| The most difficult thing of all is to accept the will of God, no matter what happens, that is, both in those things which are agreeable to us and in things which are not. In good times even sinners know how to unite themselves with the will of God, but the saints unite themselves with God’s will even in those things which are disagreeable and displeasing to them. It is here that the quality of our love of God is demonstrated. Father John of Avila said that one “Blessed be God” when things are going badly is worth more than a thousand expressions of thanks when things are going as we would wish them to.
What is more, we should unite ourselves to the will of God not only in those unpleasant things which he permits, such as sickness, desolation of spirit, poverty, the death of loved ones, and so on, but also in those things which come to us through other human beings—contempt, loss of our good name, injustice, robbery, and all kinds of persecutions. On such occasions when we are offended by someone in our reputation, our sense of honor, or our material goods, it is important to realize that although God does not will the sin of the one who injures us, he does, nevertheless, will that we should learn humility, poverty, and self-denial from these experiences.
It is certain and a matter of faith that everything that happens in the world happens in accordance with the will of God.
“I am the LORD, there is no other; I form the light, and create the darkness, I make well-being and create woe; I, the LORD, do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6–7).
From the Lord, then, come all good things and all things that are evil—that is, those things which are not to our liking and which we falsely call evil, since, in fact, they can be blessings for us when we accept them from God’s hands.
“If evil befalls a city, has not the LORD caused it?” says the prophet Amos (Amos 3:6).
Earlier, the wise man said,
“Good and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from the LORD”
(Sirach 11:14).
It is true, as I have said, that when someone unjustly offends you, God does not will that person’s sin nor share in the malice; but it is also true that God is at work through the act by which you are persecuted or robbed or injured. In this particular sense, your suffering is in accordance with the will of God and comes to you from his hands.
So the Lord told David that the injuries he would receive at the hands of Absalom (2 Samuel 12:11) would come from the Lord as a punishment for his sins. In the same way he told the Hebrews that, in punishment for their sins, he would send the Assyrians to ravage and ruin them:
“Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, /my staff in wrath. Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him to seize plunder, carry off loot” (Isaiah 10:5–6). |
St. Augustine comments that the impiety of the Assyrians became the sword of God. In other words, God made use of their impiety as a sword to punish the Hebrews. And Jesus himself said that his Passion and death did not so much come to him from human beings as from his Father:
“Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?”
(John 18:11). |
When the messenger (who is said to have been the devil) came to tell Job that the Sabeans had carried off all his goods and had killed his sons,
- What did the holy man say?
“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21). He did not say: “The Lord gave me sons and property and the Sabeans have taken them from me.”
This was because he well knew that this loss was willed by God and so he adds:
“It has happened as it pleased the Lord, praised be the name of the Lord.”
We should not, therefore, think of our troubles as happening by chance or simply through the malice of others, but rather should we be convinced that whatever happens to us is in accordance with God’s will.
“Know that whatever happens to you contrary to your wishes does not happen contrary to the wishes of God,” said St. Augustine.
The Christian martyrs Epictetus and Athio, when the tyrant had tortured them with iron hooks and burned them with flaming torches, said nothing other than:
“Lord, may your will be done in us.”
And when they came to the place of execution, they exclaimed for all to hear,
“Eternal God, be praised: Your will is fully accomplished in us.”
Cesarius relates how a certain member of a religious community, without seeming at all.
different from his companions, had in fact reached such a high degree of holiness that he healed the sick simply with a touch of his garments. Amazed at this, his superior asked him one day how he could perform such miracles, seeing that his life was no more exemplary that that of the others. The religious replied that he too was amazed and could not explain it. But when the abbot asked him what his particular devotions were, he replied that he did little or nothing other than taking great care always to do only what God willed. He explained that the Lord had given him the grace of abandoning his own will to the will of God. “I do not get carried away in good times,” he went on to explain, “nor do I give up when times are hard, because I accept all things as coming from the hands of God. All my prayers are for this, that his will be done in me.”
“So you felt no resentment at the harm that was done to us the other day,” the abbot further enquired,
- “When our enemies took away our property and set fire to the places where we keep our corn and cattle?”
“No, Father,” the monk replied, “in fact, I gave thanks to God for it, as I always do on such occasions, knowing that God does everything or allows it to happen for his own glory and for our good, and so I am content with whatever happens.” In the light of this the abbot, recognizing in this man such great conformity to the will of God, was not at all surprised that he was able to perform such miracles.
Those who do as this man did not only become saints, but they already enjoy here on earth the eternal peace which is the privilege of the blessed. Alphonsus the Great of Aragon, when once asked whom, he considered the happiest people in the world, replied:
“Those who abandon themselves to the will of God and accept everything that happens, good or bad, as coming from his hands.”
“We know that all things work for good for those who love God”
(Romans 8:28) |
— De Liguori, Alphonsus, “Conformity to the Will of God,” in Alphonsus de Liguori: Selected Writings, ed. by Frederick M. Jones and Bernard McGinn, trans. by Martin McKeever, The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1999), pp. 73–75 |
