the will, tuesday

Tuesday, September 1

Opening Prayer: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.  I do not see the road ahead of me.  I cannot know for certain where it will end.  Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.  And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.  I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.  And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.  Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.  I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. (Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton)

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Journal: What parts of your life do you think please God these days?  Which parts do not?  What does it mean that God’s will is that we would be sanctified?  What does that word mean to you?  How do you think that happens?  What would it look like to please God in all things today?

Reflection:

 

Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves—on God’s grace and our will to be holy.  We must have a real living determination to reach holiness.  That means I will despoil myself of all that is not God, I will strip my heart of all created things; I will live in poverty and detachment; I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make myself a willing slave to the will of God. (A Gift for God by Mother Teresa)

Prayers

Closing Prayer:  O Lord, my God, sanctify me through and through.  For it is the only hope I have of becoming who you made me to be.  Amen.