Decision Making

How do we fulfil the Gospel’s demand of

mercy and fidelity to justice as contained
and prescribed in Christian teaching?
Decision-making, with its aim to arrive at the truth,
especially stemming from the Christian principle of
discernment, is and must remain at the core of
being human
Christina A Astorga Ma, "Ignatian Discernment: A Critical Contemporary Reading for
Christian Decision-making," Horizons, no. 32/1 (2005): 72.
 Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are
even further summoned to the task: “to hear,
distinguish and interpret the many voices of our age,
and to judge them in the light of the divine word, so
that revealed truth can always be more deeply
penetrated, better understood and set forth to greater
advantage”.
Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium Et
Spes), December 7, 1965, Vatican Archive,
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-
ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html (Accessed December 17, 2015), 44.
 The “normative criterion of judgment in
Christian Morality” is found in Sacred Scripture.
Richard M. Gula, Reason Informed by Faith: Foundations of Catholic Morality, 165.
“Judge not, that you be not judged,” (Matthew 7: 1 RSV)
 The setting of this citation is the Sermon on
the Mount (Chapters 5, 6 and 7), in which
context the Lord challenges his hearers to
radically deepen their understanding of the law
and its obligations.
 Christ’s demand with regard to judgment is a call
to discernment (v. 6) and discretion, due to one’s
own prejudices and failures (vv 3 - 5).
Dianne Bergant, The Collegeville Bible Commentary (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press,
1992), 873.
 Jesus’ reproof against being judgmental was
particularly levelled at the Pharisees, who
constantly thought of themselves as being
exempted from judgment since they followed
the standards. In reality, they were standards
established by mere human beings, but which
fall short of God’s criteria.
John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 1-7 (Chicago, Ill.:
Moody Press, 1985), 434.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill
and cummin, and have neglected the
weightier matters of the law, [1] justice
and [2] mercy and [3] faith; these you
ought to have done, without neglecting
the others” (Matthew 23:23 RSV).
With [1] justice, we attempt to give everyone
his due, which means being able to discern
what is most helpful and suitable to address
the particular person or situation of
wrongness.
.With mercy, the emphasis is on compassion and
forbearance towards the person or reality at hand.
 And with [3] faith, we humbly realize that there is a

more accurate and more gracious arbiter than we can be to

each other.
 Scripture further offers us a variety of ways on how judgment

should and ought to be done: in a loving manner (Ephesians 4:15,

1 Timothy 5:1-2); judging proceeding not with human standards

but by following the internal discerning call (John 7: 24, Rom

2:16); with sufficient evidence and maturity (Deuteronomy 13:14,

Deuteronomy 17:4); and not being done hastily (Proverbs 29:20).

The Gospel itself – the right guide in making
judgment, as Pope Francis explains,
“summons to conversion, to an examination
of our consciences, as individuals and as a
people.”
The following quotation by one of the Early Fathers of the Church, John
Cassian, can vividly and beautifully synthesize what one means by giving
judgment whilst being considerate, as the Biblical perspective suggests.
From your own example, therefore, learn to be compassionate toward
those who struggle, and never frighten with bleak despair those who are
in trouble or unsettle them with harsh words. … Following the example
of our Saviour, learn not to break the bruised reed or to extinguish the
smoking flax, and ask the Lord for that grace by which you yourself may
also be able to sing with assurance in deed and in power: “The Lord
has given me a learned tongue so that I might know how to sustain by a
word the one who is weary.” [Isaiah 50:4]
John Cassian: The Conferences (Conf. 2.8.9), as quoted in Peter Tyler, The Bloomsbury Guide to
Christian Spirituality (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), 203.
To understand this call of love then, it would be

helpful to follow the greatest rule (standard) of love as

laid down by Jesus: the threefold loves or encounters

with God, neighbour, and self (Matthew 22:36-40).

