Making Decisions & Choices According to the Will of God

the Catholic Church is not here to teach us to feel good Christ established his church to teach us how to be good to guide us in the ways of holiness that's what the church is here for to teach us how to be holy and one of the most common problems for anyone who's striving to become holy arises or confined with important decisions why because if we're accented whole interest in holiness who want to be careful to follow God's will but that's not always crystal clear so when were faced for the difficult or confusing decision and we wonder just what is the will of God in all this what are we supposed to do today we'll find out look at Church has suggested keep in mind that God is the absolutely perfect father He loves us and as part of his providential love for us he's provided us with examples and guys different sayings to help us in particular situations for example in the area of morals we have Saint Alphonsus near your theory life we have st. Teresa of ávila st. John across and of course the little flower for philosophy and theology we have the great C Thomas Aquinas and so forth so it isn't a surprise that God will also send us a saint to teach us how to handle difficult or confusing decisions today we'll take some time looking at the teaching and the method of that particular st. the method for making difficult choices or decisions it's taught by that great Saint the founder of the Jesuits sin Ignatius of Loyola as we'll see this method is extremely practical and easy to understand we'll explain the sermon and then everybody can get a copy of this pamphlet out math sitting there in the back and also if you have it more to fly your appetites right now and listen I'll explain it you can look at it later but just set aside for now anyway the sustained Ignatius is guide for making important decisions it's taken from the Spiritual Exercises and I've just slightly edited to make it more clear what he's talking about only not to change any of the meaning of st. Ignatius but some of the more obscure terms so I certainly have kept faithful to what he's saying although I have changed a few words point for that reason anyway st. Ignatius starts out by pointing out something that should be obvious to all of us that the most important thing the single most important thing the thing that we always need to keep in mind is that we've been created specifically to give glory to God and by doing that to save our souls he points out that this idea this fundamental notion needs to be the basis for all our choices st. Ignatius quote to make a good choice our intention ought to be simple only looking what at what we are created for namely the praise of God our Lord and the salvation of our soul and so I have to choose whatever I do that it may help me for the end for which I am created close quote st. Ignatius okay so what has he done you just remind us that when we're doing something we need to keep a mind in our I firmly on the goal towards which we're headed but now the Saint gives us a very important warning and you young people it's critical you let down your ears unless you're right now st. Ignatius warns us we have to be careful to choose the right means to reach our end remember by that the end is to give glory to God and save our souls he warns us that many people do not do this here's st. ignatius is slightly edited explanation both many people choose first to marry which is a means and secondarily to serve God our Lord in the married life but this is upside down since we've been created to serve God in the first place remember that to serve God is our end there also who want in the first place to have comfortable lives and then to serve God in them the problem here is that these men do not go straight to God but they want God to come straight to their disordered tendencies so what they should have taken first they take last because in the first place we have to set as our aim service of God that's our end and in the second place we take a particular job or Mary which is the means by which we may accomplish the end close quote Saint Ignatius of Loyola his basic point here is the basis for our choices like this is simple what do we choose something like a job or a state in life but to reject that job or that state life we keep the one goal in mind that we're here to give glory to God and thus to save our souls we have to keep that in the first place keep that young people it applies to all of us the young people or at the age where you have to start thinking about which direction am I going your life this is where you keep fun and center then you make your choice on that basis and we don't turn things upside down by making our decisions first and then expect and looking to wrestle around God so he takes our point of view then he's not God he's in charge he's in the driver's seat and we are to submit to him and not expect him to submit to us notice also that we don't make these decisions on the basis of how we feel we have to keep the glory of God the salvation of our soul son Center not how I feel we better not choose what we feel like expect God to put his rubber stamp on it okay that's completely upside-down that's not the path to holiness okay before explain is message st. Ignatius makes three more preliminary points first anything we choose has to be law by Holy Mother the church if it isn't it isn't the will of God that's just a no-brainer X dot went out its forbid Mother Church then God doesn't want me to do it number two some choices are unchangeable such as priesthood unstuck a marriage anyone's marriage is done third if we've made an unchangeable choice it's a done deal we're stuck if we chose longley what do we do same cases points out that we repent but then we work out our salvation by leading a good life in our situation in that situation we don't try to squirt out from under it we lead a good life in that situation okay so anything we choose has to be allowed by Holy Mother Church things like the priesthood in marriage unchangeable if we've made an unchangeable choice it's a done deal even if we messed up then what do we do we repent and work out our salvation in that particular state so much for the preliminaries now let's go through some of the methods that st. Ignatius proposes for us to come to knowledge of what God's will is when we're trying to make a difficult decision will consider three methods this morning these are methods they're done when our soul is at relative peace there's stuff for when things are turbulent we'll talk about that another day they are mentioned in here but we need more details for the sake of time we'll limit ourselves to things when our soul is relatively at peace or struggle with a particular decision but it isn't a big storm we can state at someone at peace okay the first method we'll look at has six steps that are easy to keep track of the first thing step one we place the problem before us this is best to do in front of the bus the sacrum as possible if not in front of the crucifix or picture the Sacred Heart we