| What Does God Require of Us? |
| What Does God Require of Us? |
What does God require of Us: Discerning God’s Will in Our Lives
On a beautiful Saturday morning, in the peace of the Benedictine Center at St. Paul’s Monastery, Jackie Witter took a group down the path towards meditation and hearing God’s will.
There are three steps you need to take on that path of faith and trust. The first is to be still physically. Find a comfortable spot to sit, turn off the phone, TV and put out the do not disturb sign. Second, recognize that God is with you. Third, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.
Truly, there is no formula. What is necessary is that you are vulnerable, that you let yourself be empty. Make it a verbal action “I am open to God’s will.” Make it a physical action. “In this spot I open my heart to God.”
To see where God is leading you, look to where God has been present in the past. What blessings has He gifted? What prayers were answered? What prayers were answered differently than you had asked? See where God has been present in your every day life. If you aren’t attentive, you may not recognize the signs God is giving you. While we all wish Gabriel would visit us as he did the Blessed Mother; that our message would be as clear as the Annunciation, chances are we will have to muddle through and pray for guidance.
Our group was quite inventive. One participant came up with a rather appropriate acronym for meditative reflection. OAR, which represents the three basic principles. Openness, Attentive, Reflection. How apt that when we are in crisis, when we feel our life is out of control and we are drowning, we can reach for the OAR.
For discernment of God’s will for us to become a part of our lives, we need to make a commitment to that discernment. We need to make a commitment to stay connected to God. If God seems far away, who has moved? We need to make a commitment to stay faithful in prayer, faithful in worship, faithful in attentiveness. We also need to make a commitment to seek Divine Wisdom, in our past and in our present. It was suggested that when seeking wisdom, pray the Book of Wisdom. Be honest and open with what the Holy Spirit shares with us, moves us to remember and pray upon. Be humble in your prayer. St. Teresa of Avila said “Humility is standing in the truth of who you are.”
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