Loving The Cross Pt.II
Yesterday I wrote about the concept of loving God's will. As I was reading Divine Mercy in My Soul I stumbled upon this poem that I feel best explains this dynamic of a loving surrender.
O will of the omnipotent God,
You are my delight,
You are my joy.
Whatever the hand of my lord holds out to me
I will accept with gladness, submission and love.
Your holy will is my repose;
In it is contained all my sanctity,
And all my eternal salvation,
For doing God's will is the greatest glory.
The will of God --those are His various wishes
Which my soul carries out without reserve,
Because such are His divine desires,
In those moments when God shares his confidences with me.
Do with me as You will, Lord.
I place no obstacles, I make no reservations.
For you are my whole delight and the love of my soul,
And to You, in turn, I pour out the confidences of my heart.
-St. Faustina from Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1004
Let's face who among of us likes to suffer. Resigning our wills to an entity that at times seems more distant than the skies can be the most terrifying thing in the world. Why suffer for something that you can't see or touch? Why suffer for a concept that is totally against human nature? Why should one be resigned to living a life of pain and suffering? Why would one want to expect bad things instead of good?
Although the answer to these questions could span thousands of pages there are some explanations that might help you in the midst of suffering. The first simplest explanation is whether you are a believer or non believer suffering is part of the human existence. No one in this life escapes this truth. The second reason lies in the view of suffering itself. You can either embrace it and grow from it or you can flee from it and pretend that everything is normal when in fact it isn't. The third best reason is that through the unification of faith suffering can have redemptive qualities. In the Christian faith suffering is one of the most powerful forms of prayer. A suffering person's prayers can literally move mountains when united to the sufferings of Christ. A powerful albeit non Christian example of this phenomena was when Gandhi was able to overthrow the entire British Empire through his joined suffering with his people. Accepting suffering isn't only for the greats it is for everyone and the beautiful thing about the Christian faith is that suffering does have a purpose in this world and especially in the next. St. Faustina's beautiful poem reminds us all that accepting God's will with love can be the most sublime offering in this life.
O will of the omnipotent God,
You are my delight,
You are my joy.
Whatever the hand of my lord holds out to me
I will accept with gladness, submission and love.
Your holy will is my repose;
In it is contained all my sanctity,
And all my eternal salvation,
For doing God's will is the greatest glory.
The will of God --those are His various wishes
Which my soul carries out without reserve,
Because such are His divine desires,
In those moments when God shares his confidences with me.
Do with me as You will, Lord.
I place no obstacles, I make no reservations.
For you are my whole delight and the love of my soul,
And to You, in turn, I pour out the confidences of my heart.
-St. Faustina from Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1004
Let's face who among of us likes to suffer. Resigning our wills to an entity that at times seems more distant than the skies can be the most terrifying thing in the world. Why suffer for something that you can't see or touch? Why suffer for a concept that is totally against human nature? Why should one be resigned to living a life of pain and suffering? Why would one want to expect bad things instead of good?
Although the answer to these questions could span thousands of pages there are some explanations that might help you in the midst of suffering. The first simplest explanation is whether you are a believer or non believer suffering is part of the human existence. No one in this life escapes this truth. The second reason lies in the view of suffering itself. You can either embrace it and grow from it or you can flee from it and pretend that everything is normal when in fact it isn't. The third best reason is that through the unification of faith suffering can have redemptive qualities. In the Christian faith suffering is one of the most powerful forms of prayer. A suffering person's prayers can literally move mountains when united to the sufferings of Christ. A powerful albeit non Christian example of this phenomena was when Gandhi was able to overthrow the entire British Empire through his joined suffering with his people. Accepting suffering isn't only for the greats it is for everyone and the beautiful thing about the Christian faith is that suffering does have a purpose in this world and especially in the next. St. Faustina's beautiful poem reminds us all that accepting God's will with love can be the most sublime offering in this life.
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