October 31, 2008

From My Confessor

Riffing a little on spiritual advice from my confession in preparation for All Saints and All Souls:

When it comes to God's will in your life, think of four levels:

There are, I hate to say it, religious who don't even try to seek God's will. At best they have never learned the difference between self-centered pious dreams and the living God.

A lot of religious manage to conform themselves to God's will in their daily lives more or less, but they complain about it to each other or to whatever other victim they can find. These get self-satisfied because of the good they do, and thus compound their sin.

Some get beyond this point, and do God's will will without complaining in their speech. They are still complaining in their thoughts, however, revealing that they haven't actually accepted God's will.

The goal is to not only do God's will but to accept it internally. To do the former is the easy part; to accomplish the latter is the real work.

1 comment:

Mike Almeida said...

There are, I hate to say it, religious who don't even try to seek God's will. That's surprising. It seems fundamental to the decision to be a religious that you would be seeking God's will. Why else be in it? Can't be for the glory!