Uniformity with God's Will

[Mark]

Uniformity with God's Will" by St. Alphonsus Liguori


Job lying on the ash heap

The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God's will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God. St. John of Avila used to say: 'One Blessed by God' in times of adversity, is worth more than a thousand acts of gratitude in times of prosperity.'"
 

 

[gladius_veritatis]

If during life we have embraced everything as coming from God’s hands, and if at death we embrace death in fulfillment of God’s holy will, we shall certainly save our souls and die the death of saints. Let us then abandon everything to God’s good pleasure, because being infinitely wise, he knows what is best for us; and being all-good and all-loving —having given his life for us—he wills what is best for us. Let us, as St. Basil counsels us, rest secure in the conviction that beyond the possibility of a doubt, God works to effect our welfare, infinitely better than we could ever hope to accomplish or desire it ourselves.

[miss_fluffy]

Ahem... very noble advice indeed. 

 

What about more mundane everyday occurrences?  What about big decisions that don't have any spiritual significance.  How do we discern what God's will is?  I've heard all the fruitcakey stuff about being quiet and listening, and God tells me what to do etc. 

 

If I don't see/feel/hear God in what I'm doing (which is just about everything) Does it mean that it doesn't matter to God?  ie. If I have a choice between taking this job or that job, or following one whim or another, or moving out of town or staying put etc.?  Does it mean that God doesn't care about a certain decision I'm making if there are no God-like indications for an answer?

 

I hope I'm making myself clear here, because this question keeps coming up for me.  It seems some people easily state that God leads them through life, but I just don't see it in my life on a day to day basis.

[catheotimus]

Boy, howdy, Miss Fluffy...me too!

 

Though I do think that even (and sometimes especially) mundane decisions--everything we do, in fact--has spiritual significance, I tend to think sometimes it does not matter what we choose to do, say, for a vocation, or a hobby, so long as we do it for the glory of God. Like you, I don't get clear instructions...or maybe I just don't have ears to hear or eyes to see. And then there's the fortitude (lacking) thing for doing the things I KNOW I should...even after praying "oh, just SHOW me Lord, what it is you put me here for, where you want me to be, what you want me to do, and I WILL do it!" (oh, really?) Maybe I do see, and it's just not what I want...it's not something special.

-Robin

[Charlemagne]

God I beleve is only really concerned with decisions that will aid or harm our chance of salvation, many of the decisions we make won't make a difference one way or another, for example  what to eat for luch or even larger decisions like which job to take, sure they each offer different experiences but not necesserily negative experiences.

hmm I'm not really been very clear let me try again.  For Example you have the choice of two jobs one working in a grocery store and one working as a secretary, neither job is obviously immoral so the choice is left up to us.  Now despite this obviously there may be occasions for sin while we are at one place of work that we wouldn't come across if we were'nt working there which may lead is to thinking that maybe we have made the wrong choice.  But you need to realise is that it is when you realise these occasions of sin as what they are, that is when God is directing us, he's saying "hey this is bad get out of this situation", these occasions of sin only happen in the first place because god has allowed them to happen in orde that we may act in the way we know is right(we know it is the right way because God has told us not in the spiritual sense necessarily but more often through the teachings of the Church)


We have free will God only intervenes when he thinks it is absolutely necessary and this normally takes the form of preparing us prior to the trial through the teaching of the church rather than direct intervention.

It is good that you seek to do the will of God in all things but the more mundane things like which house to buy and where to live and where to work don't really matter one way or anotherr most of the time it is how we behave after we have made the choices that counts.

I am highly suspect of people who claim things like God told them to do this or do that more often than not I believe they made the choice and then just use God to back them up after already making the decision themselves.

[gladius_veritatis]

It is good that you seek to do the will of God in all things but the more mundane things like which house to buy and where to live and where to work don't really matter one way or another most of the time it is how we behave after we have made the choices that counts.

What is important in such decisions (and, indeed, in all decisions) is our motive.  There are clear indicators of what is the best thing to do (within each sphere and for each case), and if something is contrary to reason (like buying a house you cannot afford), you can be sure He wants you to act in accordance with the reason He gave you.

