Knowing God's Will

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  I feel like St. Paul could have written this part of his epistle to us today: “watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil.”  Certainly, all of Scripture is applicable in every age, but it does make me pause in awe that a letter which some scholars say was written around the year 60, still speaks directly to us some almost 2,000 years later in our own evil days.
    But besides warning us not to live foolish lives, but live with the wisdom which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle continues, “Therefore…try to understand what is the will of the Lord.”  God’s will is not always apparent or comprehensible.  Or, we hear the cliché phrase, “God’s ways are mysterious,” why makes me think of a meme that says, “God’s ways are mysterious, but yours don’t have to be; use your turn signal.”  In all seriousness, how do we know the will of God?  How do we know if we’re doing the will of God or simply following our own will?
    One factor is determining what God’s will is is what He has revealed through the Church, whether through the Scriptures or through the Magisterium.  God cannot contradict Himself.  So if what you think God is telling you to do contradicts the Scriptures or what the Church has revealed as part of the deposit of faith, then it’s not the voice of God.  God will never tell you to murder someone, that is, take an innocent life.  Or, I remember in college seminary, my spiritual director was telling me generally about a woman who came to him for spiritual advice.  She was convinced that the Holy Spirit was telling her to become a priest.  He assured her that it wasn’t the holy spirit that was telling her such a thing.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

    A second factor is how we are living our life.  St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his famous rules of discernment, says that a necessary pre-supposition for determining if God is speaking to us or if it is coming from an evil spirit is whether or not we are in a state of grace.  Because when we follow God’s moral law, then God’s will will seem enjoyable and peaceful.  However, if we are living contrary to God’s moral law, then God’s will will seem burdensome and cause us turmoil.  So, as a second characteristic, are we living in a state of grace, not conscious of any mortal sins, or are we going from grave sin to grave sin?
    Knowing God’s will is much easier through prayer, especially daily times of silence with God.  When we have especially a major decision to make, do we take it to God first?  Do we pray to God, telling Him what we want to do, and asking if that is in accord with His will?  Do we take time to try to listen to His voice in hearts, in our conscience?  That daily communication creates the habit of giving God our thoughts, and listening to His thoughts.  Like a marriage, communication is key to growing in holiness. 
    Now, I know that with young families, prayer time can seem as likely as winning the lotto as you get the kids up, get them dressed, get them fed, get them cleaned, get them to different activities, get them to bed, etc.  It can be so easy, at the end of the day, to want to watch a little TV or find some distraction.  And that’s not always bad.  But is time made, each day, even if just for a couple of minutes, to bring yourself before God, present to Him your thoughts and desires, and give Him time to respond.
    Patience is also important.  Because, even if we are making time for God, even if we create short or long moments of silence, God is not at our beck and call inasmuch as He doesn’t have to answer us in the timeframe that we want.  When I was in eighth grade, I wanted to know my vocation and future career, what I should do with my life.  So I prayed to God each day, asking for His guidance.  And it took over a year before I heard anything that I understood to be the will of God.  It’s not that God wasn’t answering my prayers before, it was that He was saying, “Not yet.”  And so, when trying to find out the will of God, often times we will need to wait.  True, sometimes decisions have to be made, and I’ll talk about that in a bit, but, as much possible, we should wait for God to answer us.
    Again, going back to St. Ignatius of Loyola’s rules for discernment.  We should consider if we are choosing between two goods, or between good and evil.  The choice between good and evil doesn’t need discernment; don’t do evil.  And, as mentioned earlier, we should strive to be in a state of grace.  If we are in a state of grace, though what God calls us to do may be difficult (and require the virtue and gift of the Holy Spirit of courage), it will give us peace and joy.  We will find delight in that choice.  If it causes us anxiety and discouragement, and seems to lead us away from God, then we can have some confidence that it is not what God wills. 
    On the other hand, if we are in a state of grave sin, what seems enjoyable and easy will be what is bad.  What seems to cause us angst and troubles our heart will be what is God’s will.  When we are used to going against God, going for Him will not seem like it is what we want to do, and the evil spirit will try to keep us blissfully numb to the possibility of turning back to God.
    Lastly, if we do not find ourselves in a time of union with God, what St. Ignatius calls desolation (as opposed to consolation, which is a time of union with God), we should not reverse course and change decisions we made in consolation.  For example, let’s say a person had a problem with sins of the flesh, but had gone to confession, had asked God to help him or her with getting rid of the temptations and helping to live a chaste life, and through daily prayer that person decided to cancel the Netflix account because it had become a near occasion of sin.  If that person fell back into sin, he or she could be tempted to say that Netflix wasn’t really the problem, so he or she can resubscribe.  That’s not going to help the person know the will of God, because a decision made in consolation should not be reviewed simply because of desolation. 
    Sometimes, despite our best efforts to know the will of God, we don’t seem to get an answer.  We put the question before God, we seek His will in daily prayer, we live in a state of grace, we are patient, but we still have nothing.  Sometimes, God allows us to make a decision without giving us input, because He loves us and trusts our ability to choose well.  We should line up all the positives of the decision, and contrast it with the negatives of the decision.  We should rationally look into what consequences that decision could have.  And if we’re not hearing from God, then we can proceed to make the decision, conscious of the fact that perhaps God will advise us later, or will make His will more clearly known to us, which we should follow as soon as we are aware of it.
    Sometimes, too, the will of God is made manifest to us without any questioning.  For me, this happened in my first assignment, where the bishop told me that I was going to St. Thomas Aquinas parish in East Lansing.  I had no place to pray about if this was the will of God: God’s voice in our diocese, Bishop Boyea, informed me of how he had discerned God’s will and what that would be.  For couples, it could be the unexpected conception of a child.  There’s no longer discernment about what God’s will is: He has made it known through a new life in the womb of the mother. 
    If you want a more in-depth treatment of this subject, Fr. Tim Gallagher has a great book called The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living.  I think the most important thing is that we are making a habit of seeking to know God’s will.  If we are open to God’s will, and not simply desiring that God rubber-stamp our every whim or desire, then we will have a familiarity with how God makes His will known to us.  And to make it through these evil days, we should always do our best to seek the will of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

