The Radical Catholic

I often have mixed feelings and thoughts about difficult situations in my life. In my confusion, I pray for clarity. But recently, I still felt stuck on a particular issue. Like I had come to an impasse. I didn’t know what to do.

At the Last Supper, Jesus assured the apostles that although soon he would not be with them anymore to teach and counsel, he would send the Holy Spirit, an advocate who would guide their lives toward goodness and truth in God.

But how can I know if I’m being guided by the Holy Spirit or something else? Today, more than ever, the internal and external noise is deafening. There’s so much potential to misinterpret or to be fooled.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this dilemma:

(2847) The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin and death. We must also discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a “delight to the eyes” and desirable, when in reality its fruit is death.

In my specific situation, I went back and forth, trying to distinguish if the guidance I received in prayer was inspired by the Holy Spirit or if it was just my old ego seeking revenge for a past hurt or cover for a prior sin.

After listening to Fr. Riccardo’s video Restoring the Initiative to God, I learned a simple way to converse with the Holy Spirit and be discerning at the same time.

First, I took several breaths to pull my mind from any distractions and create more inner quiet. I asked the Holy Spirit to show me the truth by helping me answer these questions:

-What is my wound in this situation? Where am I feeling pain?

-How is the enemy using this wound to keep me separated from or doubting God?

-Considering my new awareness about how the enemy uses my wound/pain against me,  what does God want me to do?

It wasn’t long before the fog lifted but not all at once. Throughout the day, I had increasing levels of clarity with concrete actions. As I followed through, the guidance became even more apparent, the steps morphing and changing with each new revelation.

The Holy Spirit seems to work in me slowly but thoroughly. His guidance isn’t always evident immediately and it’s never a knee-jerk reaction. The truth comes to me in waves, so I must be patient and trusting.

But when I ask, the Holy Spirit always breaks through.