Homily Notes, 07-11-21 - The Will of God

 07-11-21

7th Sunday After Pentecost

Moses and the Ten Commandments

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, today reminds us that it’s not sufficient to give lip service. We must make an effort with all of our heart to do the will of His Father in Heaven. It’s not enough to claim to be Catholic or to be a discipline of Jesus Christ, if we do not strive to obey Him.

Jesus asks the Pharisees: which of the two brothers does the will of his father? The one that says “I go,” but then does not go; or the one who says “I will not go” but later repents and goes to do the work? It’s important to DO the will of God.

How then can I know the will of God? There are instances where it is not immediately apparent, and we are in a bind going between two things. It’s important to reflect here: what is the will of God?

In general, the will of God for us is what St. Paul tells us: the will of God is your sanctification. God’s only purpose in creating a human soul, the only reason any of us exist at all, is to become holy. Everything in our lives should be directed to that goal that He has set for us. That is our end, our purpose.

We ought to strive to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. That’s difficult for us because God is so far above us! This is not easy. In order to help us with our weakness, He chose to send His Son into this world, to take on a human nature so we could see precisely what He would do as a man. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is a living illustration of how God would act in day to day life. The will of God for us is that we be as much like Our Lord, Jesus Christ, as possible. This means, for us, that we have to take time to know Jesus. We cannot imitate Him if we do not know Him. That requires that we take time to read the Gospels and read the life of Christ. There are many spiritual meditations on the life of Christ, and they are very helpful. We have to make time to spend time with Our Lord so we can get a better idea of who He is and have a better idea of what it is that we are called to be. 

Priests are called another Christ, but that’s a reality for every baptized soul. The life of Christ is meant to develop and grow in you over the course of your whole life. 

In order to help us imitate Him, Our Lord has given us His commandments. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” You will care about His commandments. 

Don’t think of the commandments as negative things: “don’t do this, don’t do that” - that is not the purpose of His commandments. They are positive things. Do this. Love your neighbor as yourself: it’s a positive command, not negative. It’s not just “don’t hate your neighbor” but “love your neighbor.” Honor your father and mother. Feed the poor. Clothe the naked. Visit the sick. Do good to those around you; not just those people that you like, but to every single soul. That is the context of being perfect as God is perfect. The sun shines on the just and unjust; God gives good to all, whether they respond or not. That is what we are called to do: to do good at all times.

We will find ourselves in situations where it is not immediately obvious what the will of God is. To marry this or that person? To take this or that job? We have free choices. As a result, it’s not immediately clear what God wants us to do. But at the same time we can understand that God never permits anything in our life that is contrary to sanctifying our soul. In today’s Collect it says God’s Providence never fails. There is never anything that can happen that goes against the purposes of God. It also says “Remove from us all things that are harmful and grant to us all things that are good” - this is a prayer of the Church and is therefore infallible. We unite our prayer to that of the Church and then our own prayer is infallible, and God will certainly take away all that is harmful and give all that is good in regards to our sanctification. 

All of us have times that we make plans and something goes wrong. Cars break down, kids get sick. It’s life. But we can be sure that it is something that God is permitting for our sanctification. By dealing with it in a spirit of serenity, because we know it is what God wants, we can allow Him to enlarge our hearts in all situations. 

In those moment, when faced with a choice, we need the virtue of prudence to look to the end. When we have two possible decisions, we need to ask ourselves: how are these decisions going to help me work with God in sanctifying my soul? That should be the first thing we think of when we make a decision. 

For example, marriage: Is this man or woman going to help me become better, am I more likely to save my soul and become the saint that God wants me to be by marrying by this person? It can be profoundly helpful for us by putting things in this perspective. We have to be attentive to the circumstances we find ourselves in and ask, how does God see this?

Take the time to ask yourself: what is the goal that God has set for me? And how do my circumstances help me toward that goal?

We don’t always know exactly what action we should take to most closely imitate Jesus, but we can move forward by trying our best. We can make decisions with that in mind: I am going to try my best to imitate Jesus in this action.

We can discern the will of God by:

1. remembering our purpose (our sanctification); 

2. by following the commandments; 

3. by making prudent decisions; 

and

4. by docility to superiors that God places in our lives. 

Every human authority comes from God and we ought to obey because ultimately, through legitimate commands, God is showing us what He wants us to do.

Children don’t obey their parents because their parents can punish them if they disobey. Instead, God is allowing the child to see what He wants, when the child is given a good and just command from parents. This is how a child grows to become a good man or woman. God speaks to the child through the legitimate authority of the parents.

God also speaks through the authority His church. The virtue of obedience is meritorious not only because it is crushing our own will, but more so because when the Church speaks, God is letting us know His will. Take advice from your pastor to heart, and strive to apply it to your heart, and God will be pleased with your efforts to do His will and please him.

When your boss at work gives you a command that is just, then it’s not only a matter of obeying the guy who pays you — even there, God is showing you what He wants you to do. We obey so that we can be sanctified. We have to look at it with this supernatural perspective. As long as the commands are not opposed to the law of God, then God is showing us what He desires through our legitimate superiors. It shifts our mindset: authority is an extension of the mind of God. We can, in fact, do the will of our Father in Heaven and in this way allow him to sanctify our souls.

Be willing to receive from God. It’s hard for us because of our fallen nature. Disobedience is going against the will of God, and it is imprinted deeply in our human nature because of original sin. It’s so deep in us that it influences almost everything we do. It takes a lot of constant effort to work with God, to die to ourselves, but we will only rise with our Lord if we first die with him. 

Yield generously, easily, and promptly to the will of the good God. Then we will be capable of good and holy fruits, in this life and hopefully for all time.