15 April 2021
Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
It took considerable courage on the part of the apostles to go right back into the hornet’s nest to proclaim the gospel. Their leader, Jesus Christ, had been arrested and executed, they themselves had been arrested and their own executions were looming. Acts chapter 5 tells us how an angel led them out of jail and instructed them to go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of the Christian life. The high priest, in astonishment, rebuked them. Peter and the apostles replied that “we ought to obey God, rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Perhaps they remembered the words of the Lord (John 3:36) “he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him,” or perhaps they were thinking of “thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10). Their courage was rooted in a conviction that they were obeying God’s will rather than men.
In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, plentiful advice is given on how to identify God’s will for each individual. One of the big mistakes is confusing your own will for God’s will (SpEx 169). This can easily happen if you have an inordinate attachment. For example, if you are inordinately attached to your comfortable career and home life, you will have a tendency to presume that you are following God’s will by keeping it going, even though God may be asking you to give up some of your creature comforts, for example, by defending the truth in a hostile atmosphere. St. Ignatius’ advice is to spend time looking at God, and letting everything else fall into order beneath him. Does this or that activity ultimately help me to praise the God who truly loves me? Once we understand God’s will for us, may we have the courage to fulfill it.