In the last issue I shared with you one of the strategies that can be used to discover the road to travel when called to holiness. That strategy was discernment. A second help in the process of discernment is holding up one’s options to the mirror of the Gospel. The Gospel is a trick mirror. It does not reflect what stands before it but what should be. It reflects a   person, Jesus Christ. The image we see in the Gospel is that of a man who sought in all things to be in harmony with God. Discernment, therefore, is a decision made with the aid of an image not of our desires but of Jesus. What would Jesus Do and What would He think.

If we are honest, the image of Christ is so brilliant, so overpowering, that it blinds. It has to be refracted, like light through a prism, so that we can look at single facets of Jesus as we make our choices. The compassionate Jesus, the humble servant of all, the forgiving person, the reconciler, the devoted Son of the Father, the Lord crucified out of total love for the Father, are all mirrors into which we look for help in discerning what we are to do.

In his Gospel. Mark illustrates how this mirroring is a help in the process of discernment. Jesus and the Apostles were returning to home base in Capernaum. Hey were strung out along the road in groups of two or three. Those in the rear, out of earshot of Jesus, were arguing about which of them was the most important. They were all putting forth good reasons for their importance.

Each could bring up unique attributes he had – ways of acting, decisions he had made – that would guarantee that he would be first in God’s realm. When Jesus asked what they had been discussing, they were silent, because they suddenly realized that being important was not high on Jesus’ list of priorities. In fact, it wasn’t on His list at all. Then Jesus gave them a norm: Whoever wishes to rank first must remain the last one of all and the servant of all. Perhaps the Apostles had not been conscious of their real motives for wanting to be first. Perhaps all the reasons they had advanced to bolster their claim to priority sounded praiseworthy. But they certainly had missed the point of Jesus’ life; they had to go back and reflect on their patterns of thinking and acting. Ask yourself: What attitude of Jesus is most difficult for you? What keeps you from turning to the Gospels for help?