By: Sr. Cathy Buchanan, OP

Last month I was blessed to take a group of students from Albertus Magnus College to the National Dominican College Preaching Conference where we attended a conference workshop, “Discernment as prayerful decision-making.” Discernment was an unfamiliar word for my students, and this workshop offered them some experiential learning to understand both the definition and application of this new word. They learned that discernment is a process for filtering through personal desires and outside influences by including God’s thoughts in the conversation/process. (I like to think of discernment as thinking God thoughts.)

The students learned that discernment is “to prayerfully consider life choices” when confronted with choosing between “truth/error, right/wrong and sometimes even choosing between two goods.” They learned to use Scripture as an objective standard for truth and to appreciate that a deep understanding of Scripture allows them (and us) to recognize the inauthentic when it appears. Hebrews 5:14 states, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.” This Scriptural passage was used to guide students in understanding that true maturity requires active training of their/our spiritual senses. We can read about other examples in Scripture of King Solomon praying for discernment (1 Kings 3:9) and where believers are encouraged to ask for wisdom from God (James 1:5).  Discernment means having a sense of how things look in God’s view and seeing them uncovered for us to see as well.

In the workshop, we heard that good discernment doesn’t happen overnight; it is achieved by making a habit of applying Scripture to their/our daily lives.  

I know my students were very excited to learn of this new way to use discernment as a practice for making prayerful decisions about their lives, especially at such an important time for them in discerning their futures. But I also took away a good lesson, that discernment is a life-long process that needs to be continually exercised and engaged in often. The workshop concluded with the Scripture prayer, Psalm 119:125, “I am your servant, give me discernment.”  May we all be given the gift of good discernment.   

If you want to learn more about the discernment process, we invite you to our Come and See retreat, October 2- 4, 2026 in St. Catherine, Kentucky. At this retreat, you'll have the opportunity to listen for God's voice and explore what it means to be called to live with courage, humility, and hope as a Dominican Sister of Peace through prayer, reflection, and fellowship. For more information, contact Sister Ana Gonzalez, OP, at [email protected]