DWG5 - Listening for God's Voice - The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

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Listening for God’s Voice – “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Fr. Timothy Gallagher and Kris McGregor explore how Scripture becomes a living encounter with Christ during discernment. Fr. Gallagher recounts a story of “Richard,” who prayed with the Gospel scene of Zacchaeus and experienced Christ’s attentive gaze as a personal invitation. This style of Ignatian prayer—entering the Gospel with imagination—fosters an intimate knowledge of Jesus that naturally deepens love and leads to clearer direction. Praying daily with Scripture builds familiarity with how God communicates and prepares the heart to recognize His guidance in significant life choices.

Silence is an essential environment for prayer. Drawing from St. Ignatius, Kierkegaard, and personal retreat experiences, Fr. Gallagher describes silence as a space where the soul listens to the “still small voice.” Despite modern distractions and inner resistance, cultivating quiet—whether in Eucharistic adoration, retreats, or the small pauses of daily life—opens room for God’s presence. He concludes by noting that everyone is called to holiness, but individual vocations such as marriage or consecrated life require discernment, which will be discussed further in the next episode.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions:

How can I incorporate daily prayer with Scripture so that my relationship with Christ becomes more personal and transformative?
When I place myself in Gospel scenes, what do I notice about how Jesus looks at me, speaks to me, or receives me?
In what areas of my life am I seeking God’s direction, and how might consistent time with Scripture help clarify it?
Where do I need to create intentional silence so that I can hear God’s gentle voice?
What distractions or fears keep me from silence, and how can I place them before Christ with trust?
When have retreats or periods of quiet helped me perceive God’s presence or guidance more clearly?
How does my daily life—work, family, responsibilities—provide small opportunities to pause and listen to God?
In what ways is God inviting me to grow in holiness through my current state of life?
What spiritual practices (Scripture, Eucharistic prayer, examen) do I feel called to strengthen so that I can discern more clearly?
How willing am I to accept whichever path God opens, even if it differs from my preferences?

From The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions:

“Three Times in which a Sound and Good Choice May Be Made

The first time is when God Our Lord so moves and attracts the will that, without doubting or being able to doubt, the devout soul follows what is shown to it, as St. Paul and St. Matthew did in following Christ our Lord.

The second time is when sufficient clarity and understanding is received through experience of consolations and desolations, and through experience of discernment of different spirits.

The third time is one of tranquility, when one considers first for what purpose man is born, that is, to praise God our Lord and save his soul, and, desiring this, chooses as a means to this end some life or state within the bounds of the Church, so that he may be helped in the service of his Lord and the salvation of his soul. I said a tranquil time, that is, when the soul is not agitated by different spirits, and uses its natural powers freely and tranquilly.

If the choice is not made in the first or second time, two ways of making it in this third time are given below.”

Father Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., was ordained in 1979 as a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, a religious community dedicated to retreats and spiritual formation according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Fr. Gallagher is featured on the EWTN series “Living the Discerning Life: The Spiritual Teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola”. For more information on how to obtain copies of Fr. Gallaghers’s various books and audio which are available for purchase, please visit his website: frtimothygallagher.org