Is this God's Will or my own??

Do you find life pretty darn hard?  I do... things just seem some times to be hard to take...heartaches, challenges, disappointments, oppositions, sickness, betrayal... I wonder why is this happening to me?  

What's the point?  I've been struggling with this my whole life.  I know I'm to do God's Will..but it's like I have been trying---but stuff keeps happening to me... 

I didn't realize that the "stuff" 

WAS GOD'S WILL.   

I have constantly prayed -- help me Lord to do Your Will---but have fought against everything that does not go with what I think should happen...  Thinking that this can't be it...this can't be what God wants.. why would He want things to go this way?  Why???? 

I found this book that has answered some of my questions -- awakened spirit to see the deeper meanings of what I have gone through.... it's called Uniformity with God’s Will & the Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Liguori.  

Guess I am pretty dense...I have been fighting tooth and nail against what I now know to be His Will.  The Lord must shake His Head at me.   I guess I will never understand until I meet the Lord face to face...I must learn to accept everything with love and in peace that God knows what He is about.  I learn through all the difficulties of life...everything is laid out for me...I must accept it with the knowledge that God will use it for my perfection. 

It's hard to do...not having control..or wanting it (control).  I'm going to be struggling with this for the rest of my life here on earth.  Perfection is not going to be easy to obtain, but I am hoping the Lord will see the meager, imperfect efforts I am making to fulfill His Will in my life..,

I would like to recommend this book to you if you have been struggling as I have been.  It's called:

 

Uniformity with God’s Will

by St. Alphonsus Liguori 

Edited by Paul A. Boer, Sr. Veritatis Splendor Publications 2012

(Kindle edition is  90 cents on Amazon..or you can get the softcover for about $8.00)









Excerpts from the book...

St. AlphonsusLiguori

“When, therefore, something adverse happens to us, let us accept it from his hands, not only patiently, but even with gladness, as did the apostles “who went form the presence of the council rejoicing, that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.”  

What greater consolation can come to a soul than to know that by patiently bearing some tribulation, it gives God the greatest pleasure in its power?  

Spiritual writers tells us that though the desire of certain souls to please God by their sufferings is acceptable to him, still more pleasing to him is the union of certain others with his will, so that their will is neither to rejoice not to suffer, but to hold themselves completely amenable to his will, and they desire only that his holy will be fulfilled.

If, devout soul, it is your will to please God and live a life of serenity in this world, unite yourself always and in all things to the divine will.  

 Reflect that all the sins 

of your past wicked life 

happened because you 

wandered from the path of God’s will.   
 

For the future, embrace Gods’ good pleasure and say to him in every happening:  “Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight.”  
  
When anything disagreeable happens, remember it comes from God and say at once, “This comes from God” and be at peace: “I was dumb and opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.”  Lord, since thous hast done this, I will be silent and accept it.   

Direct all your thoughts and prayers to this end, to beg God constantly in meditation, Communion, and visits to the Blessed Sacrament that he help you accomplish his holy will.

St. Teresa of Avila

Form the habit of offering yourself frequently to God by saying, 

“My God, behold me in thy presence; do with me and all that I have as thou pleasest.”  

This was the constant practice of St. Teresa.  At least fifty times a day she offered herself to God, placing herself at his entire disposition and good pleasure.  

How fortunate you, kind reader, if you too act thus! You will surely become a saint.  Your life will be calm and peaceful; your death will be happy.  At death all our hope of salvation will come from the testimony of our conscience as to whether  or not we are dying resigned to God’s will.  

If during life we have embraced everything 

as coming from God’s hands, 

and if at death we embrace death 

in fulfillment of God’s will, 

we shall certainly save our souls 

and die the death of saints.  

Let us then abandon everything to God’s good pleasure, because being infinitely wise, he knows what is best for us; and being all-good and all-loving – having given his life for us—he wills what is best for us.  

St. Basil the Great

Let us, as St. Basil counsels us,  

"...rest secure in the conviction that beyond the possibility of a doubt, God works to effect our welfare, infinitely better than we could ever hope to accomplish or desire it ourselves.”

 "...In external matters.  In times of great heat, cold or rain; in times of famine, epidemics and similar occasions we should refrain from expressions like these:  "What unbearable cold!" "What a tragedy!" In these instances we should avoid expressions indicating opposition to God's Will.  We should want things to be just as they are, because it is God who thus disposes them...."

