Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In working with seminarians, sometimes they desire simply to know God’s will for their lives. Often it seems a person wants to do God’s will but just doesn’t know what it is.
But, in a sense, we know what God’s will is already. Like the Prophet Micah, we could say: “You have been told what is good, and what the LORD requires of you.” We are to be faithful in obeying God’s wishes as far as we know them. What this means is that God asks us first to be faithful to the duties of our state in life. For the husband or wife, be faithful and responsible in one’s work, generous and loving in daily activities. Our fidelity to the most basic aspects of our daily life is precisely ‘doing the will of God.’
Some of what God asks of us we do not know, but God will call us to account for the things that we do know. As a monk, I know I am to show up to prayer daily, carry out with diligence my work assignments, and be present and available to my monastic community. Then, in prayer we can take the next step, which is to renew our resolution to follow God’s will in all things. More important than knowing God’s will is that we desire to carry it out.
Thus, it’s no different than Micah’s instruction, we are “only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Reflection by Fr. Paul Sheller, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections