The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose.

“God does not demand that every man attain to what is theoretically highest and best. It is better to be a good street sweeper than a bad writer, better to be a good bartender than a bad doctor, and the repentant thief who died with Jesus on Calvary was far more perfect than the holy ones who had Him nailed to the cross. And yet, abstractly speaking, what is more holy than the priesthood and less holy than the state of a criminal? The dying thief had, perhaps, disobeyed the will of God in many things: but in the most important event of his life he listened and obeyed. The Pharisees had kept the law to the letter and had spent their lives in the pursuit of a most scrupulous perfection. But they were so intent upon perfection as an abstraction that when God manifested His will and His perfection in a concrete and definite way… they rejected it.” - Thomas Merton: (1915 – 1968: A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, in Kentucky)

Gospel Text: (MT 20:17-28)

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,

he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,

and said to them on the way,

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,

and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests

and the scribes,

and they will condemn him to death,

and hand him over to the Gentiles

to be mocked and scourged and crucified,

and he will be raised on the third day.”

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons

and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.

He said to her, “What do you wish?”

She answered him,

“Command that these two sons of mine sit,

one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”

Jesus said in reply,

“You do not know what you are asking.

Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”

They said to him, “We can.”

He replied,

“My chalice you will indeed drink,

but to sit at my right and at my left,

this is not mine to give

but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

When the ten heard this,

they became indignant at the two brothers.

But Jesus summoned them and said,

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,

and the great ones make their authority over them felt.

But it shall not be so among you.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;

whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve

and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In today's setting, imagine yourself having a conversation with God. He asks you to do His will without telling you what exactly He wants to happen. Can you honestly say, with open arms, "Yes, God"? We might think that the answer is easy, that following God's path is like a walk in the park. That saying "Yes, I believe in You" will be enough. What if His will involves suffering excruciating pain, the same way He suffered on the cross? What if it involves losing a loved one, would you still say yes? We always pray the Lord's Prayer and say "Thy will be done". Do we really understand what it means?

Lord, help us to trust and understand your will. May we open up our hearts and mind to your Divine Providence and Wisdom. You know how things will turn out and you truly will grant us what is really best for us. Jesus, my Lord and my God, I trust in you.