"Do thou build up or tear down, O Lord, 

as seems good in thy sight.  

I am content.  

I wish only what thou dost wish."

ON SICKNESS....

 

Let's see what St. Ignatius says to this...

Do not weary yourself planning

what you would do it you were well,

but be content to be sick

for as long as God wishes...

 

 

We ought to make use of the ordinary remedies in time of sickness--such is God's will; but if they are not effective, let us unite ourselves to God's will and this will be better for us than would be our restoration to health...

 

Certainly, it is more virtuous not to repine in times of painful illness, still and all, when our sufferings are excessive, it is not wrong to let our friends know what we are enduring, and also to ask God to free us from our sufferings....that the sufferings here referred to are actually excessive.  

 

It often happens that some, on the occasion of a slight illness, or even a slight indisposition, want the whole world to stand still and sympathize with them in their illnesses. 

 

But where it is a case of real suffering, we have the example of our Lord, who, at the approach of his bitter passion, made known his state of soul to his disciples, saying: "My soul is sorrowful even until death"  and besought his eternal Father to deliver him from it: "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me." 

 

 

But our Lord likewise taught us what we should do when we have made such a petition, when he added:

"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."
 

St. John of Avila, Doctor of the Church

 

"If you are seeking to carry out God's will,

what difference should it make to you 

whether you are sick or well?" 

                                                     

St. John of Avila 

 

Excerpt from Uniformity with God's Will --

'Finally we should consider the events which are happening to us now and which will happen to us in the future, as coming from the hands of God.  Everything we do should be directed to this one end: to do the will of God and to do it solely for the reason that God wills it.  To walk more securely on this road we must depend on the guidance of our superiors in external matters, and on our directors in internal matters, to learn from them God’s will in our regard, have great faith in the words of our Lord:”He that heareth you, heareth me.” 

 

Daydreaming

Above all, let us bend all our energies to serve God in the way he wishes.  This remark is made so that we may avoid the mistake of him who wastes his time in idle day-dreaming.  Such a  one says, “If I were to become a hermit, I would become a saint” or “If I were to enter a monastery, I would practice penance” or “If I were to go away from here, leaving friend and companions, I would devote long hours to prayer.”  If, If, If—all these ifs!  In the meantime such a  person goes from bad to worse.  These idle fancies are often temptations of the devil, because they are not in accord with God’s will.  Hence we should dismiss them summarily and rouse ourselves to serve God only in that way which he has marked out for us.  Doing his holy will, we shall certainly become holy in those surroundings he has placed us.

Let us will always and ever

only what God wills;

for so doing,

he will press us to his heart. 

 

To this end let us familiarize ourselves with certain texts of sacred scripture that invite us to unite ourselves constantly with the divine will: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?  Tell me, my God, what thou wilt have me do, that I will it also, with all my heart.  “I am thine, save thou me.”  I am no longer my own, I am thine, O Lord, do with me as thou wilt.

If some particularly crashing misfortune comes upon us, for example, the death of a relative, loss of goods, let us say: “Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight.”  Yes, my God and my Father, so be it, for such is thy good pleasure.  Above all, let us cherish that prayer of our Lord, which he himself taught us:  "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

St. Catherine of Genoa

 

St. Catherine of Genoa

to make a notable pause at these words

whenever she said the Our Father,

praying that God’s holy will be fulfilled on earth

with the same perfection with which

the saints do in heaven. 

Let this be our practice also,

and we shall certainly become saints.

 Excerpts taken from the Conclusion of the book, Uniformity with God’s Will St. Alphonsus Liguori

Uniformity with God’s Will & the Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Liguori Edited by Paul A. Boer, Sr. Veritatis Splendor Publications 2012

The Life of St. Basil the Great

St. Basil the Great and the Holy Spirit

St. Basil the Great, His life

Bishop of Caesarea, and one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Church. Born probably 329; died 1 January, 379. He ranks after Athanasius as a defender of the Oriental Church against the heresies of the fourth century. With his friend Gregory of Nazianzus and his brother Gregory of Nyssa, he makes up the trio known as "The Three Cappadocians", far outclassing the other two in practical genius and actual achievement.

