Tuesday, September 19, 2006

WISDOM OF THE SAINTS

UNIFORMITY TO GOD'S WILL

meditation based on St Alphonsus of Liquori treatise

1.Excellence of this virtue - continued

To do God's will this was the goal upon which the saints constantly fixed their gaze. They were fully persuaded that in this consists the entire perfection of the soul. Blessed Henry Suso used to say: It is not God's will that we should abound in spiritual delights, but that in all things we should submit to his holy will Bl.H. Suso L 2, c. 4. Those who give themselves to prayer, says St. Teresa, should concentrate solely on this: the conformity of their wills with the divine will. They should be convinced that this constitutes their highest perfection. The more fully they practice this, the greater the gifts they will receive from God, and the greater the progress they will make in the interior life St. Teresa, Obras 4:27, 28. A certain Dominican nun was vouchsafed a vision of heaven one day. She recognized there some persons she had known during their mortal life on earth. It was told her these souls were raised to the sublime heights of the seraphs on account of the uniformity of their wills with that of God's during their lifetime here on earth. Blessed Henry Suso, mentioned above, said of himself: I would rather be the vilest worm on earth by God's will, than be a seraph by my own Suso, Serm. 2. (Opera Colon Agrip

During our sojourn in this world, we should learn from the saints now in heaven, how to love God. The pure and perfect love of God they enjoy there, consists in uniting themselves perfectly to his will. It would be the greatest delight of the seraphs to pile up sand on the seashore or to pull weeds in a garden for all eternity, if they found out such was God's will. Our Lord himself teaches us to ask to do the will of God on earth as the saints do it in heaven: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Matt. 6:10. Because David fulfilled all his wishes, God called him a man after his own heart: I have found David . . . a man according to my own heart, who shall do all my wills Acts 13:22. David was always ready to embrace the divine will, as he frequently protested: My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready Ps. 56:8. He asked God for one thing alone to teach him to do his will: Teach me to do thy will Ps. 142:10

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