Friday of Week 14 – Hos 14:2-10; Ps 50:3-4,8-9,12-14,17; Matthew 10:16-23

So be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves. Mt 10:16a

I am not always able to properly discern God’s will. I make many mistakes because I am too often guided by a subjective sense of my own happiness. If everything goes smoothly and successfully, I explain to myself that it is in accordance with His plan. I also see God’s will in the absence of obstacles, in the fact that I feel good and that everything is favourable for me. Yes, inner peace can be a sign confirming this, but not always. Sometimes I simply calm my conscience by telling myself that it is not reproaching me with anything, but it still worries me internally. I start to look for excuses for my decisions, to convince myself at all costs that this is what God wanted.

And Jesus announces something completely different in today’s Gospel. He says that doing His will may involve persecution and difficulties. To know God’s intention, we need prudence, i.e. inner discernment. The need to constantly ask God questions, look for answers, ask for the light of the Holy Spirit, listen to His voice and obey internal inspirations, especially when they oppose my whims, visions, expectations or pleasures. In order to hear God and enter into a deeper relationship with Him, we need impeccability, i.e. purity of heart. From it may arise the desire to do His will and live according to His instructions, even when it  hurts, when it is difficult, when others hurt me.