ST. JOSEMARIA: STRIVE TO PLEASE GOD IN EVERYTHING.
“Grant, Almighty God, that with our thoughts always on the things of the Spirit, we may please you in all that we say and do.”
Collect prayer, 7th Sunday O.T.
Jesus spent his whole life on earth fulfilling God’s will. My food, he told his disciples, is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
This is what St. Josemaria teaches us to do, following the teaching and example of Christ, in order that we might attain the holiness to which God calls us.
“My children, I recently read in the holy Mass a prayer that is, as always, a splendid jewel, crafted from the most precious metal and set with the finest pearls. In it we ask God…that we may always think what is right and reasonable, and so be pleasing to you both in words and in deeds. How wonderfully Christian it is to ask God to give us the grace to act in a way that pleases him. And what is it that pleases our Father God? That we should be happy.
We are unhappy when we foolishly separate ourselves to follow the promptings of the fomes peccati (the “tinder of sin”, the concupiscence) that we all carry within us. Besides, there is the attraction of what people call the world, which isn’t the world that we love passionately. Then there is the constant activity of the devil, and the downward tug of the flesh. And this goes on all throughout life – whether at your age, my children, no matter how old you are, or at mine, and I’m seventy-two. I’m not so young as you, but the same things happen to me as to you …
My dear children, when you consider the prospect of the struggle that lies ahead, the sole aim of which is to please God in everything, don’t think that you’re always going to be asked to make superhuman efforts. With the help of grace, everything is easy. Besides, for most people there are many times, long periods, when we don’t encounter special difficulties, because we realize that our dedication is worth all the effort involved. But there are times when the triple concupiscence – lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – blinds and confuses us, and leaves us stupefied. And then everything starts to be difficult, and the joy we felt on other occasions, the joy of being a holocaust and of burning ourselves on God’s altar each day as we draw near to strengthen our youth: that joy disappears.” St. Josemaria.
Today we tell Jesus once again that we want to fulfil, always and everywhere, the holy will of God, even if many times, we may not have the enthusiasm or feelings in doing so, but we will strive to please God in everything for love.
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