Christian Discernment: Guidance for Life Decisions

• These study notes cover Christian commitment, understanding the human heart, discernment, Christian discipleship, vocations (Holy Orders, Religious Life, Single Blessedness), and related activities.

Entering into Christian Commitment

• Being happy and successful are common desires.
• Pursuing dreams should not lead to careerism, which involves exaggerated self-concern and a materialistic view of success conflicting with Christian faith.
• Material success and personal growth should not overshadow one's dignity as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
• Maintaining a loving personal relationship with others, grounded in a relationship with Jesus, is a major life goal.
• Authentic self-development through faith and contributing to the common good is crucial.

Understanding the Human Heart

• The human heart is the deep center of a person, where life originates and wisdom enters.
• The heart is where evil thoughts come from.
• The heart is the core of one's being, where God knows one's concerns.
• Goodness or evil produced from the heart influences one's speech.
• A place for prayerful reflection with God and others means God's teachings reside in the heart.
• Seeking God with all one's heart leads to finding Him.
• The prophet Micah emphasizes whole-heartedness in fulfilling God's directives.
• God promises to replace stony hearts with compassionate, kind, and loving ones.
• God desires noble, good, wise, discerning, peaceful, happy, clean, blameless, steadfast, and pure hearts with inner attitudes towards goodness, wisdom, and beauty.
• Supporting those dedicated to improving the lives of the oppressed requires "formation of the heart".

Developing a Discerning Heart

• Consider life plans, God's will, decisions, commitments, and the place of one's relationship with God.
• Christian discernment involves finding God's will in daily events and major choices.
• Discernment helps Christians reflect on God's will.
• Developing a discerning heart is essential, requiring one to quiet themselves to hear inner guidance.

How to Discern: Skills in Discernment

• Experiencing God's presence is important.
• Believe in God's reality to encounter Him in Spirit and truth.
• God uses humans and material realities to make His presence felt.
• Religious experiences reveal God's reality, nearness, and love.
• Religious experience grows faith and sensitivity to God's presence.
• Authentic Christian discernment is grounded in Sacred Scripture.
• Knowing God's will through His Living Word helps test aspirations against God's Word.
• Recognizing God's presence involves awareness of the Holy Spirit and developing a discerning heart and letting God's Word fill and illumine hearts.
• Discerning God's action requires spiritual sensitivity from prayer and worship.
• Creating sacred time and space for communing with God is necessary.
• Seeking God in peace, being still, and confessing that God exists are important.
• Entering prayerful silence and letting go of fears allows God to speak to the heart.
• Spiritual directors help achieve authentic discernment.
• Mary embodies silently "walking with Jesus".

CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP: COMMITMENT TO "WALK HUMBLY" WITH OUR GOD

• "Walking humbly with God" describes faith, placing trust in God alone.
• This phrase conveys the life God wants, walking daily in His Presence which is reflected in the call of Jesus.
• Following Jesus means being His disciple and imitating Him through the Holy Spirit.
• Discipleship is a call to holiness, offered by the Father through the Risen Christ and the Holy Spirit.
• It's a call to the fullness of Christian life and love, fostering a more human life.
• Being a disciple of Christ means "I chose you" as a gift, "to be with me”, and "to be sent out" to share the love.
• Integral faith formation involves knowledge of God's Word, professing faith daily, and celebrating faith through the sacraments.
• Christian faith is an informed, thinking faith where we know, accept and love the truths taught by the Church.
• Gaining faith involves being grounded in Sacred Scripture and the living tradition of the Church and participating in CLE classes, listening to the Word of God in the Mass, reading the Bible, living God's word, reading articles/books.
• Fullness of life means striving to walk with Jesus in daily actions, events, and problems with discipleship involving turning from self-centeredness to other-centeredness.
• We should act in accordance with Christ, considering how He would respond to others, and contribute to social transformation.
• Praying and receiving the sacraments enable divine action, providing opportunities for God to reveal Himself, following basic Christian practices, such as keeping the Lord's Day, and celebrating major feasts.

