{"id":9845,"date":"2021-02-17T12:05:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T16:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.franciscansusa.dev\/franciscansusa.org\/?p=9432"},"modified":"2025-10-10T15:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:01:11","slug":"a-time-to-choose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/a-time-to-choose\/","title":{"rendered":"Un tiempo para elegir\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should I Stay or Should I Go?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Taking Time to Discern – When What is Right and What is Easy Don\u2019t Align
\nBy Friar Charles McCarthy, OFM Conv.<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Friar Charles McCarthy bagging lunches for those in need in Albuquerque, NM<\/p><\/div>\n

In \u201cPart Two: A Time to Choose,\u201d in Let Us Dream, Pope Francis emphasizes our need to discern and understand the reality in which one<\/p>\n

lives before deciding to take action. Paul writes, \u201cWhat I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.\u201d (Rom 7:15). Paul wades through the conundrum of right judgment toward right action (\u201cto act concretely to heal and repair\u201d), we need to decide reflectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould I stay, or should I go,\u201d lament Jones Michael Geoffrey and Mellor John in The Clash. \u201cIf I go, there will be trouble, and if I stay, it will be double\u2026\u201d asking someone \u201celse\u201d to make the decision. Francis councils, the answer needs to come from within \u2013 or we stay in \u201csin\u201d (\u201cpaths that lead nowhere or backward,\u201d in an \u201cisolated conscience\u201d).<\/p>\n

Pope Francis encourages us:
\n\u201cBetween the first step, which is to come close and allow yourself to be struck at what you see, and the third step, which is to act concretely to heal and repair, there is an essential intermediate state: to discern and to choose. A time of trial [distinguishes] the paths of the good that lead to the future from other paths that lead nowhere or backward. With clarity, we can better choose the first.\u201d (Let Us Dream p.52)
\nWhat happens when one is drawn by two equal values? Should I stay or should I go? Without taking seriously the responsibility (to respond ably) of a need, one sees – that no one else is taking on. It also becomes a question of \u201cobedience\u201d – or call.<\/p>\n

I serve a budding ministry among Native Peoples in Albuquerque. With COVID\u2019s impact, the ministry has gone to remote connections and the USPS. Simultaneously, a friar pastor of a parish, served by the friars since 1910, in Louisville became infected by COVID and was unable to continue his ministry. I know the community there. I am committed to the community here. You know Jesus\u2019 little quip of \u201cthey are like sheep without a shepherd.\u201d The compassion to fill in the gap, to go to Louisville, \u201cfor a while,\u201d was strong. But I do not want to leave Albuquerque either.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I am!\u201d welled up! And I listened. Now, I am doing the \u201ccrazy\u201d thing of serving the Church in disparate places and cultures \u2013 a few weeks here, a few weeks there, but in contact with both ministries each day. The ability to do this comes from seeing, discerning, and then responding.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

Back to Newsletter Home<\/a><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00bfDebo permanecer o debo ir? Tomarse el tiempo para discernir: cuando lo correcto y lo f\u00e1cil no se alinean Por Fray Charles McCarthy, OFM Conv. Fray Charles McCarthy preparando almuerzos para los necesitados en Albuquerque, Nuevo M\u00e9xico En la \u201cSegunda parte: Un tiempo para elegir\u201d, en Let Us Dream, el Papa Francisco enfatiza nuestro...","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[161],"class_list":["post-9845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-spring-st-anthony-let-us-dream","tag-friar-charles-mccarthy"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-28 08:49:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23068,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845\/revisions\/23068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9845"}],"curies":[{"name":"gracias","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}