Responding to the voice of God

RESPONDING TO THE VOICE OF GOD

Cl. Mario D’Couto SDB

            Our Lord Jesus, whose food and drink, was to do the Father’s will, faced the fear of death at the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet He freely responded to the Father: “….. if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let Your will be done, not mine.” (Luke 22: 42 – 43)

            In our experience of living obedience in freedom, we are bound to meet situations in which, like Jesus, we are asked to do things that do not seem agreeable from our point of view. Despite the response, we can choose to accept the situation and search for the possibilities it holds. Moreover, we can place our choice in the wider perspective of Christ’s acceptance of His Father’s will even unto death.


            A delicate sense of hearing is required to catch the perfect pitch of God’s voice in imperfect situations. Can we dare to hope that our ears will be so delicately attuned to the voice of God? Can we be so stilled in our desires that we desire in purity of heart only to obey His will? Yes! To listen with my mind already made up is an empty gesture. Only when I allow the voice of God to release my inner freedom from the bounds of pride and willfulness that embrace me, can I discover the purpose for which I alone was made.

Popular posts from this blog

In the world yet not of the world

Image
  IN THE WORLD YET NOT OF THE WORLD MARIO D’COUTO           Being in the world and yet not of it is something that can be a struggle, at least for me and what I mean by that is in as much as we desire to be good and to do good, God is not going to put a glass jar over us and say that just because we choose to love Him and follow Him more closely, that He is going to shield us from the temptations of this world. To make things clear though, this is not to say that the world in itself is bad or evil nor are the things found in the world either but how we deal with it is what will make us or break us. We all have responsibilities and important things that need our attention. If we are not careful though, our hearts and minds can be consumed with the task of keeping them afloat. Rather than centering ourselves in Christ and letting the other elements of our lives take their rightful place around that center, we can end up shifting our attention fr...
Read more

The Gift of Life

  THE GIFT OF LIFE  Mario D’Couto  The above video may seem to put human existence in a rather pessimistic way as if to say that our lives did not really matter and while no doubt there is some element of truth in it, I still feel that if lived well, there is meaning and purpose to our lives and that none of our lives is some sort of haphazard creation.  As I celebrate my gift of life tomorrow, I suddenly began to think that if we compare ourselves to the vastness of the universe and everything else that exists in it, we may perhaps be nothing more than a tiny dot floating on the surface of the earth and yet in as much as such a thing may appear insignificant, the One who created everything chooses to have a personal relationship with that tiny dot, that is, ourselves. This is something truly uplifting, which gives meaning and purpose to our lives and our existence. At the same time, it is also a reminder for us to stay grounded especially in those moments when w...
Read more

Are you creative?

Image
  ARE YOU CREATIVE? Mario D’Couto                         Can you imagine a world without creativity? What would the world look like if there was no creativity? Well, for all we can expect, it would be pretty boring and dull. There would be no speech, no songs, no tools, no ideas such as love, freedom or democracy. It would be an existence so mechanical and impoverished that none of us would want to be a part of.             To achieve the kind of world we consider human, some people had to dare to break the thrall of tradition. Next, they had to find ways of recording those new ideas or procedures that improved on what went on before. Finally, they had to find ways of transmitting the new knowledge to the generation to come. Those who were involved in this process we call creative. What we call culture or those parts of our selves that we internalized from the social...
Read more