May 25, 2013
PART 2
Discernment-the sixth of the Sevenfold Gifts, St. Bonaventure
Sixth, grant us discernment, by which we may draw back from what is unhealthy.
Scripture: Proverbs 29:19 (the Message)
If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
“We should always pray for help, but we should always listen for inspiration… to proceed in ways different from those we may have thought of.”
~John H. Groberg
The word in Hebrew for ‘blessed’ (also translated as ‘happy’), esher, comes from the root word that means to walk straight or move forward. I don’t know Hebrew well enough to be able to say whether there was an intentional play on words, but I like the notion that being blessed/happy means that we do not stumble, but walk straight. Of course, this requires that we attend to what God is revealing for us, which means we are discerning the divine beckoning. Now it’s not always crystal clear. In fact, most of us will continue to stumble quite often. Yet God remains faithful; God never gives up hope; God always finds another way to invite us down a path where our feet will find sturdier ground.
