“Lord what wilt Thou have me do? Behold the true sign of a totally perfect soul: when one has reached the point of giving up his will so completely that he no longer seeks, expects or desires to do ought but that which God wills.”
--St. Bernard
“You well know that I preferred his company to all the delights of the world. But since it has pleased You to take him from me, I accept Your will completely.”
--St. Elizabeth (On the death of her husband)
“A soul who is really resigned to God’s will does not become attached to any created thing because he sees clearly that all things are nothing except God.”
--Blessed Henry Suso
“All that the beginner in prayer has to do -- and you must not forget this, for it is very important -- is to labour and be resolute and prepare himself with all possible diligence to bring his will into conformity with the will of God. As I shall say later, you may be quite sure that this comprises the very greatest perfection which can be attained on the spiritual road.”
--St. Teresa of Jesus
“More determination is required to subdue the interior man than to mortify the body; and to break one’s will than to break one’s bones.”
--St. Ignatius of Loyola
“I desire to suffer always and not to die. I should add: this is not my will, it is my inclination. It is sweet to think of Jesus; but it is sweeter to do His will.”
--Sr. Mary of Jesus Crucified (“The Little Arab”)
“The goal of all our undertakings should be not so much a task perfectly completed as the accomplishment of the will of God.”
--St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face
“Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: ‘Charity is the bond of perfection;’ and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s.”
--St. Alphonsus de Liguori
“I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God’s Holy Will, not my own!”
--Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother
“God wills only our good; God loves us more than anybody else can or does love us. His will is that no one should lose his soul, that everyone should save and sanctify his soul: “Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance.” “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” God has made the attainment of our happiness, his glory. Even chastisements come to us, not to crush us, but to make us mend our ways and save our souls.”
--St. Alphonsus de Liguori
“Here the will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills.”
--Saint Gerard Majella
“If, devout soul, it is your will to please God and live a life of serenity in this world, unite yourself always and in all things to the divine will. Reflect that all the sins of your past wicked life happened because you wandered from the path of God’s will.”
--St. Alphonsus de Liguori
“The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will.”
--Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
“During our sojourn in this world, we should learn from the saints now in heaven, how to love God. The pure and perfect love of God they enjoy there, consists in uniting themselves perfectly to his will. It would be the greatest delight of the seraphs to pile up sand on the seashore or to pull weeds in a garden for all eternity, if they found out such was God’s will. Our Lord himself teaches us to ask to do the will of God on earth as the saints do it in heaven: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
--St. Alphonsus de Liguori
“We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can -- namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s will in us."
--Saint Teresa of Avila
“Every creature, whether it will or not, is subject to the one God and Lord; but a warning is given to us, to serve the Lord with our whole will, because the just man serves Him willingly, but the unjust serves Him as a slave.”
--Saint Augustine
“A man makes the most progress and merits the most grace precisely in those matters wherein he gains the greatest victories over self and most mortifies his will.”
