BOTH THE WILL AND THE ACTION

PRAYER MOMENT 

Wednesday 5 November 2014

BOTH THE WILL AND THE ACTION

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “It is God who, for his own loving purposes, puts both the will and the action into you.” (Phil 2:12-18)

Reflection. The scriptures make it clear that the initiative in our story comes from God. Abraham was called to leave his home and found a nation into which the Saviour would be born. Paul was knocked off his horse and called to be the apostle of the gentiles. So it is God who moves first. But God cannot move unless there are some grounds for him to act, some dispositions in a human heart that offers room for him to enter. These are tricky questions and I do not think we fully understand. God does not trample on our freedom when he calls. We are free to reject his call. But with some people – we think of Paul again – the call is so powerful and the response so total, that we are left amazed at the effect of God’s action in one human heart. Paul, Francis, Teresa and so many others are stars that light up our darkness. What is true of them is true of us: he puts the will and the action into us for his own loving purposes.

Prayer. Lord, you ‘work’ (John 5:17) constantly among us. Help us to welcome your action in our lives and not to put blockages in your path. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