                St. Basil the Elder, father of St. Basil the Great, was the son of a Christian of good birth and his wife, Macrina (Acta SS., January, II), both of whom suffered for the faith during the persecution of Maximinus Galerius (305-314), spending several years of hardship in the wild mountains of Pontus.  St. Basil the Elder was noted for his virtue (Acta SS, May, VII) and also won considerable reputation as a teacher in Caesarea. He was not a priest (Cf. Cave, Hist. Lit., I, 239). He married Emmelia, the daughter of a martyr and became the father of ten children. Three of these, Macrina, Basil, and Gregory are honoured as saints; and of the sons, Peter, Gregory, and Basil attained the dignity of the episcopate.

Under the care of his father and his grandmother, the elder Macrina, who preserved the traditions of their countryman, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213-275) Basil was formed in habits of piety and study.  He was still young when his father died and the family moved to the estate of the elder Macrina at Annesi in Pontus, on the banks of the Iris.  As a boy, he was sent to school at Caesarea, then "a metropolis of letters", and conceived a fervent admiration for the local bishop, Dianius. Later, he went to Constantinople, at that time "distinguished for its teachers of philosophy and rhetoric", and thence to Athens.  Here he became the inseparable companion of Gregory of Nazianzus, who, in his famous panegyric on Basil which gives a most interesting description of their academic experiences. According to him, Basil was already distinguished for brilliancy of mind and seriousness of character and associated only with the most earnest students.  He was able, grave, industrious, and well advanced in rhetoric, grammar, philosophy, astronomy, geometry, and medicine

Basil came again in contact with Dianius, Bishop of Caesarea, the object of his boyish affection, and Dianius seems to have baptized him, and ordained him Reader soon after his return to Caesarea.  It was at the same time also that he fell under the influence of that very remarkable woman, his sister Macrina, who had meanwhile founded a religious community on the family estate at Annesi. Basil himself tells us how, like a man roused from deep sleep, he turned his eyes to the marvellous truth of the Gospel, wept many tears over his miserable life, and prayed for guidance from God: "Then I read the Gospel, and saw there that a great means of reaching perfection was the selling of one's goods, the sharing of them with the poor, the giving up of all care for this life, and the refusal to allow the soul to be turned by any sympathy towards things of earth".   To learn the ways of perfection, Basil now visited the monasteries of Egypt, Palestine, Coele-Syria, and Mesopotamia. He returned, filled with admiration for the austerity and piety of the monks, and founded a monastery in his native Pontus, on the banks of the Iris, nearly opposite Annesi. (Cf. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor, London, 1890, p. 326). Eustathius of Sebaste had already introduced the eremitical life into Asia Minor; Basil added the cenobitic or community form, and the new feature was imitated by many companies of men and women. Basil became known as the father of Oriental monasticism, the forerunner of St. Benedict. How well he deserved the title, how seriously and in what spirit he undertook the systematizing of the religious life, may be seen by the study of his Rule.  He seems to have read Origen's writings very systematically about this time, for in union with Gregory of Nazianzus, he published a selection of them called the "Philocalia".

Basil still retained considerable influence in Caesarea, and it is regarded as fairly probable that he had a hand in the election of the successor of Dianius who died in 362, after having been reconciled to Basil.  In any case the new bishop, Eusebius, was practically placed in his office by the elder Gregory of Nazianzus.  Eusebius having persuaded the reluctant Basil to be ordained priest, gave him a prominent place in the administration of the diocese.  During this administration of the diocese, Basil had so clearly defined his ideas of discipline and orthodoxy, that no one could doubt the direction and the vigour of his policy.

Basil's letters tell the story of his tremendous and varied activity; how he worked for the exclusion of unfit candidates from the sacred ministry and the deliverance of the bishops from the temptation of simony; how he required exact discipline and the faithful observance of the canons from both laymen and clerics; how he rebuked the sinful, followed up the offending, and held out hope of pardon to the penitent. If on the one hand he strenuously defended clerical rights and immunities, on the other he trained his clergy so strictly that they grew famous as the type of all that a priest should be. Basil did not confine his activity to diocesan affairs, but threw himself vigorously into the troublesome theological disputes then rending the unity of Christendom. He drew up a summary of the orthodox faith; he attacked by word of mouth the heretics near at hand and wrote tellingly against those afar. His correspondence shows that he paid visits, sent messages, gave interviews, instructed, reproved, rebuked, threatened, reproached, undertook the protection of nations, cities, individuals great and small. There was very little chance of opposing him successfully, for he was a cool, persistent, fearless fighter in defence both of doctrine and of principles.  His bold stand against Valens parallels the meeting of Ambrose with Theodosius. The emperor was dumbfounded at the archbishop's calm indifference to his presence and his wishes. The incident, as narrated by Gregory of Nazianzus, not only tells much concerning Basil's character but throws a clear light on the type of Christian bishop with which the emperors had to deal and goes far to explain why Arianism, with little court behind it, could make so little impression on the ultimate history of Catholicism.