The life of Carlo Acutis

• Carlo Acutis was a millennial with a passion for the Eucharist and internet savvy.
• He offered his sufferings for the Church and the Pope and was beatified in Assisi.
• He was a normal, handsome, popular jokester who enjoyed soccer, video games, and sweets.
• Carlo focused on self-control, lived an ordinary life and unusually and used his savings to buy a sleeping bag for a homeless man.
• He played video games and his funeral was packed, demonstrating the generosity he freely gave.
• Carlo decided to track his progress in a diary and wrote "Sadness is looking at oneself, happiness is looking at God. Conversion is nothing but a movement of the eyes”.
• He was a natural jokester, made others happy and sought to improve himself.
• Raejsh, cleaned for Carlo and was impressed by his faith, charity and purity.
• Purity was very important to Carlo and that everyone reflected the light of God.
• He cleaned his room, picked up trash, and played "fetch trash" while diving.

LOOKING INTO THE CHRISTIAN VOCATION

• Commitment to Christ is the shared vocation of all Christians.
• Vocation involves responding to Christ's call to "Follow Me”.
• Christians live vocation through patterning their lives on Jesus, whether as laypersons, religious, or ordained clergy.
• Spending time on what we're called to do, our vocation(s), is important with most of all in search of what make use whole and happy.
• A persistent longing calls for eventual solution with our hearts restless till they rest in God.
• Vocation means loving forever, starting here and now.
• Latin word vocare means "to summon" or "to call someone over.”
• Vocation in Sacred Scripture describes God's call to all.
• God shares Christian vocation rooted in baptism.

THING TO CONSIDER AN ORDER

• Spend time reflecting on your choices when making decisions.
• Consult spiritual director on your actions.
• Study yourself and ask about to see what you can contribute to what is needed for your person to make commitment.
• Consider your health and consider your limit with your pinky health stamina.
• Live good life and prepare for a vision and prepare from information for any statement of life in future is important/
• Develop good relationship from family, friends and community to more and moving person.

HOLY ORDERS: A COMMITMENT TO SERVE GOD AND PEOPLE

• Holy Orders consecrates men, organize hierarchies and rank functions to serve through witnessing the Gospel.
• Serving humanity entails apostolic ministry and continuing Jesus' mission.
• The “Ministerial Priesthood” has the order of bishop, priest, and deacon.
• Bishops are the successors to the apostles and spiritual fathers of the local church
• Priests lead Eucharis leads the people and serves in representing the sacrifice of the cross.
• Deacons are servants.
• Priesthood is a vocation, requires a call from God, and a personal decision from the baptized only.

RELIGIOUS LIFE: A COMMITMENT TO PROMOTE GOD'S KINGDOM

• Scripture tells the apostles fearlessly responding to Jesus invites and preparing themselves to partake mission.
• Religious leaves everything for Christ as they are faithful to profess.
• Religious accepts for the committed themselves to love and service and dedicate the Enter life.
• Religious is a special called and devote to God totally joining the religious communities, with public views, living in Community and follow and counsel others.
• evangelical Counsels makes free to live exclusively and kingdom values with giving up and sharing earthly possession were true with dignity human exits.
• the religious to code attention to the relative value of earthly.
• Poverty declares that God is treasures
• Religious Life is very active and contemplative.

SINGLE BLESSEDNESS: A COMMITMENT TO PROMOTE GOD'S KINGDOM

• God shows invitations to experience abundant life through serving people.
• Both states of life are open to the laity, including married and unmarried.
• Single life for choice does not mean a rejection of marriage but it could be a certain result with singleness.
• Some are sinlge to have service of the sake of others.
• Some are single becaues they like freedom and dont like a relationship.
• Faith dimension has strength to live in God.

Explore Christian discernment for young Christians, focusing on aligning with God's will through prayer, self-reflection, and spiritual direction. Discover how to develop a discerning heart and make thoughtful life decisions. Understand God's love and the parable of the pearl in vocational discernment.