您怎樣辨明神的心意﹖| How do you discern God’s will?

牧者心聲 葉牧師                                                                                                         

March 2009 - Rev. Yip

“您怎樣辨明神的心意﹖” 

在過去35年來,我一直認為自己已經懂得﹐又能教導信徒如何明辨神的心意﹐但當我真正認識到Ignatius的靈修紀律後﹐我才明白自己過去在這方面實在知道得太少﹗

在2007年我完成了一個短篇的Ignatius靈修操練﹐使我經歷到靈命成長的高峰。在退修期間我第一次學習Ignatian有關明辨神心意的規則﹐但由於內容太密集的緣故﹐我未能完全掌握明白。但到了2008年﹐當我往尼日利亞訓練宣教士時﹐在沒有任何現代化的生活設備(電腦﹐電視等)中﹐我享受充裕的時間來繼續這操練的默想﹐接著我心中渴求明辨的渴望更為強烈。回到加拿大後我在網上搜尋更多的資料﹐神引導我找到兩本有關Ignatian明辨規則的書﹐使我更明白神的引導方法。

以往在明辨神心意上﹐我最常用的方法是禱告主給我智慧來決定事情先後次序和該做的事﹐只有在幾件重大事情上我才尋求神讓我聽到祂的聲音﹐而且往往總是沒有固定的方法可循。但Ignatian明辨規則卻補了我這兩方面的不足。為此我十分雀躍地渴望讀完這兩本書﹐但我發現﹐雖然書本字句顯淺﹐也有易明的例子﹐我卻很難讀完這兩本書。也許這就是屬靈的爭戰。

在這過程中我學習分別心理、道德、與屬靈醒覺(awareness)的不同之處。屬靈醒覺可以包含內心的醒覺﹐但超越後者。我第一樣學會的﹐就是要更醒覺自己 靈裡的喜樂 (Spritual joy) 與靈裡哀傷 (spiritual sadness) 的對比、平安與焦慮的對比、 還有心靈與神親密 或是與其他東西親密的對比等等…這些現在都成了我極為受用的操練。 

另外學習的功課就是怎樣從屬靈醒覺中明辨聖靈的指引。我已經用這方法來決定人生的幾件重要事情﹐這使我感到能與神同行﹐並且明辨祂心意﹐實在是何等美好﹗

 

“How do you discern God’s will?”

After teaching people how to  do it for over 35 years I thought I knew the answer very well. But after coming to know the Ignatian rules I began to realize how little I knew.

In 2007 I finished a short version of the Ignatian Exercises, which was a high point of my spiritual development. In that retreat I first learned of the Ignatian rules of discernment; but they were so compact that I was not able to fully comprehend them. In 2008 I went to Nigeria to train missionaries. Being deprived of all modern gadgets (computer, TV etc.) I had a lot of time to meditate as a continuation of  the Ignatian Exercises. My desire to learn the rules of discernment grew stronger.  After coming back to Canada I spent some time in searching the net and God led me to find two books that expound on the Ignatian rules.  They opened my eyes to understand in a deeper way God’s guidance.

In the past my dominant way of discerning God’s will was by using wisdom prayerfully in deciding on priorities and course of action. Only in some major decisions did I seek to find out God’s voice in communicating to me; and even so there were no clear rules to follow.  The Ignatian rules provide for that deficiency. That was why I was very excited in reading the two books. Yet it was not easy to finish the reading even though the writing style was easy to read and the examples very relevant. Maybe there was a spiritual warfare going on.

One thing I learned was to differentiate between psychological awareness, moral awareness, and spiritual awareness. Spiritual awareness may involve psychological awareness but is more than that.      My first lesson was to become more aware of spiritual joy versus sadness, peace versus anxiety, a heart drawn to God versus something else, and so on. This was an extremely profitable exercise.

Another thing I learned was how to relate the spiritual awareness to the moving of God’s Spirit. I have applied these lessons in making some major decisions in my life. What a wonderful thing to walk with God and discern His will!