NOTE FROM FR. JIM
It is the New Year, a time when many of us traditionally renew commitments, make specific plans, and set goals for ourselves. People concerned about lining up their commitments, plans, and goals with God's will are, by definition, people concerned with discernment. One of the things I am asked most, and this was true while I was still a seminarian, is how we can know what God wants for us. Discernment is a big topic, and that's why we are devoting an entire newsletter to it! It is my and Christine's hope that this newsletter will provide concrete assistance for those seeking to apprehend and accomplish God's will in their lives. I know that God has a plan for each one of us, tailored to our particular gifts, skills, capacities, dreams, and desires. (And I will underscore here that dreams and desires are an important factor in Christian discernment. We will be saying more about this in future issues.) Our particular gifts and capacities have, in fact, been given to us specifically to help us achieve this plan, this dream that God has for us.
The accomplishment of God's will in our lives will inevitably involve struggle and sacrifice, but it will also involve the deepest joys we can know: the joys that flood our lives when we are caught up in the achievement of God's own dream for us. God's dream for us, I am convinced, is beyond our own capacity to dream: it calls forth from us gifts we never knew we had, and it rewards us with joys we never thought to look or ask for. We hope and pray that as the coming year unfolds, even amidst the hardship and turmoil present in society right now, all of us will experience a deepening discernment and an increased confidence that the Lord wants our achievement of His dream for us even more than we want it ourselves.