The Will of God

An excerpt from “New Seeds of Contemplation” by Thomas Merton

“How am I to know the will of God? Even where there is no other explicit claim on my obedience, such as a legitimate command, the very nature of each situation usually bears written into itsel some indication of God’s will. For whatever is demanded by truth, by justice, by mercy, or by love must surely be taken to be willed by God. To consent to His will is, then, to consent to be true, or to speak truth, or at least to seek it. To obey Him is to respond to His will expressed in the need of another person, or at least to respect the rights of others. For the right of another man s the expression of God’s love and God’s will. In demanding that I respect the rights of another God is not merely asking me to conform to some abstract, arbitrary law: He is enabling me to share, as His son, in His own care for my brother.”

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