 

He is involved in - is a part of - every single thing that you do, say and think, as He is the One Who enables you to exist, think, speak, and act.

 

The two short excerpts are from a great, but short booklet by Saint Alphonsus, which is available on-line, or from www.tanbooks.com, for very cheap.  My advice: get it, read it, re-read it.  I do so every so often myself, as one cannot have the teachings it contains imprinted too deeply on the mind.

 

There are not actually very many so-called "big things" in life.  It is an accumulation of many small things.  How we accept that which happens to us determines a lot about our sanctity or lack thereof (or even our reasonableness - which is a pre-requisite for sanctity, as grace builds on nature, and while faith is above reason, it never contradicts it).

[creimann]

What about more mundane everyday occurrences?

From yesterday's entry in Divine Intimacy (#129):

It is often easier to accept, in a burst of generosity, the great sacrifices and sufferings of singular occurrence, than the little, insignificant sufferings, closely connected with our state of life and the fulfillment of our duty: sufferings which occur daily under the same form, with the same intensity and insistence, among endless and unchanging circumstances. ... Herein lies the genuine cross that Jesus offers us daily, inviting us to carry it after Him--an unpretentious cross, which does not require great heroism, but which does demand that we repeat our Fiat every day...

That's a basic approach to seeing how daily occurrences are related to our progress in the spiritual life.

[HailGilbert]

If during life we have embraced everything as coming from God’s hands, and if at death we embrace death in fulfillment of God’s holy will, we shall certainly save our souls and die the death of saints. Let us then abandon everything to God’s good pleasure, because being infinitely wise, he knows what is best for us; and being all-good and all-loving —having given his life for us—he wills what is best for us. Let us, as St. Basil counsels us, rest secure in the conviction that beyond the possibility of a doubt, God works to effect our welfare, infinitely better than we could ever hope to accomplish or desire it ourselves.

Which is why most humans won't be saved, because they either don't believe God knows what's best for us or - more likely - they don't trust Him because of all the bad things He permits to happen to them and to the world in general. To their minds, that lessens trust in God and increases fear of Him.

[Viator]

If during life we have embraced everything as coming from God’s hands, and if at death we embrace death in fulfillment of God’s holy will, we shall certainly save our souls and die the death of saints. Let us then abandon everything to God’s good pleasure, because being infinitely wise, he knows what is best for us; and being all-good and all-loving —having given his life for us—he wills what is best for us. Let us, as St. Basil counsels us, rest secure in the conviction that beyond the possibility of a doubt, God works to effect our welfare, infinitely better than we could ever hope to accomplish or desire it ourselves.

WELL SAID GLADIUS

[Mark]

 

Ahem... very noble advice indeed. 

 

What about more mundane everyday occurrences?  What about big decisions that don't have any spiritual significance.  How do we discern what God's will is?  I've heard all the fruitcakey stuff about being quiet and listening, and God tells me what to do etc. 

 

If I don't see/feel/hear God in what I'm doing (which is just about everything) Does it mean that it doesn't matter to God?  ie. If I have a choice between taking this job or that job, or following one whim or another, or moving out of town or staying put etc.?  Does it mean that God doesn't care about a certain decision I'm making if there are no God-like indications for an answer?

 

I hope I'm making myself clear here, because this question keeps coming up for me.  It seems some people easily state that God leads them through life, but I just don't see it in my life on a day to day basis.

 

Well, you make a point indeed. It's hard to say really, some things are more clear in life than others in regard to the will of God. I think we should do all we can for our betterment and well being, but beyond that is in the hands of God, for instance, months ago I lost my wallet. And I looked like heck for it, called the polics station to give them notice in case anyone turned it in, etc, in short, I did everything I could, beyond that all I could do was leave it in God's hands. If it never came back then it was His will that it not, and all I could do was try accept that. Eventually it did come back, but, I suppose the pint is, is that i did everything I could to do what I believed was right, and beyond that I could do no more than trust in God.

 

I guess It's kind of like everyday life, we gotta try as if it only depends on us, and pray like it only depends on God. I also agree with what else was said, God is most and first concerned with our salvation, and that should be our first and primary concern. "Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and it's justice", Scripture says, "then all else will be added".

 

That's the best answer I can give.