Friends in Christ, Jesus says: “Whoever loves me will keep my word.” Keeping his word – we might say, obeying the Lord – in this, he says, we will experience the Father’s love.
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The saints say,[i] ‘Holiness consists in loving God; and the love of God consists in fulfilling his holy will.’ This is really what it’s all about in the spiritual life; its about knowing God’s will, and then doing God’s will; to do God’s will in every moment, it’s how we become a saint. And if we are always doing what we know God wishes, we will always have peace. We will never be sad. Proverbs says: ‘Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad.'[ii]
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St. Alphonsus says: ‘the crosses that God sends you are misfortunes, because you make them misfortunes; if you would accept them with resignation, they would no longer be misfortunes, but riches for paradise.’ …..You say, ‘everything goes wrong for me.’ Things go wrong for you because you don’t want the cross. But if you would say ‘thank you’ to God for these troubles, all would be well for you.
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Think about it. If we did God’s will, did what was right and best at every moment, we would never sin – that would save us a lot of sadness. We would have good character, and this would bring a great self-image. We would lose weight because we would never overeat. And we would be more successful in our work, because we would not be lazy or waste any time. Doing God’s will always would make us great.
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Even sickness can be embraced as God’s plan. We should not desire to be cured in order to avoid suffering, we should rather say: ‘Lord, if it be your will that I be cured, let it be; if you wish that I suffer, help me to do it well for you.
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Even death: if we say, ‘Lord, I lovingly accept death when you want it and how you want it – this is the greatest act we can make in our life. The Venerable Abbott Blosius says that at the hour of our death, if we make an act of perfect conformity to the will of God, it not only will deliver us from hell, but also from Purgatory.
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If we really had Faith, we would trust God in all that he asks of us. Then we would know his love, and he would all the more dwell in us.
[i] Ideas here are from Preparation for Death, St. Alphonsus, p. 450.
[ii] Prov 12:21 (Douay-Rheims Bible)
