Most of us would like the words Jesus spoke to his follows while he was yet on earth to speak directly to each of us in our lives today. And they do, but not in the specificity most of us would like to hear. Today we are reminded that Jesus could not do that because it would have been too much for all the generations since then to bear. What Jesus is telling us is that we are going to have to let the Spirit guide us as we work through our lives. Jesus left us with the Spirit to speak to each of us in our own times to show us the way and the truth of Jesus amid rapidly changing social, cultural, and global circumstances.
But do we us trust in the Spirit in the same way we declare our trust in God and in Jesus? That kind of trust requires spiritual growth on our parts. Yet Jesus is telling us in the Gospel that trusting in the Spirit is the process by which we will be guided in the discernment of how to live out our Christian faith. Here is where we often stumble. Discernment is not easy; it is a lot of work, and it requires discipline. I am so grateful for my twenty years of teaching at Creighton University where spiritual discernment is a central part of a Jesuit liberal arts education. It is based on academic knowledge of relevant issues, knowledge of the scriptures, and the formation of a heart disposed to love God, creation, and all of humanity. Students learn to listen to how God speaks truth to them. In this way, Creighton prepares students to be able to bear what the Spirit says to them so they can act confidently and competently in the world.
But not everyone can attend Creighton. With so much uncertainty in the world today, a great many people are looking for easy simple answers. And now more than ever we must find the truths of God in the complexity of this world. To gain peace in our lives, we must find the comfort and continuity of Jesus’s words revealed to us through the Spirit. That means we must trust the process that requires us to growth in wisdom and in faith toward a fuller understanding of God’s will for our lives. I pray today that we can all grow a little more each day in listening to the Spirit speak to us and in practicing discernment in our responses.
Barbara Dilly
I came to Creighton in 2000 and retired in 2020. My twenty years of teaching, research and service in the Jesuit tradition enhanced my own life. It was an exciting time of celebration. I loved teaching and interacting with Creighton students because they responded so eagerly to the Ignatian pedagogical emphasis on the development of the whole person. It is this spirit of whole person development and celebration of life that I hope to infuse in my reflection writings.
My academic background is eclectic, preparing me well for the Liberal Arts academic environment at Creighton. I earned my BA in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA in 1988 and my Ph.D. in Comparative Cultures from the University of California, Irvine in 1994. My research focused on rural communities in the American Midwest, Latin America, and Australia. I taught Environmental Anthropology, Qualitative Research Methods, Social and Cultural Theory, and Food Studies courses.
I retired to Shell Rock, a small rural community in Northeast Iowa where I enjoy gardening, cooking, quilting, driving my 65 Impala convertible an my 49 Willys Jeepster. I have lots of fun playing my guitars with friends from the Cedar Valley Acoustic Guitar Association. But most importantly, I am still working to make my community and rural America a better place. I host a community quilt studio and serve on the Mission Board of my church. I also serve as the Climate Committee Chair and on the Executive Board of the Center for Rural Affairs.
