Sunday, 6/18/17 – God’s Will is For Us to Love

In recent months, well truly at least for the last year, I’ve been discerning. Discerning God’s purpose for me, His true will, His path for me in life. I’ve never felt closer to that old Merton prayer than I do right now, you know, where it says, 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 then I listened to a video reflection yesterday from this young woman who dealt with depression and addiction and through her process she was once talking with her spiritual director. She mentioned how she loved to do art and how it was therapeutic, and she used it for kids to help them cope while on mission trips, and she felt called to do this same type of thing here in the U.S. – teaching others how to use art and calligraphy as a spiritual therapy.

Anyway, she told her spiritual director she felt called to this by God, and so she asked “How do I know if it is God’s will?” The priest laughed and told her, “God’s will is simply for us to love. Can you love through your work, through your art?”

I paused the video and pondered on that for a few minutes. Isn’t that the truth?  I myself have said in the past – often – that we as individual people think too much. Our God, the Holy Trinity, and our Catholic Faith is mysterious and amazing, and yet, simple. It is simply about one thing – Love. Through all the theology and questions of meaning and purpose, through all the dissection and interpretation of Scripture, the contemplation of the mysteries of our faith, the search for signs and countless prayers – it boils down to one, simple, truth.

 God’s will is for us to love.

That’s all God does for us. That’s all God has ever done for us. He’s loved us. He loves us.

Today is Father’s Day here in the United States, where we celebrate fathers and the vocation, and if you look at it from the Christian perspective – the ministry – of fatherhood. You know, obviously, this day took on a whole new meaning when I became a father.

Of course I love my wife and we live for each other, and there is that sacramental covenant there that cannot be broken. But when I look at my son, and envision the things I want for him, the good I want for him, the happiness I want for him, it’s a yearning deep inside me. It’s a love that almost aches in my heart.

Think of how God feels for us. Think of how Jesus felt all those years ago, hanging on that cross, the love He had for us. Try, if you can, to imagine even a fraction, a single drop of God’s love right there, as He watched His Son do the very thing He had put Him on earth to do, yet writhed in pain.

Imagine, if you can, Jesus’ love for us, as He looked out at the people who persecuted Him, the sin in the world past, present, and future, knowing that we do not know and realize what we are doing – His deep divine love for us.

Then think to yourself – what if that was it?  What if Christ died and then rose from the dead, but then never came back to us?  What if God said, okay, my Son did what He was supposed to do and now humanity is saved and they will listen and believe and everything will be as it should have been in the beginning?  They don’t need my help anymore.

God knows better. He knows that we still have free will, and He sent His Son in the flesh to be with us, to be one of us, to teach us, and to die for us. And God knows that it was not a one time event.

Like any good Father, He knows that His children need regular loving care and mercy, and also discipline to make it through this life. And of course, God is the best father the world has ever known or will ever know. He knows that we continuously need Him in our lives, a constant renewal – every day – if we are to become who He designed us to be, and live out His will for us, which is to love.

Nope, God is not a one and done god. We need a routine.

His grace is all around us, living through other people, in the beauty of this world, and in the Sacraments. But its in the Eucharist where He is there – perpetual, living and in the flesh. What a simple, but genius means for God to provide us a way to come more into communion with Him, to join with Him, to become more like Him. Jesus tells us point blank:

Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.

As a father, I let my son make his own choices. Of course, the magnitude and spectrum of these choices broadens as he grows. Yet, I keep trying to give him the tools and the lessons and the knowledge with which he can hopefully make better choices more often than not.

The Sacraments are our tools that Jesus gives to us to grow in faith and grace. But the Eucharist is that secret weapon – it is the only way in which we truly receive Jesus fully into our body and soul, where as Saint Paul says, we have “a participation in the blood of Christ…” and “a participation in the body of Christ…” The precious Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist is not a mere symbol – it is Him, in the flesh, that we participate in, that we come into communion with, that we share, that we join into. It is the ultimate Fatherly hug and embrace, that ultimate act of Love.

And this is God’s will for us – to Love. Learning how to do so though, and do so regularly, is difficult, especially in trying conditions, with people who are not so easy to love, or in a job that may not be as conducive to love.

