Will of God

Today’s Gospel Text: When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; 53 but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?" 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village. 57 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." 59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 60 But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:51-62

Reflection: Yes, he knew that he had to go to Jerusalem in order to be sacrificed in this temple town, as the Lamb of God; the one without blemish, for our salvation.

Yes, he also knew that it was the will of the Father that he should offer himself as the sacrifice for the redemption of mankind.

In keeping with this will of the Father, Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem but this does not please the Samaritans whose territory he had to pass; for the Samaritans opposed the Jewish way of worship and had their own custom and keeping with that custom, their own mountain or place of worship. (Jn. 4:20)

Therefore the Samaritans learn about this from the messengers sent ahead of him to prepare his way, they refuse to let Jesus through.

Thus on the one hand you have God’s will in keeping with which Jesus is moving towards Jerusalem and on the other hand we have the opposition to God’s will.

In the midst of this we also have the disciples who seem to have their own human reasoning’s to be indignant and thus sort the issue, with zeal, by calling forth fire.

In the midst of all this we have the greatest example of a sublime savior who handles the situation with absolute suave, calm and composed, rebuking the disciples and moving on to another village.

From this we learn a lesson on doing the will of the Father: Our anger and frustration does not promote God’s will, instead, it can be an obstacle.

Even overzealousness can be a block to God’s ways and they are mere human ways of pleasing.

Patience and trust and respecting the ways of the Lord and humbly walking in his ways are means to walk in the will of the Father.

Jesus proves that with his action, and at an appropriate time or rather at God's own time, he is raised as the sacrificial Lamb of sacrifice for our salvation.

Prayer: Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God! Let thy good spirit lead me on a level path! Ps 143:10

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Will of God

Today’s Gospel Text:  "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' 24 "Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; 25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; 27 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it." 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. Matt 7:21-29

Reflection: Wish it was that easy to know and do the will of the Father.

How easy it really is to know the will of the Father that we can live as good Christians? People often struggle to know it. 

You ask a man on the street and you will have some attempts made to answer it; either they will talk about doing good or loving one another and loving their neighbor, or talk about kindness, etc.

Does these kind of activities fit in with God’s will or is God’s will something more than these things?

These activities may fit in with God’s will but they are not primarily his will.

If we miss out on the primary aspect of God’s will then we could miss out on all the other aspect of God’s will and may even go astray, some even earnestly out of goodwill.

The primary aspect of doing God’s will is to do the work of God and this is brought out by John’s gospel as thus, when the people asked him; “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" John 6:28

And Jesus’ reply was:"This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." John 6:29

This above explicit will of God is not just a Johanine revelation but is well brought out by the synoptic too and it is well attested with the voice of the Father saying: “ "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" Luke 9:35 (also Mt. 17:5; Mk. 9: 7)

From the above text it is evident that once the primary aspect of God’s will is accepted then we are moving on the secondary path of truth, otherwise  we are moving on the path falsity.

From this primary truth we need to move on to the secondary and so on, with the divine grace and gifts to assist us, whether these gifts be the church or the sacraments or the sacramental’s they are there for our salvation. 

Prayer:  Lord, I believe that you send Jesus your son as our savior and redeemer so that we may listen to his word and live by it, even unto eternity.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Discern His Voice

Today’s Gospel Text: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; 2 but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. 9 I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:1-10

Reflection: One needs only to sit quietly for a few moments to realize how unquiet the mind is amidst even the greatest of silence.

Yet the human mind seeks for peace in the quieter atmosphere and then realizes that it is not able to sustain that peace, which then begins to haunt them or bore them to death.

In finding peace is our happiness but the greater peace and happiness is in accomplishing the mission which God has sent us into the world with:

This mission cannot be established with our good intentions or plans, guided by an in tranquil and disturbed mind, which is self seeking in the good it does.

It is even short on the overall vision and plan that the God, who still works in creation, has for humanity as a whole:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isa 55:8-9

Hence God’s plan gains precedence over every human plan and thus we arrive at the basis of Christian life:  Discernment!

A Christian is one who constantly seeks to discern the will of God, thus seeking to listen to the voice of the Shepherd among the many clutter of voices that speaks to our mind in the world in which we live in.

Prayer:  “Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears." 1 Sam 3:9

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Possible with God

Today’s Gospel Text:  Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."  16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:  18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more." Matt 2:13-18

Reflection: Sometimes some people spend time in the ejaculatory one liner prayers with fervent devotion.  They will repeat these prayers again and again raising their hearts and mind to God.

One such person I recently came across would recite this particular one liner a hundred times daily: “Nothing is impossible with God.”

Indeed our God is the God of all possibilities there is nothing that he can’t accomplish.

But such faith, if not open to the wisdom of God, can land us in severe trouble, even for all eternity; it is as if forcing God to work according to our will in all things and in everything.

Faith is best lived according to the good, pleasant and pleasing will of God and that is what we as Christians are called to train our minds at. (cfr. Rom. 12:2)

In this gospel passage of today, Joseph and Mary could have asked the God of all possibilities, the luxury of life and to work a miracle for them in Bethlehem itself rather than ask of them to rush to Egypt in this condition, that too with a divine child.

The scripture clearly tells us that it is his will which is of prime importance in every prayer we make. In other words the goal of prayer, even before we learn to ask is to learn how to grow in knowing and understanding his will and plan for us.

Each one is called to grow in the knowledge of God, which is necessary for our own growth. Seeking to please him is first and foremost an action that will help us to grow and reach our completeness and thus our happiness.

  

Great peace have those who love thy law; nothing can make them stumble. Ps 119:165

Therefore the Psalmist would say; there is nothing shall I want. (Ps. 23:1)

Prayer:  Lord, may I have your wisdom and learn to rest in your will rather than seek those comforts which does not glorify you.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us