Me, "A Living Will of God?"

      “True love of God consists in adhering perfectly to His holy will, not desiring to do or be other than what God dictates for each of us, to the point of becoming, as it were, “a living will of God."                                                                                     Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.

     I shudder as I read Fr. Gabriel’s words. I love God and strive to truly love Him. I want to desire to live this statement, but if I’m totally honest, I silently desire my will at times. Me, “a living will of God?” Regretfully, I am not.

Break the Thread and Fly!

     “My daughter, you give Me most glory by patiently submitting to My will, and you win for yourself greater merit than that which any fast or mortification could ever gain for you. Know, My daughter, that if you submit your will to Mine, you draw upon yourself My special delight. This sacrifice is pleasing to Me and full of sweetness. I take great treasure in it; there is power in it.” Jesus to Saint Faustina

     I am well aware that accepting God’s will in my life is what He truly wants, and I really try my best to do so. But if I’m perfectly honest, it is often not with patient submission. Instead, it is more a “white knuckling” submission in the hope that things will soon change and be more to my will.

Let Me Provide

     For well over a year now, God has been hitting me over the head to accept His will in my life, as it is presented to me and to truly trust Him.

Listen to Him

     “Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, ‘Lord, it is good we are here. If You wish, I will make three tents here, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the clouds came a voice that said, ‘This is My Beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell prostate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’ And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down the mountain Jesus charged them, ‘Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’”                                                                                                      Mt 17: 1-9                                                                                                                                                                       


     As I went about cleaning my upstairs, my thoughts were riveted on this scripture reading.
    
     It had been quite some time, since I have had a “Tabor” experience. I was most definitely down from the mountaintop, as I forced myself to perform the duty that lay before me.

Head in the Right Direction

     “My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me and to finish His work.”                                                             John 4 vs 34


     God has given to each of us work to accomplish. Work which reveals itself to us as each day of our life unfolds. Our work is not a single task but a continuum of tasks we accomplish one after another.

     Following God’s commandments, as well as the teachings of the Catholic Church, helps us in navigating the road to His will. Fulfilling the duties of our state in life, to the best of our ability, will keep us heading in the right direction.

Listen and Respond

     “Even though we know that God’s will and commandments apply to everyone, we do not always have the strength to fulfill them. Now, every time we respond faithfully to a motion of the Spirit, out of desire to be docile to what God expects of us, even if it’s something almost insignificant in itself, that may make us capable of one day practicing the commandments that up until then we had not been capable of fulfilling entirely.”                        Fr. Jacques Phillipe


     There is a very good chance that since you are reading this blog, you are striving to grow in your relationship with God. You are trying to grow in grace, holiness and virtue. You are looking deep within yourself, to discover your weaknesses and imperfections. You long so much to change, to please God in all that you do.

Becoming Love

     “As we have seen, there is a difference between what God is actually asking of us, and what we imagine He is asking. We won’t have the grace to do what God is not asking of us. But for what He is asking, He has promised His grace: God grants what He commands. When God inspires us to do something (if it really is God who is the source of the inspiration), at the same time He supplies the ability to do it, even if it is beyond our ability and scares us at the start. Every motion that comes from God brings both the light to understand what God intends, and the strength to accomplish it: light that illuminates the mind, and strength that gives power to the will.”  
                                                                                         Fr. Jacques Phillipe


     It is not unusual for those of us who are zealous for God, to want to do great and grand things for Him. We love God so, and want everyone else to love Him with their whole being.

Be Stouthearted and Wait

     “When uncertain about God’s will, it is very important that we tell ourselves: Even if there are aspects of God’s will that escape me, there are always others that I know for sure and can invest in without any risk, knowing that this investment always pays dividends: these certainties include fulfilling the duties of our state in life and practicing the essential points of every Christian vocation. There is a defect here that needs to be recognized and avoided: finding ourselves in darkness about God’s will on an important question . . . we spend so much time searching and doubting or getting discouraged, that we neglect things that are God’s will for us every day, like being faithful to prayer, maintaining trust in God, loving people around us here and now. Lacking the answers about the future, we should prepare to receive them by living today to the full.” Fr. Jacques Phillipe


     There are times in our lives when we flounder. We believe that God is calling us to do something: sometimes a very specific task, while other times something totally unknown to us. We begin to doubt and become impatient and restless because the opportunity has not yet presented itself, or our questions appear unanswered. We make the judgment that it should have happened within a certain amount of time, and when it hasn’t, we question both ourselves and God. “Was this just my imagination, or was it really You God?”

Resting In God

     “There is a state of resting in God, an absolute break from all intellectual activity, when one forms no plans, makes no decisions and for the first time really ceases to act, when one simply hands over the future to God’s will and ‘surrenders himself to fate.’” St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross



     We LONG to rest in God: To abandon ourselves completely and forever to His will. It is something we have been yearning for, but struggling to do for such a long time.

God's will be done

     Accepting all as God’s will is such a challenge!

     

     The good things that happen are certainly easy to accept and see God’s hand in them; then we thank and praise Him. It’s the difficult things that just seem to happen – the trials that purify our will and challenge us to trust when everything within us feels like rebelling or just giving up!