It’s simple really. Perseverance is key, but we also need to use the tools we’ve been given – none greater than the Eucharist.

If we persevere in our present situation while reconciling when we do wrong and sharing, joining with Him through the Eucharist, He will give us the ability to love, and put us into situations where we can love more fully.

After all, that is God’s Fatherly will for us – to Love.

Happy Fathers Day to all you fathers in the U.S. and around the world!

About the Author

My name is Joe LaCombe, and I am a Software Developer in Fishers, Indiana in the USA. My wife Kristy and I have been married for 19 years and we have an awesome boy, Joseph, who is in 5th Grade! We are members of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Carmel, Indiana where we volunteer with various adult faith ministries. I love writing, and spending time with my family out in the nature that God created, and contemplating His wonders. I find a special connection with God in the silence and little things of everyday life, and I love sharing those experiences with all of you.

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13 Comments

  1. Thank you,joe for your beautiful and awesome reflection.
    Indeed,perseverance is the key to all miracles,Amen!
    Happy father’s day to all fathers in the world.God bless us all.

  2. Please do send me every day reading reflections on my email address. God bless you more and more.

  3. Truly I look forward to reading your reflection before attending mass daily, it helps me to be prepared

  4. This statement is quite revealing and has given answer to knowing God’s will for me:

    “How do I know if it is God’s will?”
    “God’s will is simply for us to love. Can you love through your work, through your art?”

    Thanks Joe, I am at peace with this answer, and happy fathers’ day.

  5. “God’s will is for us to Love” So to Love better we are given the Heavenly Fathers example of His Immeasurable Love. (Happy Fathers Day – Heavenly Father and Dad who;s with you). I think as Christians it is a mistake for us to think of Christ crucified “all those years ago” scripture supported – to the “eternal kingdom” a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Thus we can deduce to the eternal kingdom Christ crucified happened two days ago. It’s fresh in their memory and all their Love with it. I think we’d do well to adjust our thought process like this. As we are created in Gods Image and Likeness and we have emotions it is safe to say that God does too. I’m willing to bet that God the Father as well as the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary time slowed down for them while Christ spent His time on the Cross. Some where in the arena of Six eternities if I had to guess. This only just happened two days ago for them. Let us Honor their Love and imitate that if possible. Happy Fathers day to all as deep calls to deep. Amen.

  6. Joe Father Judge the Franciscan Chaplin of the NY FD had a prayer I say it daily you might enjoy it;
    Lord take me where you want me to go
    Have me meet who you want me to meet
    Tell me what to say
    Then keep me out of Your way!
    In a way this is similar to Merton’s prayer I hope you use it

  7. Your reflection brought me to tears. Joyful tears. I have been working at discerning as well. You are absolutely correct that we humans constantly overthink. Thus I often berate myself for not pursuing the more lucrative career that I started but I realize that I love what I do. I can love because of what I do. That love is growing, deepening. God’s will. Yet just like the flowers in my garden, love requires fortification. And the Eucharist is there. Blessed are we. Our Father has provided. Happy Father’s Day.

  8. Well written Joe, you mentioned before that you tend to over think. Well buddy, welcome to the club haha. I had a personality test in college and scored off the charts in thinking category. Yea, so I tend to over think or as my wife says “think things to death”. On the bright side of it, usually when we do act on something it’s well thought out, it’s usually a sound decision. Right? Think out and get back to me. Hahaha Happy Father’s Day 5 you and all the Father’s out there.
    Keep up the great writing

  9. Thank you for the beautiful reflection. This touched my heart. Blessings to you and all fathers!

  10. Thanks Skip! That’s too funny. I don’t know if you’ve heard of or taken the Living Your Strengths program, based upon the Clifton Strenthsfinder program. But my top strength is Intellection – which means I am a thinker. I think and contemplate.

    My wife always jokes(well, sometimes its not joking) that by the time I’m ready to discuss an issue with her, I have already thought through the issue to the nth degree, and worked it out in my mind… I do have to agree with you though, that it is usually a sound decision…:)

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