) of your decision-your words, actions, and behaviors-are good, then it is a good indication that the decision you made is good. If the fruits are “rotten,” then that is a good indication that you may need to alter your course. True discernment results in good fruit (even if it’s something we wouldn’t normally pick out for ourselves).

Discernment can help you when you face decisions. Even though making good decisions can be difficult at times, trust that the Holy Spirit is with you to guide you and help you choose what is good and true.