Mary Margaret Funk - Discernment Matters: Listening with the Ear of the Heart

Sister Funk offers the reader a helpful synthesis of the theology and practice of the Christian discernment tradition. Contemporary readers will be gently challenged to examine and reorient the way that they have allowed themselves to develop the discerning heart. Funks story of her personal journey will be helpful to pastors, spiritual guides, and students of the Christian spiritual tradition.

Howard Gray, SJ

Georgetown University

A particular value of Sr. Meg Funks latest book is that she doesnt speak only in generalities about discernment but gives specific examples of how she and others have gone about making God-centered decisions. In addition, she provides a very helpful summary of the core teachings of classic spiritual writers like Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection and St. Teresa of Avila.

James Wiseman, OSB

The Catholic University of America

Author of Spirituality and Mysticism: A Global View

To my guardian angel,
Brigid Funk,
who shows up from time to time
when discernment matters!

Moses at the Burning Bush, by Eastern Orthodox Nun Rebecca Cown of New Skete, Cambridge, NY, commissioned by Pamela Farris, based on an original at the Monastery of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt

Rebecca Cown

By means of all created things, without exception,
The Divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us.
We imagine it as distant and inaccessible.
In fact, we live steeped in its burning layers.
Teilhard de Chardin

O ne of the pillars of spiritual teaching in Eastern Christianity is deification (Greek: theosis ), We call this the light of discernment. Another term is aesthesis , a Greek word difficult to translate into English, which we may understand as inner perception or divine sensation: a spiritual sense. Our innermost spiritual senses need to be made conscious and honed and practiced in our daily lives.

Our earliest Christian teachers reiterated that God became human in order that the human person may become God. This divine gift presupposes our personal and collective inner work, our synergy with God. This potential has been present from the very beginning, according to the account in Genesis, since we are created in the image and likeness of God. The image is the reflection of God. One commentary on this Genesis passage says that likeness refers to being endowed with discernment and understanding. So, by inference, we might say that the likeness is what we are called to bring into reality by inner discernment.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, Whatever is not consciously embraced cannot be transformed. That is, unless we awaken to this divine reality in our hearts, to who we really are and to what we are called, we cannot engage with this Divine Spirit within, and it will remain dormant. We are personally called to be transformed and transfigured into our God-likeness, but not just for ourselves; we are called personally to become Gods agents and to enable Gods ongoing creation of this world of ours.

God has no other hands, feet, eyes, mind, or heart than ours to continue Gods creating. The Spirit of God is everywhere present and filling all things, and human beings have been called to cocreate with God. The raw materials, so to speak, need our working with God to bring about life, harmony, peace, justice, and beauty out of chaos and disorder. God has given us the mission and purpose of incarnating Gods very first wordsLet there be Lightand to make it a living reality in our lives.

The story of Moses before the burning bush may well be a paradigm of every persons divine visitation or awakening to the divine presence. If heeded, this encounter will change a persons life. This change, or metanoia (Greek for change of heart, change of purpose, direction), moves us away from our former identity, where the ego is in control, to become an instrument in Gods hand. This is what happened to Moses, who once was a Hebrew slave, saved by an Egyptian princess. He was raised and educated as an adopted prince but later, having slain an Egyptian overseer, fled for his life into a foreign land and then became a shepherd. After many years in this lonely desert, God revealed to Moses his true identity and purpose in life.

The story tells us that Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, and led the flock to the far side of the desert. He came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a thorn bush. Moses saw that, although the bush was on fire, it was not consumed. So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sightwhy the bush is not burnt. When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush: Moses! Moses!

And Moses said, Here I am.

Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

The icon on the cover of this book depicts this encounter. Several aspects of the icon highlight our journey toward discernment. First, the bush is actually a thorn bush, typical of the desert, indicating that there isnt any place where God cannot be encountered! Next, we see the blackened sandals behind Moses. Sandals are made of the skin of animals; they are dead skins, indicating the passing nature of our persona, our identity in this world. Moses puts behind him his sense of who he has been; without it, he is vulnerable and full of fear. Yet, the icon manifests his readiness to follow the call into an unknown, to a mysterious and awesome divine encounter. His ego identity is not in control. The icon also indicates a change in his consciousness of who he really is. His clothing is radiant with divine light. His ego is not obliterated but participates in the Light of God. He has awakened to the divine spark within, to his true identity in God. His inner senses are illumined, awakened, and he hears the voice of God telling him to lead his people out of Egypt.