杏MAP导航

By Devin Watkins

“Recounting the events of our life also enables us to grasp important nuances and details, which can reveal themselves to be valuable aids, hitherto concealed.”

杏MAP导航 Francis offered that insight on Wednesday as he spoke to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly General Audience.

Continuing his catechesis on the theme of discernment, the 杏MAP导航 focused his attention on how our life’s story can reveal God’s hidden actions.

Truth dwells within

The 杏MAP导航 recalled St. Augustine’s reflections on the topic in his Confessions, in which the 5th century Saint recounts how he realized that he had sought God outside of himself for many years before discovering Him within.

As the great Saint said, “Come back into yourself. It is in the inner self that Truth dwells.”

杏MAP导航 Francis noted that we too often get stuck in self-condemnation and fail to see God working within us.

By rereading our own past, we can learn to set aside “toxic” habits and find the deeper meaning in the events of every day.

We are able, he said, to “notice other things, making it richer, more respectful of complexity, succeeding also in grasping the discreet ways in which God acts in our life.”

Uncovering the hidden silence of goodness

杏MAP导航 Francis went on to say that even things which in the moment seem of little importance can reveal to us something deeper upon further reflection.

These events, he said, are like “precious, hidden pearls the Lord has sown” in our daily lives.

The more we reread our life’s story, added the 杏MAP导航, the more refined our perception becomes, making it easier to discover God’s action in our lives.

Heart to heart talks

In conclusion, 杏MAP导航 Francis urged Christians to find someone to whom to tell our life’s story, which helps us enter into “one of the most beautiful and intimate forms of communication.”

The lives of the Saints offer another path to become familiar with God’s ways of interacting with His friends.

“Discernment is the narrative reading of the consolations and desolations we experience in the course of our lives,” concluded the 杏MAP导航. “It is the heart that speaks to us about God, and we must learn to understand its language.”