"A body you have prepared for me...behold, I come to do you will."
This week here at the parish as been much to do about a little of everything.
Early in the week i was called to a home where the grandfather was found dead in his bed. The family wanted a catholic priest to be with them, since I am a fire department chaplain I was called out.
That encounter was followed by an encounter with a family who was preparing for cancer surgery on friday; they wanted to pray and talk and get ready.
Saturday I had two weddings and between them I was called to the hospital to assist a family, where Mom and child were endanger; so we did an emergency baptism and then prayed and anointed mom before they were life flighted to another hospital that could care for them better.
In the midst of all these encounters, the phrase, "God's will" kept coming up and be tossed around.
Think about the phrase, "God's Will" for a moment.
The phrase as become a cliche; we use it when we try to explain the unexplainable or tackle the mystery of life that leaves us scratching our head; we uses it at times to excuse us from responsibility or even as a reason to do nothing.
The phrase, "God's Will," as become a pat answer we give when we have nothing else to say for instance when someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness; it is used when a loved one dies without warning; it is used when life meets tragedy and life is turned inside out and upside down.
It is the will of God or God's will, they say, we say, all say as we try to figure out the why behind the what we are faced with and especially as we stare in the face of tomorrow unsure about what might be next.
We sigh and say "God's will."
A little clarity for the sake of clarity.
First, God's will does not hold us hostage to the winds of change or whims of life. god's will is not random. We should not equate it a slot machine where we pull the leaver hoping for the jack pot only to discover our life savings depleted. God's will is not chance or accidental.
God's will is one of purpose; there is a plan.
God's will does not take life but receive it; there is a big difference between the two.
God's will doe snot leave us empty but is life giving.
God's will does not leave us scrambling as if it is fourth and long and time is running out; God's will satisfies and sustains.
God's will has little to do with what is happening to us; it is more about what we happen to be doing. God's will is less focused on what is done to us and more on what we do.
God's will is bodily. In our bodies we bring God's will with us where and when we go. As we read in the letter of Hebrews, "a body you have prepared for me...behold I come to do your will."
God's will is not passive but one of action.
God's will is one of worship, praise, and thanksgiving; God's will is one of love, friendship, and forgiveness; God's will is one of honor, obedience, and integrity; God's will is one of life, death, and resurrection; God's will is one of truth.
Our bodies become the instrument that bears the force of heaven on earth: "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Every moment and every breath there is ample opportunity to experience God's will, to make God's will present.
This is why we incense the body at the funeral service. Our body bears heaven on earth. Through our body God's reaches forth and touches the world around us.
As we move toward Christmas with visions of magi and shepherds and mangers we must not forget that the Babe of Bethlehem gives way to the man of Golgotha, the man on the cross: A body you have prepared for me...Behold, I come to do you will."
God's will is not something we say, phrase we speak when we are speechless and having nothing else to give; God's will is something we do.
By our life, we can say with Elizabeth, "blessed are yo that believed that What was spoken by the Lord would be fulfilled."
God's will, let it be done or in other words, just do it.
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