It just sort of hit me today that I may be failing to really seek the will of God as it comes to us in the many threads of daily life. I mean, in religious life, one of the more obvious ways God's will is mediated is through our superiors, but they don't hold a monopoly on this by any means. We are all responsible for discerning the will of God, and sometimes we are responsible also for bringing things to the attention of the superiors--which we can't do very well if we're not listening properly. God's will is also mediated through the community itself, and in a particular way through the community's praying with the Word of God. That is just the point I was reflecting on: if we only reflect together in a pious way on the Bible, or the Scripture readings for the day's liturgy (a laudable thing!), we may not be able to "hear" God's direction to us for the hear and now. We may find some lovely and inspiring things, but we'd really have to work to fit them into the needs and questions of the day.
Then I remembered what Pope John Paul II wrote in one of his last books, the one about his ministry as a Bishop. He said that when they had situations that needed to be worked on, the group would ask (no doubt, it was he who raised the question), "Which Scripture passages shed light on this question?" And they would go to the Word of God for that light. The daily liturgical readings gave them the familiarity with the Bible that they needed, but it wasn't that the day's readings were assumed to have some immediate application. Instead, it was a matter of seeking the will of God in the Scriptures by going to the Scriptures with a question or predicament!
I think I could really benefit from this approach.
3 comments:
okay.. this has nothing to do with what you wrote...
What a small small world. I am also from the New Orleans region (Thibodaux - to be exact), also currently living in Chicago and have visited the store on Michigan Ave. more than a dozen times. Nice to read about you. I am a brother candidate for the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Hyde Park. You're wecome to email me at lphing@gmail.com if you like. I love meeting new people especially religous who may help me in my discernment process or just to talk about our faith journey.
thanks siter, for that entry...I NEEDED that!!!! if you go to my blog, a few girls who live in chicago or near it, are helping me with my discernment, byt giving me thigns tod o, or researcha dns o on. I havent visited your blog in awhile and i did and read this entry. I loved it and it will help me in the future. with your permission, i may i post and copy this entry and post it on my blog with your name of course???
This is a really powerful reflection, Sister Anne. You raise a question we need to ask ourselves directly on a periodic basis. Especially when we find ourselves in situations where we assume we are following God's will because of the structure of our existences.
The model you cite is very popular in many Christian traditions outside Catholicism. Unfortunately even the "best" catechized of us often don't have a grasp on scripture to the degree that we can easily cite chapter and verse. Yet if we say the Word is at the center of our being, then it only makes sense that we would go to The Word to discern or confirm God's Will for us at any given moment. I don't pretend to do this perfectly or even well, but the call to involve The Word in our discernment comes clearly from the words of John Paul II. It sets a challenge before all of us.
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