http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/art-spiritual-discernment
Excerpt from Parker, James, I. The Ministry of the Spirit in Discerning the Will of God.
https://bible.org/seriespage/ministry-spirit-discerning-will-god
The Holy Spirit is given to all Christians to transform them by his teaching, making them into God-focused thinkers and equipping them to discern his will and make decisions accordingly. They do this by rational reflection on their life situation, helped by wise and godly advice, within the parameters that the Word of God establishes. The idea that the superior path in matters of guidance is to wait passively before God for direct promptings to action to come into one’s mind is a mistake. So is the superstitious notion that failure to discern the specifics of God’s vocational guidance sentences one irrevocably to a second-best life, with no restoration possible.
