Synopsis "The Will of God: Finding It (in English)"
Introduction Following are some reflections upon Finding God's Will as understood thru the Mystery of the sacrifice of Abraham, the Father of Faith, of his Son, Isaac. Chapter one considers the command of God that stopped Abraham from completing the sacrifice of Isaac and why. Chapter two goes on to show how God opened Abraham's eyes, both naturally and supernaturally, to find a suitable substitute for Isaac's sacrifice. Chapter three speaks shortly about how God sees what we can never see; that is, the distant future and he arranges all our activities thruways unknown to us, to accomplish his Holy Will in our lives. Chapter four speaks about the gift of ourselves to others, especially to God, since all belongs to him to use as he sees fit for our eternal salvation. Abraham knew this and this is what we reflect as being the essential wisdom of Abraham. Chapter five ends by considering the significance of charity and how the gift is more than what we receive in return since it unites us to God and nothing can equal that gift of peace which is the result: "Peace I leave with you." Chapters six thru eleven continue the reflections with the example of the life of Jesus (6-8), using the spiritual senses to strengthen our union with God's will (9-10); lastly, examples from two Mystic Saints of the Catholic Church, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. We are often confronted in our lives with important choices and these choices tug at our hearts since we have to decipher the most important from the least important things we hold. A person who sees deeply and renders his life totally at the service of God, such as Abraham, will always choose that which is more lasting and better for his eternal life with God. While not everyone can have the same faith as Abraham, all can exercise their faith to the degree that God gives. Every day we face challenges that call upon our faith and the values we hold dear. The more we follow Christ Jesus, the more we can abide in the one value that no one can take from us and that is the peace he has given to us. Though his peace comes at a price, there is no substitute for it and we can always integrate all the other things which peripherally stand around that peace, to be of less interest to us. As Catholics, we are faced with living our faith or living with our "Isaacs" rather than letting God use our "Isaacs" to bring us to him. God's providential plan has given us this example of Abraham to us so that we can learn to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to give to God what belongs to God. God wants us freely to choose him over our Isaacs, which keep us from him, but only the Spirit and his grace can lead to that wisdom.
