Of the many religious concepts I struggle with, “God’s will” may be the source of my greatest discomfort.  Throughout history the misappropriation of “God’s will” by man has led to some ugly results.   Countless religious wars, colonization, absolutist monarchies and, more recently, terrorism all, in some or large part, stem from the misuse of religion and a mistaken interpretation of what it means to execute God’s will on Earth.

But, as all of today’s readings remind us, we cannot run from the notion that there is a will of God and we are indeed called to do it!  But what is it!?   Where do we find it?  Can we parse it out from various Bible passages?  Did I miss something in theology classes?

I presume that Jesus himself didn’t fully comprehend what God had in store for his own life until – and maybe after – his baptism.  And we actually witness Jesus struggle with God’s will in Gethsemane, even after it became clear he would be betrayed.   Jesus, as fully human and divine, experienced the difficulty of both knowing God’s will and needing to execute God’s will as a limited person.  His life and death gives us a glimpse at both the incredible attentiveness we need to understand God’s will and the extraordinary strength, determination, and courage we need to do it.

God’s will is still a mystery to me.  I don’t know what God wants from me, and we may never know what God’s plan is for the world.  But that doesn’t mean we are not responsible for listening to God with an open heart like Jesus.  We must cultivate an attentiveness and a stillness that allows us to communicate with God in the midst of our daily chaos.   And in those moments when we do perceive God’s will, it might require immense fortitude to carry it out.  

On the heels of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and in light of today’s readings, I commit myself to contemplating what it means to “come to do the Lord’s will,” as we are called to do in the sacrament of baptism and commit to do each week in the Eucharist.  Specific answers may prove elusive, but the spiritual process will bear great fruit.