Great Benefits of Conforming to God's Will
Of the great advantages that conformity to the will of God gives us
Saint Basil says that all the holiness and all the perfection of Christianity consist in attributing to God everything that happens generally in the world, as to him who is the true cause of it, and to conform, in all that happens to us, to his divine will. But, in order that we better understand the merit and importance of this conformity, that we desire it with more ardor, and that we apply ourselves with more care to acquire it, it is necessary to explain in detail the infinite goods and the considerable advantages attached to it. Firstly, it produces true resignation, or rather it is itself this perfect and complete resignation, of which the saints and the masters of the spiritual life give us such a high idea, all agreeing that it is the source and principle with all the peace and tranquility of the soul; since by this resignation man places himself in the hands of God, like clay in the hands of the potter; that is to say, so that divine providence may dispose of him as it will, no longer desiring to be his own, nor to live for himself, nor to eat, nor to sleep, nor to work for himself- even ; but wanting to do all these things for God alone, and with the sole view of pleasing him.
Conformity to the divine will produces the same effect: for he who has this complete conformity abandons himself so much to this will that he knows neither how to desire nor seek anything else, except that it be accomplished in him, not only in everything he does, but also in everything that happens to him; not only in prosperity and enjoyment, but also in adversity and suffering. This submission is so pleasing to God that it merits the magnificent praise he himself gives to David, when he calls him a man after his own heart. I have found , he says (1 Reg 13-14), a man after my heart, who will do all my wishes . It is because in fact David was so submissive to the orders of providence, that he always had the heart disposed to equally receive from the hand of God all the impressions that he wanted to give him, just as a soft wax is disposed to receive such figure as one wants to print there; and this is why he cries so often (Ps. 56. 8. and Ps. 107. 1); My heart is willing, O my God! my heart is willing .
Secondly, he who will have an entire and perfect conformity to the divine will, will have acquired an entire and perfect mortification of all the passions and all the evil inclinations which dominate him. For it is obvious that it is our own will and the disorder of our appetite which puts an obstacle in us to this conformity.
From this follows a consequence, which can be regarded as a third advantage; it is that this resignation and this complete conformity to the divine will are the greatest and the most pleasant sacrifice that man can offer to God from his own funds. In the other sacrifices, he offers only part of himself; but in this one, he offers himself entirely: in the other sacrifices and in the other mortifications that he practices, he only mortifies himself on something particular; in temperance, for example, in humility, in modesty and in patience, he offers only a portion of himself to God; but here he offers himself entirely as a burnt offering, so that the divine majesty may do with him whatever it wishes, in the way it wishes, and for the time it wishes, without exception, without restriction. , without reservation.
Finally, whoever has perfect conformity to the divine will will also have, as we have already said, perfect charity; and the more he increases in this conformity, the more he will likewise increase in charity and in the love of God, and consequently in the perfection which exists in this charity and in this love. “The proof of love,” says Saint Gregory (Greg. hom. 30 in Evang.), “is works; and the more the works cost nature and are difficult, the more love they show. » Also Saint John, wanting to explain the excess of the love that God had for men, gives no other proof: God , he says (Joan. 3. 16), loved the world to a so much so that he gave his only Son ; and Jesus Christ himself speaking of the love he had for his Father: In order , he said (Joan. 14. 31), that the world may know that I love my Father, and that I do what my Father commanded me, get up, let's go. But where was he going? He was going to death and the most cruel and shameful death; and it was by fulfilling such a rigorous order that he truly testified to the world that he loved his Father. From which we must conclude that love is proven by actions, and that the greater and more painful the actions, the more they reveal the greatness of love. Now, complete conformity to the will of God is, as we have said, the greatest sacrifice that we can make to Him of ourselves; because it supposes a perfect mortification of all our senses, and an absolute resignation of our will, by which we offer ourselves to God, and we place ourselves in his hands, so that he can do with us and in us what he wants. will please. There is nothing, therefore, in which more love for God can be shown, than in this conformity; then that by this we give him, and we generally offer him everything we have, everything we are and everything we could ever, or have or desire, and that if we still had something of which we could dispose of, we would give it with the same generosity and the same courage.
taken from the excellent Catholic blog : le-petit-sacristain.blogspot.com