Fr. Desiderio García Martínez, O.Carm.
Addendum: Formator – a guide in the art of discernment
A few years ago, I heard a story that really happened. A Spanish terrorist group ETA carried out a bomb attack in the early morning hours in the center of Madrid at the Telefónica building. Nearby, a family was sleeping at that time. When the father heard the explosion, he jumped out of bed with shock, while the mother continued to sleep sweetly. The man leaned out of the window and nervously turned on the radio because he suspected something serious was happening. His wife still breathed peacefully and quietly. Suddenly, the youngest child of the family let out a faint whimper (it was not even a cry). The mother woke up immediately and hurried to the child to see what was happening. Neither the bomb nor her husband’s nervous pacing woke her up. But what made her heart race with alarm? The faint cry of her child.1 Discernment always leads to a state of attentive listening to what holds the importance of a fundamental decision for us. The virtue of discernment helps us to filter out the noise and clamor that violently attack us and want to fill us (in the form of thoughts, emotions, etc.), recognizing the voice of God, which is, on the contrary, a gentle whisper, almost inaudible (cf. 1 Kings 19), yet present. It is about finding God’s voice among the various voices that often remains silent and tuning into it. Discernment (on the part of the formator) means: “helping the candidate to perceive often subtle divine calls and actions in concrete life circumstances and helping him discover new paths that God leads him on” (RIVC 58a).
The Greek word diakrisis,2 which we translate into Latin as discretio, means separation, division, difference, division in the sense of physical separation.3 The root of the Spanish verb to discern – “discernir” also provides a new meaning, namely to sift (cerner). In the countryside, this term referred to the work of sifting grains, separating the wheat from the chaff. In discernment, we truly place our lives on the sieve of the Gospel, shaking it and observing what falls through and what remains. Saint John Cassian asserted that “without the gift of discernment, no virtue can be perfectly cultivated or preserved” and that “(the virtue) of discernment is the mother4 and protector of all virtues.”5 When the document RIVC compares contemplation to the “heart” of the Carmelite charism (cf. RIVC 4; 23), then discernment will represent for our heart: carrying out regular examinations – “electrocardiograms (EKG)” – to review the pulse of its contemplative activity (to check if it is not suffering from heart arrhythmia, angina pectoris, heart attacks, or whether it is in good health…). Discernment transforms into the art of persevering in the decision to live in following Christ (cf. Rule of St. Albert, art. 24).
In the index to RIVC 2000, there is a long list (more than 30) of references regarding the role and prerequisites that a formator must fulfill throughout the formation process. You certainly know them very well (cf. art. 57, 58, 59, 61, 73, 75, 77, 79b, 80, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89b, 90-91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100e, 101, 102, 108, 110, 113, etc.). Among them, the basic mission of the formator is often and repeatedly emphasized as discernment and evaluation (cf. RIVC 14; 58a). RIVC in art. 14 explains it this way:
“Therefore, formation should not be seen as the accumulation of a reserve of thoughts and habits or as the acquisition of a strict way of life. Rather, it is about gaining the ability of discernment, flexibility, and availability – these characteristics enable the constant renewal of life and a continuous struggle for radical dedication to Christ in accordance with the Carmelite lifestyle.”
In the area of discernment, (usually) almost everything applies to the Ignatian method. I believe it would be a great challenge to try to apply wise discernment based on Carmelite experiences to our formation process.6 In RIVC of 2000, we can see essentially two important levels of discernment.
- The first relates to the period of initial formation. Discernment is a “tool,” a “training,” which secretly yet continuously accompanies the candidate throughout his formation (and teaches him) to make choices. Discernment (is also a task of the formator and helps him) evaluate (cf. RIVC 58d). Accompanying through personal conversations from the formators must be patient, firm, prudent, attentive, merciful (cf. RIVC 58b), but it should not lessen the task of clearly presenting the requirements of following Christ in Carmel (cf. RIVC 58b). At each stage of initial formation, the formator is responsible for assessing the candidate based on solid discernment criteria (cf. RIVC 58d; even before admission to postulancy – art. 70; in postulancy – art. 80; in novitiate – art. 90; before solemn vows – art. 102; before ordination – art. 113). In discernment at this stage, the formator – who accompanies – must take on the role of an older brother in faith. RIVC recommends utilizing all the insights provided by the humanities, especially psychology (cf. RIVC 26, 92, 77, 58). The formator – an older brother in faith – must have a “sense” and a wise heart to guide the candidate while also encouraging him towards willing obedience to God’s plan. The one leading the candidate must carefully ensure that he does not take over what the candidate should do. Because ultimately, it is the candidate himself who discerns.
- In permanent formation, teachers or the formation team no longer act as they do during initial formation. In this case, the formator who discerns is the community itself, the brothers (cf. RIVC 55; 56). The community becomes a fellowship of pilgrims, who together, each with a different degree of responsibility, seek “what is good, pleasing, and perfect” (Romans 12:2). The community that fulfills the role of formator will safeguard day by day “a pure heart and a good conscience” of the entire community of brothers (cf. Rule, chap. 2). Discernment will preserve the gift of contemplation from weakening.
The enemy will attack even more fiercely. He will try to disrupt the two great signs that characterize it: love and unity. How now to penetrate among the brothers? Now, when they are all even closer to the Lord! He will try to infiltrate among them in the same way that thoughts and feelings inspired by the Holy Spirit come – he will suggest thoughts that are similar to those of the respective brother: he will inspire devout thoughts in the pious; noble thoughts in the noble, etc. To those who are very hardworking, the enemy will not whisper thoughts of laziness. After all, he knows that he would not succeed with that. Rather, he will prompt him to engage in all sorts of activities: gardening, ironing, celebrating, cooking. To one who leans towards solitude and silence, the enemy will instill a desire to close himself even more, to build around his cell a fence one and a half meters high, preferably with barbed wire, or to plunge into ever greater asceticism, including the temptation to play the “reformer.” The one who is not too fond of rules may be driven to take up arms in a crusade for his “non-dogmatism” (against those who hold different opinions) without even realizing that in this feverish effort, he is creating a new dogmatism! And thus, we will believe that it is a virtue, while we revolve around merely our needs,7 deeply hidden under the cloak of piety, holiness, sound judgment, etc. The most telling sign that not everything comes from the Holy Spirit is when attention continually turns back to us, to our fulfillment, to our ego.
(Here) discernment no longer takes the form of a tool, technique, or exercise, but becomes a “habitus”, an attitude, a way of being and living, constantly directed towards its contemplative dimension, so that within the community we seek, recognize, and appreciate the path that God reveals to us.
Conclusion: The formator is a tool in the hands of God – the great sculptor. To become a good formator, it is not enough to be just a good religious person. To take care of the life of another, it is not enough to “be kind.” As we have seen in RIVC in art. 57 and 58, the formator is not a champion of human maturity, nor a hero of perfection. He is a mediator, an “older brother” in faith, who is himself touched by the gaze of Christ and gradually transformed into his image. Thus he becomes a mystagogue who leads to contemplation, to union with God. The task of the formator is to educate, form, and accompany. He carries out his mission without drawing attention to himself, in humility and with the awareness that the ground he walks on – i.e., the candidate – is holy ground belonging only and exclusively to the Lord. Last but not least, we must not forget that the execution of great works of art, just as it is in formation, is not, and few people realize this, the result of improvisation or a sudden rush of inspiration or creativity that has seized the artist. These works are always the fruit of a great deal of time, effort, and patience.
Translated from Spanish by Jaroslava Kučerová
