Praying ONLY for the knowledge of His will for us

For the last few months I have been found myself drawn into trying to learn how to discern God's will for me. After all, according to the 11th Step it is the ONLY thing we are supposed to pray for!

A few months ago I came across a tract by St. Alphonsus de Liguori entitled "Uniformity With God's Will". It has had an impact on my life and always digging deeper I had been looking for poem that St. Alphonsus had written that may have been the starting point for this tract.

In the Preface of the tract currently published by TAN it is written:

Prof. Candido M. Romano says this brochure was written probably in 1755, as appears from a letter by the Saint, under date of Nov. 2, 1755, to Sister Giannastasio, at Cava. Romano goes on to say:

“This (i.e. God’s will) was for Alphonsus a theme of predilection, a theme dearest to his heart. Just as St. Ignatius stressed ‘the greater glory of God,’ St. Alphonsus in all his works, gave prominence to ‘the greater good pleasure of God.’ Most likely the occasion that brought forth this treatise was the death, in 1753, of Father Paul Cafaro, C.SS.R., St. Alphonsus’ confessor and director. The death of this worthy priest deeply affected the Saint and he expressed his sentiments in a poem on God’s will. The wide acclaim it received may have suggested to him the thought that a tract on the same subject would be helpful to the souls of others. If this be true, his surmise proved correct, for the appearance of his subsequent pamphlet was greeted with instant favor.”

I am happy to report that I found the poem today and am looking forward to spending some time with it:

O WILL OF GOD! O WILL DIVINE!

'Tis Thy good pleasure, not my own,

In Thee, my God, I love alone;

And nothing I desire of Thee

But what Thy goodness wills for me.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

In love no rival canst Thou bear,

But Thou art full of tenderest care;

And fire and sweetness all Divine

To hearts which once are wholly Thine.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

In Thee all pure affections live,

To love Thou dost perfection give;

While ever burning with desires

The loving soul to Thee aspires.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

Thou makest crosses soft and light

And death itself seem sweet and bright.

No cross nor fear that soul dismays

Whose will to Thee united stays.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

To all the glorious choirs of Heaven

Their very bliss by Thee is given;

And Heaven itself deprived of Thee

Would be a land of misery.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

Yea, to the lost who burn in hell,

If in their souls Thy love could dwell,

The very flames and torments there

Would seem but sweet and light to bear.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

Oh! that one day my life may end

In closest bonds to Thee enchained

For thus to die is not to die,

But live, and live eternally.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

To Thee I consecrate and give

My heart and being while I live;

Jesus, Thy Heart alone shall be

My Love for all eternity.

O will of God! O will Divine!

All, all our love be ever thine.

Alike in pleasure and in pain

To please Thee is my joy and gain;

That, O my Love, which pleases Thee

Shall ever more seem best to me.

May heaven and earth with love fulfil,

My God, Thy ever-blessed will!

Watch What You Pray For

We have had two gorgeous days here on Isle of Palms. Played golf yesterday with my brother-in law over at Dunes West. Great day despite the 100 score I had and the many lessons of humility I receive every time I play. Golf is so much like life but I'll save that for another day.

This morning I had the opportunity to attend daily Mass and a nice surprise after Mass was that the priest and a dozen or so others stuck around for Morning Prayer. Saying the Liturgy of the Hours with a group, I find, is much more fulfilling than praying them alone.


When I got home I had some breakfast with the kids and then took a few minutes to pray the Office of Readings for today. Today's second reading was taken from "The Way of Perfection" by Saint Teresa of Avila and as I read it I thought how many times in a meeting (or elsewhere) that we here the phrase "watch what you pray for, you may just get it!".


It opens with, "When asking a favor of some person of importance would anyone be so ill-mannered and thoughtless as not first to consider how best to address him in order to make a good impression and give no cause for offense? Surely he would think over his petition carefully and his reason for asking it, especially if it were for something specific and important as our good Jesus tells us our petitions should be."


How many times have I prayed without thinking? How many times have I asked for what I thought were immediate needs but would have long-term consequences. I think about the times where I have had to ask people for something (an employer for a raise or promotion, a parent for something "big", a child for something that they may not like, etc.) and how I play the scene through my mind many times before I approach them. On the other hand, I may not think at all about a request I am going to make of Jesus, expecting him to come through as long as it is His will.

On the other hand, how much greater would that prayer and petition be if we take the time to think it through. What do I really need? What is God's will for me? Today? Tomorrow? St. Teresa goes on, "O Eternal Wisdom, between you and your Father that was enough; that was how you prayed in the garden. You expressed your desire and fear but surrendered yourself to his will. But as for us, Lord, you know that we are less submissive to the will of your Father and need to mention each thing separately in order to stop and think whether it would be good for us, and otherwise not ask for it. You see, the gift our Lord intends for us may be by far the best, but if it is not what we wanted we are quite capable of flinging it back in his face. That is the kind of people we are; ready cash is the only wealth we understand". I can relate. Can you?

Recently a fellow Calix member shared about how she would pray for patience. Rather than receiving the gift of patience she would get a series of "opportunities" to be patient in order to learn patience. None of us have experienced that, right? But we curse those "opportunities" until we come to realize, sometimes many years later, that we have become patient. So it begs the question, do we ever really know what's good for us? Or, should we focus more on what God's will is for us and surrender to Him who knows what's best for us?

And, as a side note, my Latin-English Missal booklets arrived today. Time to start studying for Mass this coming Sunday!