Do you take time to test and discern spirits before you trust them? - Daily Reflections January 5,2015

TESTED AND TRUSTED

 

Many, many moons and suns ago, as a young religious fresh out of college, I worked for a hard-to-please, very impulsive and obsessive-compulsive priest. It seemed like I never did anything right. Being a greenhorn, I was new to almost everything: training the choir, practicing the altar servers, teaching the very young catechists, installing electric fans and lights up in the very hot ceiling of the small parish church, updating the canonical books, attending meetings, and a host of other things.

       Back then, I felt I was at the crucible, being tested to the limits. I sighed with envy at the thought of my companions who were assigned in big schools, in seminaries, and in what appeared to me then as better, more promising places of work. In my first few months, I thought I was being given a raw deal and singled out to do the most difficult tasks.

       But then, after two years, when it was time to take my theology studies, I found it very hard to leave the place. I realized that I was tested alright, but I was tested because I was trusted. That priest, who never once praised me for doing something right, apparently told people he missed my presence and the work I did after I was gone.

         Being tested, testing others, and evaluating people are all very difficult tasks. One does not want to be on the hot seat.  Neither does one ordinarily enjoy making others suffer, unless one is a psychological monster.

         But test and discern, we must. John the Evangelist tells us as much: “Test the spirits to see whether they belong to God.” As a formator over the past so many years, I have appreciated the wisdom of the Church’s long experience in the matter of discernment of spirits, and helping individuals decide on their lifetime vocation and avocation. “Do not trust every spirit,” says John.

       I now thank God I was tested, for that gave me the opportunity to show I can also be trusted. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you take time to test and discern spirits before you trust them?

 

Lord, grant me clarity of mind and heart that I may be able to see You in everything and every person that I encounter.