kneel down we place that problem before us should I go to the monastery should I stay out in the world say take this job or not to have a vocation to marriage or what okay step two we keep in mind this principle point that we've been created specifically for the glory of God and for the salvation of our soul and then keeping that in mind we imagine ourselves as it were in the Middle's of pan balance on the one side we have to take a balanced another said we have leave it should I take this job should I leave it should I go to the monastery should I see in the world should I date this man should I not okay the take your leaving thing right there then in our minds eye we balance this so we're not more inclined to take this thing than to leave it or to leave it and take it we get that in our minds I balance like this okay should I stay in the world should I go to the monastery we balance the pan because what we're trying to do is find out which choice is more for the glory of God and salvation of souls so now we have this internal balance in internal balance before God step three we beg God to move our will and make it clear to us what he wants us to do we're asking God to make that clear for us step forward now keeping in mind we got to keep this in mind with the Gloria got the salvation of our souls we reckon up the advantages in taking this particular choice and on the other hand the disadvantages from taking it so we're looking anyway at the advantage and disadvantage from taking it like what would I do what are the advantages to go in the monastery whether this advantage is to go in the monster on the other hand and we flip it over reckon what are the advantages to not go to the monastery what advantages disadvantage is not going so we're either either one you know what are the advantages and disadvantages for taking this choice what advantages and disadvantages for not taking it this is not an economic calculation what are the advantages disadvantages weighed in the light of eternity we're saying which is more for the glory of God and the salvation my sole advantage disadvantage which is more for the glory of God the salvation my soul you know it's like if I leave it advantage disadvantage okay so we've got those so we have it balanced out like that the light of eternity we've looked at the advantages and disadvantage for either taking a choice or leaving a choice step 5 after we've considered the advantages and disadvantages from taking an advantages and disadvantages for leaving it we then choose according to greater inclination of reason what's more reasonable not what my feelings say we want to remember thanks to lots of gifts integrity our feelings all over the place we don't pay attention to those who are doing it according to the inclination of reason our feelings might be going one way but our reason tells us other we follow our reason faith is what is in the intellect not in our emotions if we want God to help us we don't get dragged around by our feelings that's if we want somebody to help us with our feelings we're gonna have the wrong guy helping us there God will help us with the in life that's where we get the lights from him six step we place this choice before God and prayer and ask him to confirm it if it be for his greater honor and glory okay let's review those six steps real quickly number one we place this thing before us number two we keep in mind what we're here to do give glory to God and save our souls and we set up that pan balance and our imagination we balance it so we're neither not more inclined to take it orderly that we come to balance step three we beg God to move our will as to which direction he wants what make it clear to us then after we've asked them to that keeping in mind the glory God the salvation of our souls we reckon up the advantage and disadvantage for taking it the advantages disadvantages for leaving it then Step five we choose according to the greater inclination of reason not according to our feelings reason about feelings finally step six we place this choice before God in prayer and ask him to confirm it if it's for his greater honor and glory that's the first method so next two are very easy to remember st. Ignatius the second method we'll look at he proposes us another way imagine a man that we've never seen talk to him that before walking up to us and he comes to us with a problem the very problem that we're considering let's suppose I'm wondering whether I should go in a monastery he comes up to me and asked me for advice so in prayer I'm thinking about this here comes this man should I go to the monastery and he gives me all his reasons we sit there I want this man to become a saint I wanted to give greater glory to God and save his soul so he proposed me tells me the whole situation and then I give him my advice then you just turn right around and take that advice for yourself it's a way of detaching your feelings so you can speak as passionately to another person who isn't you about you that's what the st. Ignatius is doing for us it really at least I really like that particular way but they're all good another message from st. Ignatius imagine we're right at the very point of death there we are laying on our deathbed we're looking back over our life and we consider this particular problem right there and the light of eternity is were dying we consider what would we have liked to done in that particular situation then we take that advice now there's other things in this pamphlet there's other methods that's just through three that we're looking at for the sake of time there are other things in it take one of these read it carefully keep it your Bible or your miss little prayer book keep it somewhere or you can refer to it when you need it st. Ignatius brings two fundamental truths to our attention fundamental truths are almost totally lost in our atheistic materialistic culture the first truth is it a choice any choice is judged by one standard to one standard only a choice is only a good choice when it's permitted by the church and it's being done for the greater glory of God the salvation of our souls not on what we feel like or what we desire the second truth is that this life is basically just boot camp for eternity it's just a short testing period for eternal life what we do right here and right now has eternal consequences let's go and close with a thought from st. Ignatius quote to make a good choice on intention ought to be simple only looking at what we are created for namely the praise of God our Lord the salvation of our soul and so I to choose whatever I do that it may help me for the end for which I am traded close quote st. Ignatius

Channel: Sensus Fidelium

Views: 87,139

Keywords: Catholic, Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, eternity, salvation, holiness, decisions, Church, hope, faith, charity, glory, prayer, Ignatius Of Loyola (Organization Founder), Will Of God, Religion (TV Genre), Church (Project Focus)

Id: pA8JzQMQrRg

Length: 16min 20sec (980 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 17 2015