National Vocation Awareness Week

 Resumed Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  This week the Church in the United States focuses on vocations in National Vocation Awareness week.  We are invited by our bishops to focus our attention on vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life, and to pray for those considering it.
    Vocations to holy orders and consecrated life are such important parts of the Church’s life.  Through priests, we have access to the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance, by which our sins are forgiven.  Deacons assist with baptisms and funerals, as well as at Mass, and are of great service to the Church in many other ways.  Consecrated men and women remind us that this world is not all there is, and that we should always keep our minds and hearts on heaven, where all the People of God will be poor (relying on God for everything), chaste, and obedient.  A sign of a healthy parish is when men and women consider these forms of life.  We will be blessed in a little over a month to have one of the sons of St. Matthew parish, Deacon Jeff Raths, ordained to the priesthood for the Augustinians.  I know that we have other men who are considering a vocation to the priesthood, as well.  
    As with any vocation, a call to the priesthood, diaconate, or consecrated life is a call from God, a gift, which cannot be earned.  A vocation is a way to build up the Church and to serve the Church to assist in the spreading of the Gospel and the salvation of souls.  No one is worthy of the call, but Christ makes worthy those whom He calls.
 

Bishop Boyea anoints my hands in my ordination to the priesthood

   In my own life, my discernment was not some audible voice from the heavens, nor did I get struck by lightning.  It came through perseverance in prayer, openness to doing, first and foremost the will of God, and a dialogue with the Church to see if I would be a good priest. I didn’t hear an answer when I wanted (God was teaching me patience, I think).  But through daily prayer, going to Mass when I could (beyond Sundays and holydays), and even listening to others, I was able to discern that I had to apply to go to seminary.  And in seminary, by following the formation program, I was able to discern that I wanted to be a priest, and the Church decided that I would be a good priest.  That’s a super simplified version, but it’s the gist of what I went through.  There were no really big moments in my life that pushed me, but the daily openness to the will of God and trying to do His will as best as I knew it.
    The month of November is also dedicated to prayers for the dead.  The priest is the one who can help usher a soul to God at the end of life, and can help save souls.  The priest is invited in to the life of a parishioner at the last moments, and through the last sacraments of Penance, Anointing of the Sick, and Viaticum, as well as the plenary indulgence of the Apostolic Pardon, can change the trajectory of where a soul is headed.  Without priests, we are left to our own virtue, which is not always promising.  Without priests, I know families would be more distraught at the loss of a loved one.  And without priests (and deacons), there would be no one to commend the soul to God in a funeral.
    The priesthood requires a real man.  It is not for the faint of heart.  I certainly could not imagine doing anything else with my life, nor could imagine being truly happy in any other vocation.  But there are hard days (just like there are in marriage and family life), and like any vocation, it does require sacrifice.  But the sacrifices are worth it, and are easily borne because of love.  I would hope that any young man here would consider a vocation to the priesthood.  If it does work out, it is a great service to the Church.  Or, if God calls you to another form of life, discerning the priesthood is always beneficial to knowing what God wants you to do and having that certainty that you knew the vocation God was calling you to, rather than simply defaulting to marriage because it is most common.  
    So, too, consecrated life, which includes monks and nuns, brothers and sisters, and consecrated virgins, is a call that takes courage.  In a society that values money, sex, and one’s will over almost everything else, the call to be poor, chaste, and obedient is a kind of revolt against the fallen values of the secular world.  But, again, it is a special form of life to which Christ calls some, and any young man or woman should consider if God is calling you to it.  The religious men and women I know are some of the happiest people I know.  We have our sisters here, the Servants of God’s Love, and I know some of the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, as well as a few consecrated virgins.  They exude happiness; and not the passing happiness from having what one wants at the moment, but the longer-lasting happiness of doing the will of God and living that vocation with others.  In addition to the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience, the blessing (and challenge) of community life is one of the marks of so many consecrated men and women.  They know that they are not alone as they seek to imitate the poor, chaste, and obedient Christ.  I certainly also encourage young men and women of the parish to consider consecrated life.  We need that witness of those who live the heavenly life already here on earth.
    And in order to have good priests, deacons, and consecrated men and women, we need good and holy families that encourage discernment.  Vocations don’t fall out of heaven in a gift box; they are the fruit of a family seeking to do the will of God and developing good habits of discernment like daily prayer, devotion to the Eucharist, and frequent reception of the sacraments.  It also does take the encouragement (but not forcing the issue) of vocations in the family or among friends of parishioners.  Never be afraid to tell a young man or young woman that you think he or she would be a good priest, deacon, or consecrated man or woman.  You don’t have to tell them every time you see them, but mention it once in a while, as a way of letting them know that it’s a good thing to consider in life.
    This week the Church invites us to assist others in discerning a vocation.  May our lives and our witness help others to consider a life that puts service to the Church as a real possibility to be the man or woman that God is calling them to be.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.