Mar 21 Fri
Should I try to please God in everything?
A prayer from the Missal offers us a good summary of Christian life: “Grant, Almighty God, that with our thoughts always on the things of the Spirit, we may please you in all that we say and do."
Jesus spent his whole life on earth fulfilling His Father’s will. “My food, He told his disciples, is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work." Following the teaching and example of Christ, we must strive to attain the holiness to which God calls us.
Let us ask God to help us to do what pleases him. And what is it that pleases our Father God? That we should be happy.
“We are unhappy when we foolishly follow the promptings of the inclination to sin, the concupiscence, that we all carry within us.
And there is the attraction of what people call the world, which isn't the world that we love passionately, but the immoral lifestyles.
Then there is the constant activity of the devil, and the downward tug of the flesh. And this goes on throughout life... If someone thinks that the time will come when they won't have to fight anymore, he is wrong. We will always have to fight, with a constant interior struggle."
It does not require us to make superhuman efforts. With the help of grace, everything is easy.
Often there are long periods when we don't encounter special difficulties, because we realize that our aim in life deserves all the effort involved. “But there are times when the triple concupiscence blinds and confuses us, and leaves us stunned. And then everything starts to be difficult, and the joy we felt on other occasions, the joy of burning ourselves on God's altar each day: that joy disappears."
We must then struggle to fulfill God's will, even if we lack enthusiasm.
We must keep advancing, even though we may not experience any consolation. It doesn't matter whether there are feelings or not; what matters is having our head - and our heart -fixed on the path that leads to God.
“If God gives us pleasant feelings, we are grateful because they make it easier for us to fulfill his will, to keep his commandments and counsels.
Yet we should not do things out of feelings. If they come, say: ‘Thank you, my God, for making it easier to fulfill my duty!’ But when they don’t come, still say: ‘Thank you, Lord, because I know that You are helping me to please you’."
“Is it good to want feelings? It isn't bad to want them. But it is more perfect not to ask for feelings. … It's just as good to have them as not to have them, so long as we seek God's will in everything."
Our Lady had no other desire in this world than to give herself over entirely to the fulfillment of God's will.
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