Bukas-Loob sa Diyos or its English translation Open in Spirit to God, is more than just the name or identity of our faith community. It also expresses our spirituality and our discernment.
Our identity is of children in quest of Father God, in journey towards the highest union with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our spirituality is of sinners needing continuing conversion. Hence our hearts are open to God, a sign of our utter reliance on grace for the fulfillment of our God-ward quest. Our discernment flows from our openness and responsiveness to the movement of the Holy Spirit within us, who guides us to faithfully follow Jesus’ footsteps, to lovingly obey the Father’s will and to fruitfully serve His Church.
“Bukas-Loob sa Diyos” is the quality of our heart, the state of our spiritual disposition that is necessary for an ever-deepening experience of God. When our heart is open to God, we awaken to His Spirit, aware of His presence and amazed by His love. The heart broken by sin and hardened by hurt recognizes that it has been visited by grace, free and unmerited. It allows itself to be disturbed and moved by God into repentance and conversion.
What is discernment? Discernment comes from the Latin word “discernere”, which means to sift, as grain from chaff. It has a close correlation to “discere” or disciple, which means to learn, to follow. This etymology suggests a similar correlation between discipleship and discernment. Jesus said, the true disciple is “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). Christ’s disciple seeks the Holy Spirit’s help to find and do God’s will in his life.
The Lord has equipped us to distinguish between right and wrong through the revelation of His will in the 10 commandments and through a conscience that has the inner stamp of His moral law. In every choice involving right or wrong, good or evil, we are commanded to choose what is good, what is right.
Discernment is necessary when we are confronted with choices which are all good, and what God wants us to choose is unclear to us. God has endowed us with faculties essential for“scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:10). discernment: our natural gifts of the mind, feeling and will, and the supernatural gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit who
God planted us in a community where the praxis of discernment is encouraged through formation in prayer, scripture and ministry service. Our formation includes teachings in Christian discernment, discernment of spirits and Ignatian discernment, which we apply in individual and group decision-making.
Our name “Bukas-Loob sa Diyos” expresses our open invitation to the Spirit of God to make His dwelling in us. When our hearts are open to God, every day is a moment of the Spirit’s visitation, to teach us about Jesus and to guide us to a deeper communion with Him. The Spirit clears our vision so that we see Jesus more distinctly, whom He reveals to us in prayer, in Scripture, in the sacraments, in His other children, in our sufferings and joys. The more we know Jesus, the more we grow in love with Him. To do His will becomes our greatest desire.
The Holy Spirit is the sure guide of the Christian disciple to discernment of God’s will. We may ask, how do we know that it is the Holy Spirit’s moving us and not our inner motivations? After all, do not evil inclinations remain in us due to original sin? Enticed by the world, the flesh or the evil one, don't we often fall to sin by choosing against God?
We may stray from time to time, but our faithful Shepherd seeks us without fail and brings us back to the flock. The power of His love conquers the power of evil. We can never be separated from God's love.
Our confidence comes from God’s word:
- “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” Jn 10:27.
- “You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1Jn 4:4).
- “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rm 5:20).
We can trust the Holy Spirit, who speaks to our deepest center, to lead us to God.
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