WE HAVE TO CONFORM OURSELVES TO WHAT IS CALLED THE DELCLARED WILL OF GOD
Sometimes we think of God’s will in itself. We see that it is entirely holy and entirely good. It is easy for us to praise, bless and adore it. So, too, we sacrifice our will and all those of other creatures to his obedience by this holy prayer: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6: 10). At other times we reflect on the will of God in its particular activities. Such are events which touch us, and circumstances which occur. Finally such are also the declaration and revelation of his intentions.
In fact his divine majesty has only a very unique and very simple will. Even so, we call it by different names depending on the variety of means by which we know them. According to this variety we are also bound to comply with it.
The Christian doctrine clearly proposes to us the truths which God wants us to believe, the goods we should hope for, the punishments which we ought to fear, what he wants us to love. The same doctrine proposes to us the commandments which he wants us to keep and the counsels which he wishes us to follow. All these are called the declared will of God,[1] because he has declared and revealed them to us. God wishes and expects that we believe, hope, fear, love and practise all of them.
Since the declared will of God is expressed like a desire and not like an absolute will, we can follow it either by obedience or resist by disobedience. For God makes three acts in this regard: He wishes that we are able to resist. He desires that we do not resist. However, he permits us to resist if we wish so. Our ability to resist depends on our natural state and freedom. Our resistance depends on our malice. Not to resist is in accordance with the desire of divine goodness. When we resist, God does not contribute anything to our disobedience. Scripture says: He left them in the power oftheir own free choice (Sir 15:14). He allows our will to choose evil. But when we obey God, he offers his help, his inspirations and his grace.
Permission is an act of the will which is barren, sterile and fruitless by its very nature. It is a passive action, so to say, which does nothing and thus lets things happen. On the contrary, desire is an activity, fruitful and fertile, which impels, invites and urges us. That is why God, desiring that we follow his declared will, entreats, advices, impels, inspires, helps and assists us. In permitting us to oppose his will he does only one thing. He simply leaves us to do what we want according to our free choice against his desire and intention.
However the desire of God is a genuine desire. We may express it very simply [by an example]: We have a desire to offer our friend a good time. We prepare a good, delicious feast, as did the king in the parable of the Gospel (Mt 22:210; Lk 14:16-23). Then we invite him, urge him and almost force him by entreaties, persuasions and earnestly following up by begging him to come, sit at table and eat. Certainly we do not open the mouth of the friend by force, stuff his throat with meat and make him swallow it. It would not be a feast with politeness. But we would be treating him like a beast and like a male chick that we want to fatten. Such kind of favour is to be offered by invitations, solicitations and entreaties and not violently and forcefully. That is why it is done by way of desire and not by an absolute will. It is the same as regards the declared will of God. For by it God desires with a real desire that we fulfill what he declares. For this purpose he supplies us with all the means necessary. He exhorts us and urges us to make use of them. In this kind of favour, we can desire nothing more. The sun rays do not cease to be true rays of light even if they are shut out and pushed back by some obstacle. So too the declared will of God does not cease to be the true will of God even if we resist it. If we resist, it does not produce as many effects as it would if we were to accept it [God’s will].
The conformity of our will to the declared will of God consists in this: We accept all that God declares to us as his intention. We believe in his teaching, hope in his promises, fear his threats, love and live according to his commandments and warnings. The protestations we often make during ceremonies of the church tend to this purpose. For instance, we stand when the Gospel is read. It means that we are ready to obey the declared will of God which it contains. We therefore kiss the book in the place of the Gospel in reverence to the word of God which declared the heavenly will. So many men and women saints of olden times carried on their breasts Gospel written as a token of love. Thus we read of St. Cecillia. In fact when St. Barnabas died, St. Mathew’s Gospel written in Barnabas’ own writing was found on his breast. Hence in the ancient Councils, at the centre of the whole assembly of bishops, a high throne was erected. On it the book of the holy Gospels, symbolizing the person of the Saviour, King, Teacher, Director, Spirit and the sole heart of the council and the whole church, was placed. They honoured so much the declared will of God expressed in this divine book. The great model of the pastoral order St. Charles, Archbishop of Milan, never studied Holy Scripture except on his knees and bare headed. Thus he witnessed to the reverence with which we should listen to and read the declared will of God.
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[1] La volonte signifiee de Dieu. Mackey “God's signified will”, Ryan, “the signified will of God" and Kerns, “the declared will of God". “Signified" refers to a sign, symbol or gesture that has a particular meaning. “Declare or declared" means an attitude or intention that is made known to other people by clearly expressing it. We prefer “the declared will of God" since commandments, counsels etc are clearly expressed and revealed.