How do we know God's will for us? Discernment is not an easy road to travel. Somewhere between the path God has set for us and the path we rationalize in our minds as our "own" steps to get from A to B, we must have the desire to move closer to His will. Imagine two paths, one straight and narrow and the other ascending, descending and moving in horizontal and even diagonal directions at times. The first path, the one chosen by God. The second the path of nearly every human being that has walked the face of the earth. Even some of the greatest saints, St. Augustine and St. Francis of Assisi wrestled with their own will and the will of God. Due to original sin, our paths are no longer straight and narrow, but characterized by not only straying off of God's path but sometimes even turning our backs completely on it and going in the opposite direction for years, even decades.
So how do we know God's will for us?
In order to know God's will, we must know God.
Nowadays, I find it remarkable how many people profess to "know" God. Yet, the God they know is one they often create in their own minds, based on what ever suits their current situation. They've invested absolutely no time in finding Him, yet they profess to know him in their hearts. For example, "Well, the God I know is love. I love my boyfriend more than any guy I've ever been with. I know we belong together, that is why we chose to live together." They justify their behavior and find a God in their minds that accepts and even endorses that behavior. As a side note, I even had someone suggest to someone I know that I was no different than they were, because I "lived" with my husband BEFORE marriage just as they are living with their own boyfriend before "possible" marriage. The fact that I was invited to move in with my in-laws because of a better job market in the area where they lived and that I shared a room and a bed with my husband's sister for goodness sake, made no difference in this person's rationale! I suppose the fact that we both technically lived together with our boyfriends somehow made her feel better about herself. The fact is there is no difference in God's love for her and for me. The difference is in our choices, which is more pleasing to God is the question. Another example might be someone saying, "The God I know loves unconditionally, that means that I can do ANYTHING I want and God will love me no matter what so everyone else should do the same. That is all that really matters. Whose to tell me that anything I chose to do is morally right or wrong?"
There are absolute truths in the universe. There is right and there is wrong. There is good and there is bad. Everything in the course of salvation history shows us what God deems good and what he deems evil. He lets us know, precisely because He loves us enough to sacrifice His only son for us. The scriptures convey the story of God's people from before any human being was even created. They also tell the story of God's great love and mercy in the stories of the Old Testament figures. The New Testament tells of the new covenant God has with his people through Jesus, his son, God himself come to earth. The words and actions of Jesus, tell us how to recognize and know God.
The saints take the scriptures and feed upon them in order to model their own lives from them. The saints also spent time reflecting on the events of their lives and striving to surrender their will to God. The great church fathers provide us with additional information on how to know God. The Magisterium of the Catholic Church has given us the Catechism and the Compendium (both reference scriptures and the works of church fathers and saints). Then, we have the Pope, who is infallible on issues of faith who gives us wonderful, timely encyclicals to further guide us.
So, if you want to know God, it looks like you have to spend some time reading his word. You don't have to attempt to interpret it, the Magisterium gives you guidance in the catechism through the wisdom of generations of scriptural and theological scholars.
In order to know God, we must participate daily in the process of getting to know Him.
The Catholic church teaches that prayer and the sacraments are God given gifts that aid us in knowing God personally.
A daily prayer life is one of the best things to draw you closer to God. Conversing with God may seem at first, a one-sided process, with you doing all the talking, but sooner or later, you will begin to hear God. It might not be an audible voice, but you may hear him in some other way. It could be in your experiences with others, something you hear during mass or in the words of a loved one. He will speak to your heart if you give him a chance. If you have difficulty praying, as many people do, there are many beautiful prayers that are easily accessible through the internet as a starting point. The important thing is to give it a try and then stick with it.
The seven sacraments of the Catholic Church include, baptism, penance (confession), First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick. Each of these sacraments prepare us to know God better. Baptism cleanses us from original sin. Penance allows us to review the daily choices that we are making, confess our faults and be forgiven of them. Our slate is wiped clean so we can begin again with a new heart. First Communion allows us to receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, to tell you the truth, there is no more personal relationship than that! The Eucharist transforms us body, mind and soul to be like Christ. Confirmation (one of my favorites, because I am a confirmation teacher), is when we confirm our faith in the Holy Catholic Church. It is a time when a young person, or adult chooses the Catholic Church for him/herself. At Baptism, your parents chose the church for you. At Confirmation, you chose it for yourself. You receivethe Holy Spirit at Confirmation which is an invaluable gift that sets your heart on fire for God. Marriage and Holy Orders are both vocations which lead to a closer knowledge of God. And finally Anointing of the Sick is an invaluable sacrament, I know its remarkable benefits, because two of my six children have received this sacrament due to grave illness. What a gift all the sacraments are to us, if you haven't received all you are eligible for, it is time to look into that.
The Faith Journey: Surrendering your free will, reading scripture, using the Magisterium's Guidance, reflecting on the lives of the Saints, Praying throughout each day and participating in the Sacraments... a plan for salvation....but you must have a living faith.
These are my suggestions based on my own personal faith journey, yet I realize that we can do all these things and still place our souls in jeopardy. We must guard against being a good student of all of these things the church offers without having a living faith. A living faith to me, means striving daily to not only know all this information but to try to live it out.
Loving your neighbor as yourself, for example, sometimes requires doing the very difficult, enraging and even in extreme circumstances, separating you from those you are called to love. We must chose God above all else. God does not expect us, in my opinion, to continue to beat our heads against brick walls if others do not accept us along with our desire to serve God.
We are called to forgive, because God tells us that He has forgiven us, so therefore we, as Christians, must forgive others for wrongdoings. If we forgive, it does not mean that the other person was right, it just means that God has given us the grace to do what we feel in our hearts is impossible, forgiving our trespasses. When we forgive, we are given freedom from the chains of resentment and anger and we have a peace that surpasses all others, we also are merciful towards the other party because we are not binding their sins.
Loving our enemies, which sometimes may seem like our very own families or friends, means praying for them daily and harboring no resentment towards them. When those feelings start to bubble up, then it is time to search once again for God's will by accepting His amazing grace in both discerning and doing His will. His mercy is greater than our sins. We can come back to Him, begging forgiveness and mercy over and over again. That is my God. That is a living faith, and that, I believe is God's will for us all.
"The world with its seductions is passing away but the man who does God's will endures forever" (1 Jn 2:17).
Mary Kidd Flemming blogs for The Handmaids of Mercy , The Splendor of Truth and The Compass Rose (Parenting and Family Life Issues). You may also enjoy her husband's website: Crossroads Family Center The Flemming Family is facing the greatest challenge of their lives as three of their six kids have health issues and were all diagnosed within an eighth month period. The children's illnesses include: Auto-Immune Liver Disease, Type I Diabetes (insulin dependent), and Ewing's Sarcoma (a form of bone cancer). This has been an incredible journey of faith for the Flemming Family. While they don't fully understand why any of this happened to their children, they place their trust and faith totally in God's goodness. By sharing their faith journey, their hope is that other people will be drawn closer to The Holy Trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit). It is Mary's great hope that the sufferings of her children and family will be received by God for the conversion of souls. JESUS, WE TRUST in YOU!
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