Of the Conformity That We Should Have to the Will of God As Regards the Good Things of Heavenly Glory

NOT only in the good things of grace, but also in the good things of heavenly glory, we should conform ourselves to the will of God. The true servant of God should be so detached from his own interests, even in these things, as to rejoice more because the will of God is fulfilled in him than in all else that could interest him. “It is great perfection not to seek one’s own interest in anything, either little or great, either in temporal or in eternal, because Thy will, O Lord, and the love of Thy honor ought to overtop all things, and we ought to find more consolation and contentment in that than in all benefits received or receivable” (A Kempis). This is the contentment and joy of the blessed. The saints in heaven rejoice more in the fulfilment of the will of God than in the greatness of their own glory. They are so transformed into God and so united to His will, that the glory that they enjoy and the happy lot that has fallen to them they do not welcome so much for the advantage that they bring them and the satisfaction which they receive as because God is pleased thereby and such is the will of God. Hence it comes to be that each of them is so contented and delighted with the degree that he holds as not to desire any more, nor is he in any way pained that another has more; because, seeing God, the soul is so transformed into Him as to cease to will as herself and begin to will as God; and as she sees that this is the satisfaction and good pleasure of God, so it is also her joy and her satisfaction.

This is the perfection that we see shine forth in those great saints, in a Moses, in a St. Paul, who for the salvation of souls and the greater glory of God seemingly forgot themselves and took no account of their own glory. Lord, pardon this people or blot me out from thy own book, said Moses to God (Exod. xxxii. 31-32) ; and St. Paul: J desired to be anathema from Christ for the sake of my brethren (Rom. ix. 3). From him afterwards a St. Martin and other saints learned: “If still I am necessary to Thy people, I refuse not labor.’”’ They postponed their rest and willingly ceded something of that glorious reward which they were now so near, and offered themselves anew to labor for the greater service and glory of God. This is doing the will of God here on earth as it is done in heaven, wholly to forget our own interest, and place all our satisfaction in doing the will of God, and count and hold the pleasing of God more than our own advancement and the possession of heaven and earth.

Here is well seen the perfection that this exercise of conformity to the will of God asks of us. If we are to withdraw our eyes from our interest in spiritual goods, and even from eternal goods and the glory of heaven itself, to fix them on the satisfaction and will of God, how shall it be with other interests and human considerations? Hence it will be understood how far from this perfection he is who makes a difficulty of conforming himself to the will of God in those things of which we spoke at the beginning; of being in this place or that, in this office or in another, of being in good health or in sickness, of being made little of or much of by others. We were just saying that we must make more account of the will and satisfaction of God than of all the gains that can possibly be made in spiritual and even in eternal goods; and are you boggling over these things that in respect of them are mere ordure! To him who desires so much the satisfaction of God and the fulfilment of His divine will that he willingly cedes his own glory and is content with the lowest place, not because he is wanting in desire of work and doing doughty deeds, but only to seek better the satisfaction and good pleasure of God, all other things will be very easy, since he makes the renunciation and cession of the highest thing that can be renounced for the love of God. This is the utmost renunciation that man can make to conform himself to the will of God, when he says: “If God would have me die this instant and suffer diminution of glory thereby, I would rather have that lot than die twenty or thirty years hence and so obtain much greater glory; and if, on the other hand, by dying now I could make sure of my glory, still, if God would rather have me do and suffer for many years in this place of imprisonment and exile, I prefer that above immediate admission to the glory of the blessed; for my joy and glory is the satisfaction of God and the fulfilment of His will. Thou art my glory and the lifter up of my head (Psalm iii. 4).”

Of our blessed Father Ignatius there is related a rare example of this. One day, being in company with Father Master Lainez and others, on some point that was raised he put them this question: “Tell me, Master Lainez, what you would do if God made you this offer and said: ‘If you wish to die now, I will draw you out of the prison of this body and give you eternal glory; whereas, if you wish to go on living, I give you no assurance what is to become of you, but leave you to take your chance. If you live and persevere in virtue, I will give you your reward; but if you fall away from good, I will judge you as I find you.’ Now, if our Lord said this to you, and you understood that by remaining some time in this life you could render some great and notable service to His Divine Majesty, what would you choose?” Father Lainez answered: “For myself, Father, I acknowledge to your reverence that I would choose to go at once to the enjoyment of God and make sure of my salvation and deliver myself from danger in a matter of such importance.” Then said our holy Father: “Well, I certainly should not do so; but if I judged that by remaining in the world I could render some special service to our Lord, I would beg Him to leave me in it till the work was done; I would fix my eyes on that work, and not on myself, taking no account of my own danger or my own security.” And he did not think that thereby he was endangering his own salvation, but rather rendering it more certain and more splendid for having trusted God and stayed here on earth in His service. “For what king or prince is there in the world,” said he, “who, if he offered his courtier some great emolument, and the courtier declined the present enjoyment of that emolument in order to be able to render some notable service to his master, would not hold himself bound to keep and augment that reward for that courtier, since he was depriving himself of it for his love and to serve him better? Now if men act so, who are ungrateful and thankless, what are we to expect of the Lord, Who so forestalls us with His grace and does us so many favors? How could we fear that He would desert us and let us fall for having put off our own blessedness and given up the enjoyment of it for His sake? That cannot be believed or feared of such a Lord.”