By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
VATICAN | The new edition of The Pope Video that accompanies and illustrates Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of July is being published today. This intention, which the Pope entrusts to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, is dedicated to formation in discernment. Pope Leo XIV’s prayer is: “Let us pray that we might again learn how to discern, to know how to choose paths of life and reject everything that leads us away from Christ and the Gospel.”
The right path
We are confronted with infinite possibilities in life that frighten and paralyze us, making us feel like explorers lost in the forest. We know there is a path somewhere, but we do not always manage to find it easily. Produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network in collaboration with the Diocese of Brooklyn, The Pope Video for July specifically addresses this scenario: a young woman walking in a forest gets lost and needs to find her way. After looking around, stopping and freeing herself from unnecessary burdens, she begins walking again using a compass and a map. She stops again, this time opening the Gospel, arrives at a grotto where there is a statue of Mary – she prays in silence and listens, that she might be shown the right path.
These images are accompanied by Pope Leo XIV reading an original prayer with which the faithful can ask the Holy Spirit, “light of our understanding” and “gentle breath in our decisions,” for the grace to know how to pause to listen attentively to him and become aware of their own feelings, thoughts, and ways of acting. “I long for my choices,” the Pope prays, “to lead me to the joy of the Gospel. Even if I must go through moments of doubt and fatigue, even if I must struggle, reflect, search, and began again….” And he concludes, “Grant me deeper understanding of what moves me, so that I may reject what draws me away from Christ, and love him and serve him more fully.”
To know oneself so as to know God
In the Pope’s prayer, we hear the echo of Saint Augustine’s famous prayer in the Confessions: “Oh God, let me know myself that I might know You!” Briefly, we can say that according to Augustine, knowledge of self leads to knowledge of God. In order to discern, it is necessary to place oneself in truth before God, to enter into oneself, to admit one’s own weaknesses, and to ask the Lord for healing. These are the steps to rebirth through an authentic relationship with God.
Discernment has been practiced from the beginning of the Church’s history. Saint Paul writes about this topic several times in his letters. For example, in Rom 12:1-2, he writes, “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Today, however, the ancient art of discernment is perhaps more necessary than ever. Due to the speed at which things change today, the vast amount of information available (which is not always true), the apparent reality created by AI, and the complexity of global challenges, as well as other things, discernment has become an essential component for making the right decisions that allow us to live well and draw closer to God.
Recognizing Jesus’s voice
“In the rush of daily life, we must learn to pause and create sacred moments for prayer,” comments Bishop Robert J. Brennan, Bishop of Brooklyn. This diocese in the United States has made possible the production of this video, thanks to the creative collaboration of DeSales Media, a diocesan organization active in communication and media. “It is in these quiet spaces of attentive listening,” continues Bishop Brennan, “that we discover which paths truly matter and find the discernment to choose what truly leads to joy that comes only from God.”
In this regard, The International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, Father Cristóbal Fones, S.J., explains that “formation in discernment is fundamental to navigate a complex world. This includes prayer, personal reflection, the study of Scripture and spiritual direction. Cultivating a deep relationship with Jesus is most important. In this way, we can recognize his voice in the midst of so many other voices in the world, and have the clarity necessary to make decisions based on more human proposals and horizons.”
Father Fones adds that there is also a communitarian dimension to discernment. “Learning to discern together, listening to the experiences and perspectives of others, enriches our own discernment process and helps us recognize the Holy Spirit’s action in our lives and community.”
A help toward exercising greater freedom
Discernment is also essential for our happiness. “Today’s culture,” Father Fones continues, “presents happiness as an end it itself, and tends to identify it with well-being. It is, however, a consequence for Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in whose spirituality discernment occupies a very important place. We have been created to go out of ourselves, to learn to love and give of ourselves, to serve others and to be united with God. This is the way, Jesus’s way, the way of the heart, which is certainly the opposite of the dominant self-centered and utilitarian culture, that happiness is achieved.”
“Saint Ignatius offers us several rules for discernment in order to sense and become aware of what is happening inside us, the actions and movements of our spirit, with the objective of being able to choose what will help us love and be loved, and reject what prevents us from doing that. Spiritual discernment helps us better exercise our freedom.”
Lastly, it is important to highlight that within the context of the Holy Year 2025, The Pope Video acquires special relevance since through it we know the prayer intentions the Pope holds in his heart. To properly receive the graces of the Jubilee indulgence, it is necessary to pray for the Pope’s intentions.
