Ever ready to obey God’s will

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT should always be the proper condition of our life. In this regard, let us follow the example of Our Lady, the perfect person, who upon being told that she was going to be the mother of the Son of God, simply said, “Fiat mihi secundum tuum,” (Be it done to me according to your word), even if she did not fully understand how that was going to be.

Let us remember that it is in following God’s will that we attain the perfection of our humanity, since we have been created not simply by the genes of our parents, but by God who wants us to be his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature.

In this regard also, we should follow the example of Christ himself, the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, who said, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (Jn 6,38) Christ was so obedient to the Father’s will that even when he knew he was going to be crucified, he just prayed to the Father, “not my will but yours be done.” (Lk 22,42)

Getting to know and do God’s will is what actually would comprise the very substance of our relationship with him. That’s simply because that is what love is all about, what it entails, which is the very essence of God, as St. John affirmed (Deus caritas est). Love is deeds and not just sweet words or feelings. Real love is deeds done to correspond to God’s will for us.

God’s will can be known in many ways. He already has given us the 10 commandments, which explicitly articulate his will for us, though not yet in a perfect way. What perfects the 10 Commandments or the Old Law is the New Law or the New Commandment as spoken by Christ himself, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Of course, this New Law contains a lot of mysteries even if we have many ideas of how this New Law can be carried out. It has mysteries because it involves nothing less than our total identification with Christ who, being God, will always remain mysterious to us even if he has given himself completely to us.

We just have to learn to go along this divine adventure that involves us in God’s mysterious ways even if on our part we try our best to know his will all the way to the littlest detail. Such is our human and temporal condition until we identify ourselves completely with Christ which can happen only in heaven when we see him “face to face.”

In the meantime, let’s realize that God’s will is known by studying the doctrine of our faith. What can also help is to be familiar with the living testimonies of saints who had managed to know, obey and love God’s will.

We can also know God’s will, at least in some generic way, by performing, as best as we can, all the duties and responsibilities as well as the rights inherent to our conditions or status in life, whether we are single or married, student or professional, etc.

We should also realize that God’s will can be known by having a running conversation with God all day long. We have to realize that God’s will is always manifested in any and every situation we can find ourselves in.

His will is known by what any situation ethically demands from us, and also by what the others have a right to expect from us or what we owe to them.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com