“Grant me to know better what it is that moves me, so that I may reject that which leads me away from Christ, and thus love and serve him more.” Thus concludes the prayer that Pope Leo XIV recited in the new Pope Video for July, in which he proposes as a monthly intention. “formation for discernment”.. His prayer, charged with spiritual depth and humanity, resounds as a universal invitation to pause, to listen and to choose with our hearts in God.
A path that can be heard from within
Discernment, that art as old as faith itself, is today more necessary than ever. We live exposed to thousands of stimuli, constant decisions and diverse paths. Pope Leo XIV warns us of the need to “reject everything that leads us away from Christ and the Gospel” and to learn to “choose life’s paths”, something that is not improvised, but cultivated in silence, prayer and self-knowledge. In his prayer, the Holy Father cries out:
“Holy Spirit, light of our understanding, sweet encouragement in our decisions, grant me the grace to know how to stop and listen to you attentively”. And he adds with the Holy Father: “I desire that my choices lead me to the joy of the Gospel, even if I must struggle, doubt, search and begin again.”
St. Augustine: to know oneself in order to know God
St. Augustine experienced this inner struggle firsthand. His Confessions are, perhaps, one of the best manuals of spiritual discernment ever written.
In them he narrates his own journey, his doubts, his desires, his resistances… and his trusting surrender to God:
“I was the one who wanted and I was also the one who did not want. Precisely because I did not fully want, nor fully did I not want, that is why I struggled with myself” (Confessions, VIII, 10, 22). (Confessions, VIII,10,22).
Augustine teaches us that discernment is not only choosing between good and evil, but learning to recognize what God wants from us in the concrete. It is, as he himself pleaded, “to know oneself in order to know God.to know oneself in order to know God”.
In one of the most beautiful moments of his conversion, he says:
“A light of assurance entered my heart and all the darkness of my doubts was dispelled” (Confessions, VIII, 12, 29).(Confessions, VIII,12,29).
Training in the art of discernment
The Pope’s intention for this month is not only to pray, but also to be formed. Discernment demands interior effort, humility, spiritual accompaniment, prayerful reading of the Word and openness to the Holy Spirit. St. Ignatius of Loyola, who systematized the pedagogy of discernment, spoke of “interior motions”.those movements of the soul that we must learn to read, like compasses that orient us towards God or lead us away from Him.
St. Augustine, for his part, forcefully points out that discernment implies having an awakened heart:
“Why do you lean on yourself, who cannot stand upright? Throw yourself on Him… He will receive you and heal you” (Confessions, VIII, 11, 27).(Confessions, VIII,11,27).
A profoundly human and ecclesial act
To discern is also to walk with others. As Father Cristobal Fones, director of the Pope’s World Prayer Network, reminds us:
“Learning to discern together, listening to the experiences and perspectives of others, enriches our own discernment process.”
And in the midst of the Holy Year 2025, discernment takes on a special relevance. For the Jubilee indulgence is not an isolated act, but an opportunity to align ourselves with what God dreams for us.
In the words of Pope Leo XIV
“Grant me to know better what it is that moves me, so that I may reject that which leads me away from Christ and so that I may love and serve Him more”.
Do you know what makes you tick?
We can help you find out: Who am I for?
Perhaps it is time to pause, to open the Gospel, to trust like Augustine under the fig tree… because he who seeks with sincerity always finds. And sometimes, to discern is not to find immediate answers, but to embrace with faith the process of listening.