Sep 27 Sun
Do I want to do the Will of God?
If we turn from our sins and do what is right, God will give us life now and eternal life after this life. God assists us by his grace, which helps us to desire to do what is right and to actually do it.
But we have an essential part in doing what is right. Our intellect says yes to God’s law, and our will cooperates with God’s will.
St. Paul recommends that we have the same attitude toward others that Our Lord has.
It is the opposite of selfishness, vainglory, and everyone only looking out for his own interests.
The attitude of Christ is:
- humbly regarding others as more important than oneself,
- looking out for the interests of others,
- encouraging others,
- giving loving support to others,
- listening to what the Holy Spirit wants you to say and do for others,
- showing compassion and mercy toward others,
- and everyone being of one mind in love.
This attitude of Christ is seen in his self-emptying, in his taking the form of a slave, in humbling himself and “becoming obedient” to his Father’s will “to the point of death, even on a cross.”
Our attitude toward doing the will of God must be effective, not just a desire. It is better to be a person who resists God’s will but then does it than to be a person who says he will do God’s will but does not do it. The best way is to say yes to God’s will and then to do it, like Mary, who heard the word of God and kept it.
Our Faith teaches us that God’s will for us is entirely good, a far greater good than we can even imagine. So, in theory, it is easy to say, “Thy will be done.”
But it is often not easy to do in practice. One of the most basic aspects of our human condition is that we want pleasure and happiness and hate pain and suffering. This is why we resist and may even reject the will of God. We see that what God wants, or what we think He wants, will make us suffer or prevent us from being happy.
We can accept and even embrace the things that happen to us as coming from God for our good or the good of others. We can do this even when what happens is objectively bad: God is not sending us evil, but permitting it, and He will draw a greater good from it.
Many things that are the will of God and that we can see are perfectly good are just hard. For example, it is hard to obey one of the commandments when a strong passion is making us want to disobey it.
St. Josemaría had a succinct and practical formula for doing the will of God: “Stages: to be resigned to the will of God; to conform to the will of God, to want the will of God; to love the will of God.” Where are you on the journey through these stages?