Early last week, the community elected a new prioress. Sister Judith Murphy will take office on June 14^th. Since I was in temporary vows during our last community discernment, I was a non-voting member. This year, I found that, as a voting member, my participation in the entire process, not merely the act of casting the official ballot, came from a different perspective than my previous experience. My understanding of the process of community discernment—and of community in general—has shifted subtly through this experience.

Discernment is not a new concept for me – listening for the ways that God is active in my life and allowing that to lead me forward is a practice I am trying to adopt not only for the big decisions in my life, but for my everyday actions. Community discernment is similar in many ways, but also incorporates other elements. Both entail listening to the voices and opinions of others. Community discernment, however, also necessitates the sharing of my own thoughts and perspectives, something I often find difficult to do.

Moreover for community discernment to work, not only must we all be willing to share our ideas, but we must then be willing to let go of these ideas if they do not resonate with other community members. Since we all have subtly different ideas of where the community should go and how it can best get there, community discernment is all about listening and being open.

The Holy Spirit reveals a different piece of the puzzle to each individual and we must put them all together to form a coherent whole. As we worked together to elect a prioress, I found balancing all of these different voices and ideas challenging, but also, to my surprise, somewhat exciting. By the time we had to cast our ballots, I was far less nervous than I had anticipated. I felt I had done the work honestly and faithfully and had arrived at a conclusion with which I was comfortable. Community discernment is like working on a jigsaw puzzle with your entire community. When everyone contributes their piece, a clear picture emerges.