The Art of Choosing Well (Part 2)

FR. RAMON MA. LUZA BAUTISTA, SJ

The Usefulness of Practical Discernment Methods and Techniques

All the same, we cannot deny the enormous benefit of being familiar with certain practical discernment methods and techniques. This is especially true if they are rooted and applied much in the context of our loving faith relationship with God. That being said, we now go to the most basic steps of the “how” of discernment, knowing well that as an “art of choosing well,” it involves not only the theoretical side but the more practical side as well.

Undoubtedly, the key steps overlap and interplay in actual discernment. Here, we present them in a step-by-step manner for purposes of clarification and simplification.

Starting With Our Base

All formal discernment begins with our individual base. By “base,” we mean the overall scope of our life situation. This personal base that is most unique to us will indicate which choices are (still) open to us and which ones are not. For example, for a fully professed religious sister, her base is her vocation and commitment to her vows and congregation. For a single layman working as an accountant in Makati and staying with his widowed mother, his base is his single lay status – his present employment and relationship with his mother.

Unless our primary base changes altogether, such as the sister leaves the sisterhood or the single layman goes abroad to pursue another career, it is this base that would define all of our discernment.

Step 1 – Formulating Well Our Discernment Question

After we consider our base, the next consideration is the clear formulation of our discernment question. For example, for a young man interested in the priesthood, he might formulate his question in this way:  “Should I become a diocesan priest in the Archdiocese of Manila, or should I become an SVD priest (Society of Divine Word)?”

For a young woman drawn to the sisterhood and yet at the same time considering married life, she might frame her question in this manner – “Should I join the active St. Paul de Chartres (SPC) sisters or should I marry my present boyfriend of six years?”

Whatever discernment question(s) we may have, what is crucial here is that we make sure that it is defined and particularized enough in its formulation and not too general nor too obscure.