While assisting Eusebius in the care of his diocese, Basil had shown a marked interest in the poor and afflicted; that interest now displayed itself in the erection of a magnificent institution, the Ptochoptopheion, or Basileiad, a house for the care of friendless strangers, the medical treatment of the sick poor, and the industrial training of the unskilled. Built in the suburbs, it attained such importance as to become practically the centre of a new city with the name of he kaine polis or "Newtown". It was the motherhouse of like institutions erected in other dioceses and stood as a constant reminder to the rich of their privilege of spending wealth in a truly Christian way. St. Basil was a practical lover of Christian poverty, and even in his exalted position preserved that simplicity in food and clothing and that austerity of life for which he had been remarked at his first renunciation of the world.

By common consent, Basil ranks among the greatest figures in church history and the rather extravagant panegyric by Gregory of Nazianzus has been all but equalled by a host of other eulogists. Physically delicate and occupying his exalted position but a few years, Basil did magnificent and enduring work in an age of more violent world convulsions than Christianity has since experienced. By personal virtue he attained distinction in an age of saints; and his purity, his monastic fervour, his stern simplicity, his friendship for the poor became traditional in the history of Christian asceticism. In fact, the impress of his genius was stamped indelibly on the Oriental conception of religious life.  In his hands the great metropolitan see of Caesarea took shape as the sort of model of the Christian diocese; there was hardly any detail of episcopal activity in which he failed to mark out guiding lines and to give splendid example. Not the least of his glories is the fact that toward the officials of the State he maintained that fearless dignity and independence which later history has shown to be an indispensable condition of healthy life in the Catholic episcopate.

Read more about St. Basil at the website address below.

Excerpts taken from Catholic Encyclopedia--  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02330b.htm

A Writing from St. Basil the Great

Saint Basil the Great, Icon

Saint Basil the Great, bishop

The Work of the Holy Spirit

                The titles given to the Holy Spirit must surely stir the soul of anyone who hears them, and make him realize that they speak of nothing less than the Supreme Being.  Is he not called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, the steadfast Spirit, the guiding Spirit?  But his principal and most personal title is the Holy Spirit.

                To the Spirit all creatures turn in their need for sanctification; all living things seek him according to their ability.  His breath empowers each to achieve its own natural end.

                The spirit is the source of holiness, a spiritual light, and he offers his own light to every mind to help it in its search for truth.  By nature the Spirit is beyond the reach of our mind, but we can know him by his goodness.  The power of the Spirit fills the whole universe, but he gives himself only to those who are worthy, acting in each according to the measure of his faith.

                Simple in himself, the Spirit is manifold in his mighty works.  The whole of his being is present to each individual; the whole of his being is present everywhere.  Though shared in by many, he remains unchanged; his self-giving is no loss to himself.  Like the sunshine, which permeates all the atmosphere, spreading over land and sea, and yet is enjoyed by each person as though it were for him alone, so the Spirit pours forth his grace in full measure , sufficient for all, and yet is present as though exclusively to everyone who can receive him.  To all creatures that share in him he gives a delight limited only by their own nature, not by his ability to give.

                The Spirit raises our hearts to heaven, guides the steps of the weak, and brings to perfection those who are making progress.  He enlightens those who have been cleansed from every stain of sin and makes them spiritual by communion with himself.     

                As clear, transparent substances become very bright when sunlight falls on them and shine with a new radiance, so also souls in whom the Spirit dwells, and who are enlightened by the Spirit, become spiritual themselves and a source of grace for others.

                From the Spirit comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of the mysteries of faith, insight into the hidden meaning of Scripture, and other special gifts.  Through the Spirit we become citizens of heaven, we are admitted to the company of angels, we enter into eternal happiness, and abide in God.  Through the Spirit we acquire a likeness to God; indeed, we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations--we become God.

Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, According to the Roman Rite, Ordinary Time, Catholic Book Publishing Corp.  New York, 1975