 Encounter with the Divine: Through an authentic and personal
experience of God, we discover that loving God is not a “mere
command” but more of a response towards a grace already
given. This highlights our call to a humble stance in front of
God. He is the centre of value in morality, and we can only
arrive at a proper and purposefully morally right judgment when
God is the foundation of the equation Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est,
January 26, 2005, Vatican Archive, w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-
xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html (accessed June 1,
2015), 1.
Encounter with the Other: Together with the
primacy of relationship with the Divine, we are
equally commanded to enter into encounters with
each other, as fellow children of God. Such a love
of neighbour regards the beloved not as “objects
of our devotion, but rather as subjects; that is, as
persons.”
 Encounter with Oneself. Like the encounter with the
other which forms the knowledge and love that is the
basis of judgment, the encounter with the self must be
grounded on God’s love for each one of us; a love that is
individual, unique, and precious. Such encounter must be
understood as a call towards one’s interiority, to be
sufficiently present to oneself, and to discover one’s
unique being and meaning. Fundamentally the call of
individual decision-making can only be answered when
one is accustomed to following one’s own conscience.
Ibid, 87.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1779.
.
The recognition and the formation of one’s
conscience for decision-making based on
Christian Virtues is of fundamental
importance.
 Conscience is “a judgment of reason
whereby the human person recognizes the
moral quality of a concrete act that he is
going to perform, is in the process of
performing, or has already completed.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1778.
 Pope Francis, in one of his daily homilies, stated
“The first step is to judge ourselves. Without saying
anything out loud. Between you and your conscience.
… This is what judging yourself means, not hiding
from the roots of sin that are in all of us, the many
things we are capable of doing, even if we cannot see
them”. Pope at Mass: Judge Not, Radio Vaticana, March 2, 2015,
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/03/02/pope_at_santa_marta_judge_not/1126443
(accessed June 17, 2015).
 Formation: The first step is the development of
conscience, which ought to be understood as an
integral part of the whole person’s existence. An
on-going task starting from one’s childhood, which
consists of acquiring and interiorizing laws,
practices, and values into the habitual life of being
formed. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1784.
This education of conscience, specifically
the formative reflection on particular moral
choices of the individual, aim to guarantee
mature, objective, and truthful decisions.
Information: Our knowledge and experience is
always limited in recognizing Moral Truth by
ourselves

Careful attention to the Church’s teachings as

providing informed guidance is essential. Vatican Council II,
Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae), 14.
Discernment: The call for discernment requires and
revolves around an encounter with the Divine—both the
initial encounter and the unceasing experiences of an
authentic image of the Divine.
 Crucial for such an authentic encounter is attaining the habit of
unrelenting and meaningful openness to God in prayer, meditation,
reflection and silence, and communal and sacramental prayer. Without the
context of a deep and sustained prayer life, discernment would be reduced
to merely problem solving. In discernment, we humbly make our
judgments not by our own will. Rather, “we try to be open and sensitive
to God’s own Spirit present in the world.”
Richard M. Gula, Moral Discernment: Moral Decisions Guide, 98.
Pope Paul VI, Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii Nuntiandi), December 8, 1975, Vatican Archive,
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-
nuntiandi_en.html (accessed January 17, 2015), 141.
Decision: One must recognize that no decision is
purely personal. Thus, going out of ourselves to
authentically encounter the other is fundamental in
decision-making.
 decisions need to be intelligible and coherent with
various experiences when aligned with moral norms and
beliefs. They need to be made while identifying with
those affected by the decision and need to be
corroborated by the community that is also engaged in
discernment.
Margret A. Farley, Christian Ethics: Problems and Prospects Edited by Lisa Sowle Cahill and James F. Childress (Cleveland,
Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 1996), 147.
 Action: “Let us not be deceived by empty words -
we hear so many, some nice, well-articulated, but
empty, without meaning. Instead let us behave as
children of light.” A process of discernment would be
futile if it fails to be concretized in particular actions.
Pope at Mass: Called to Be Children of Light, Vatican Radio. October 28, 2014, http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-at-santa-
marta-called-to-be-children-of-light (accessed January 10, 2015).
 Reflection & Reconsideration: A subsequent meditative

stance of looking at our actions is required. Such reflection

aims to be both critical and objective in sternly reviewing

one’s decisions and actions, evaluating them through their

fruits.