Discernment
Discernment is not primarily seeking the will of God. The goal of discernment is to seek God first! The Kingdom and his righteousness means to seek a holy relationship first with God. Our priority is to walk with the blameless, to come to know him, then we will truly be disposed well to listen to the heartbeat of Jesus. Discernment is being attuned to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

D - DISPOSITION OF THE HEART
Discernment is a disposition of the heart. It is a gift, but also a skill. It goes with maturity of our heart. It is a spiritual, supernatural common sense.  It is discerning about the truth behind the thought, idea, feeling or a disturbance. Discernment is a prayer.

I – IMAGE WE HAVE OF GOD AND OURSELVES
1 – Discernment has something to do with our image of God.
2 – Discernment has something to do with our relationship with God. With God as Father, I am His child. Discernment is checking it out with Daddy.
3 – Discernment is keeping a right relationship with God: What is my sacramental state of life; how is my prayer life; where do I stand with God?

S – SEEKING GOD’S WILL
The discerner must have:
a) – a sincere desire to please God in all that we do.
b) – freedom and openness to accept ways contrary to our own; our ways are not God’s ways.
c) – the confidence that God can and will make known to us the direction we are to take.
d) – to suspend judgment of the outcome.
e) – the willingness to spend the time and effort that is required for such decision making.

C – CONFIRMATION
If the choice seems to fit, get the confirmation!

Like verifying medical opinions, confirmation of a discernment is like getting a second and third opinion.  But you can check it out with yourself first.  You can do it by making an appointment with God. Set a time and place beforehand, then read the scripture for the day. Listen to the scripture in light of what your decision is. Whatever choice we make, if it is to be pleasing to God, it has to fit with God’s intention for this world.

Checking the heart:
   Is the fruit of the spirit manifested? (Gal 5:22)
   Is there an ongoing peace within me?
   Is there Joy?
   Disinterested generosity?
   Abiding love even for my enemy?

Peace, not necessarily a feeling, is a sense of inner freedom that results from openness to God and willingness to respond to God.

E - EXAMEN OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Examination of consciousness sharpens our ability to detect a dirty spot on the white wall. You can detect it because there is an order that was established. The more perfect the order the more readily we can detect that something is wrong. It is not a hunch, but comes from an ordered standard of life you have habitually lived. God is a God of order and balance. One difficulty is our mindset and the pattern of judgments we make in our minds. Discernment teaches us not to jump quickly to conclusions.

R - REFLEXIVE
This is the process of checking the movement of the heart.
St. Ignatius’ Discernment: St. Ignatius, after being wounded in the battle of Pamplona, and while lying in bed in the family castle, thought about his feelings for Lady Catherine. He discovered that it gave him immediate satisfaction and pleasure, but not for long-term peace and happiness. When he began reading the scriptures and was reading the lives of the saints, he discovered that to live the gospel was scary, but in following those impulses, he found that it gave him a long-term peace and deep satisfaction. From this he developed the art of discernment.

N – NURTURING
As we said previously, discernment is essentially a relationship. There is no better way to know the person than to experience the person in an intimate relationship. A mother would know her child better than she would acquaintances. Friends would know you better than strangers. A spouse would know his wife better than he would know friends. God knows us best, but the problem is that we don’t know God very well.  To know God depends on how much we are in contact or how deep is our encounter with Him. The perfection of our way of recognizing God’s will for us depends on the measure of how much Christ is in us. It is not I that live, but Christ lives in me. To establish an intimate relationship with God comes from grace and is sustained in a deep life of prayer. 

M - MUTUAL DIALOGUE WITH THE SPIRIT
PRAYER:
Prayer means to open up.  When we pray we open up ourselves to God.  But it is an exercise of freedom.  Hence, the Lord says…”ASK”.  When you ask, it is an exercise of your free will and your desires. Our capacity to discern is in proportion to our openness, hence, developing our interior life is necessary. Discernment comes from the heart. God. God talks to us also through feelings. St. Ignatius said: it is not knowledge that satisfies the soul, but tasting and feeling things interiorly.

E - ENDURING JOURNEY AND COMMITMENT
There are pauses and punctuations in our journey. Discernment is to stop, pause and tune in your antenna.  It is to stop, look and listen.  Checking out where we are going.  Any truck driver will always advise you, before you turn anywhere, look three times.  Look to your left and right to see if all is clear before you make your decision to move ahead. Discernment is to wait for the revelation, and until the “go signal” is received, do not decide on anything.

N - NEW MIND SET
New mindset means transformation of our mind! (Phil 2:5-11)
Romans 12:2 – “Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect.”

T – TESTING THE SPIRIT
Difficulties of Discernment:
1)  The attention of the heart.  We are not looking for God!  Even if we are looking for him, we may not always recognize him due to distractions and human conditioning  because of cultural-pace of life, media, technology, economy.
2)   Only a minimal conversion encounter.  We were conceived but not born yet!  We were sacramentalized, but we lack conversion of heart! When you are at the level of sincerely seeking, always attentive and asking for the Will of God in every facet of your life, that means you have reached a level of relationship with God.

Excerpts from Chapter on Discernment in the book, When You Pray Say…, by Rev. Michael B. Semana, © 2006. 
For more complete coverage of this topic, refer to the book.