You Know What He Wants

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Mark 1:1-8

It really is nonstop call to arms in Advent, isn't it? Every year I forget that going in.

In a way, the homily at St. John's today was an answer to the past few blog posts I've been writing. Father Rolo started talking about patience, and at the end he asked, "What does God want from you?" Just as he knew we were all waiting for the answer, he shouts, "You know! You know!"

Of course, my first reaction was "No I don't!"

But that, of course, is just a grad student about to be thrust from the cozy (if occasionally stifling) world of academia talking. Because yes, we know exactly what He wants of us. He told us all the time. As Father Rolo said, we have the Word. We know.

We know we take up our cross and follow Him. We know that if we love Him, we feed His sheep. We know that when we feed the hungry, we feed Him. We know.

Very few people get an angel come down to show them the path. The rest of us, we have the tools to figure it out for ourselves. I think that those of us who end up deciding what we want to do with our lives over and over again - the prolonged period before "actual adulthood" begins playing tricks - forget that we're not supposed to decide in an instant what our lives will be like. We're not supposed to know where the Spirit will take us. We're supposed to live our lives according to the gospel.

We're supposed to follow His maxims and love our fellow man and do what we see to help those who come in our way. We're supposed to live our lives, He told us how, and our career path will follow it.

We know. We need the nudge now and then, of course. The Jews knew what God wanted before John the Baptist came down to remind them. They knew the scriptures and the prophets. But they forgot they were part of their daily lives - not their overall life plan.

Or there was some other problem, I'm sure there are many reasons to step from the path, many misunderstandings to stumble over on the way.

But that's been my problem. The Way of the Lord is not a secret path through life for me to discover. It is a way to walk and find my way. It is the compass. It is how I know which of the paths to follow. I know. I know what God wants of me. Not in specifics like where I will end up finding a job, what to do about X, Y, and Z. I know how God wants me to live my life and love my fellow man. I know how He wants me to show my love for Him.

The rest will follow.