--St. Francis de Sales
Related booklet [must read]:
Uniformity With God’s Will, by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/alphonsus/uniformity.html
Quotes on the Will of God from St. Bridget’s Revelations
Fifth question [by a Monk speaking through his conscience to Our Lord]. “Why should I obey others, if I have control over my own will?” Answer to the fifth question [by Our Lord]. “Whosoever holds his free choice in his hands should be fearful and should realize in truth that nothing so easily leads to eternal punishment as self-will without a leader. Accordingly, anyone who relinquishes his or her own will to me, his God, in obedience to me, shall have heaven without punishment.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 5, Interrogation 4
“Always prefer my will before your own, because my Mother, your Lady, has, from the beginning to the end, never wanted anything but what I wanted.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 1
“But what is my will, except that you should want to love me above all things and not desire anything but me? I created all things for the sake of mankind, and placed all things under his authority, but he loves all things except me, and hates nothing but me. I bought back the inheritance for him which he had lost because of his sin. But he is so foolish and without reason that he prefers this passing glory – which is like the foam of the sea that rises up for a moment like a mountain, and then quickly falls down to nothing – instead of eternal glory in which there is everlasting good.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 2
“What are these two treasuries [mentioned earlier] if not my love and the love of the world? There are two ways into these two treasuries: privation and a complete denial of one’s own will lead to my love, while the fleshly lust and a man’s own will lead to the love of the world.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 15
“But what the first man said [that tries to serve God] means that some people say: ‘Let us listen and test if what he says is true!’ They stand a while in my service, not for the sake of love or charity but as an experiment and to imitate others; and they do not give up their own will but exercise it along with my will. They are in a dangerous position, for they want to serve two masters, even though they can serve neither one well. When they are called, they shall be rewarded by the master that they have loved the most.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 15
Commentary: That is why Jesus also says in the Gospel, "where your heart is, there will your treasure be also" (cf. Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34). Better to give up watching the media and playing more worldly video games (not only because they are occasions of sins, but also because they make the spirit cold towards God) before it's too late and death is at hand, for at that moment will you only have regretted that you did not live a more spiritual life free from worldly distractions. It is morally and spiritually impossible to indulge in worldly vanities and have a good prayer life! To watch or read news daily etc. is hardly necessary and St. Alphonsus clearly rebukes people for this in his most excellent work, The True Spouse of Christ:
“St. Dorotheus says: "Beware of too much speaking, for it banishes from the soul holy thoughts and recollection with God." Speaking of religious that cannot abstain from inquiring after worldly news, St. Joseph Calasanctius said: "The curious religious shows that he has forgotten himself." It is certain that he who speaks too much with men converses but little with God, for the Lord says: I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart. If, then, the soul wishes that God speak to its heart, it must seek after solitude; but this solitude will never be found by religious who do not love silence." If," said the Venerable Margaret of the Cross, "we remain silent, we shall find solitude." And how will the Lord ever condescend to speak to the religious, who, by seeking after the conversation of creatures, shows that the conversation of God is not sufficient to make her happy? Hence, for a nun that delights in receiving visits and letters, in reading the newspapers, and in speaking frequently of the things of the world, it is impossible to be a good religious. Every time that she unnecessarily holds intercourse with seculars, she will suffer a diminution of fervor.”
The Blessed Virgin speaks: “I also promised in my heart to keep my virginity, if this was acceptable to him, and to have no possessions in the world. However, if God wanted otherwise, my will was that his will, not mine, be done; for I believed that he could do all things and wanted nothing but what was beneficial and best for me. Therefore, I entrusted all my will to him.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 10
“The Son answered: “It is an ancient proverb that says that what a youth learns in his youth, he preserves in his old age. So have also you, my dear Mother, from your youth learned to follow my will and to surrender all your will for my sake. Therefore you did well to say: ‘May your will be done.’ You are like precious gold that is laid on a hard anvil and hammered, for you were hammered with every kind of tribulation, and through my suffering you endured more pain than anyone before. For when my heart burst from the violent pain and bitterness on the cross, your heart was also wounded as if by the sharpest steel, and you would have willingly let it be cut into pieces, had that been my will. But even if you had been able to stop my suffering and wished for my life, still you did not want to if it was not my will. Therefore you did well to say: ‘Your will be done.’”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 15
“You are all mine by right and should therefore follow my will. The one who wants to follow the will of another should have three things: First, he should have the same will and opinion as the other; second, have similar deeds; third, he should move away from his enemies. But who are my enemies if not pride and every sin? You should therefore move away from them, if you desire to follow my will.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 38
“When you pray any prayer to me, always end your prayer with the intention that my will always shall be done and not yours.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 14
“The third [group of people who pray to me] are those who believe me to be the Creator of all things and true God and who believe me to be just and merciful. These do not serve me because of any fear of punishment but because of divine love and charity. Rather, they would prefer and endure every punishment, if they could bear it, than to even once provoke me to wrath. These truly deserve to be heard in their prayers, for their will is according to my will.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 14
“You would have pleased me more had you obeyed your teacher against your own will than doing your own will against his will. Many of my chosen ones neither had access to corporeal medicine or other easinesses for the body and yet have pleased me, whereas others, according to the times, the places and the sickness’ necessity, used medicines and yet did not displease me, since they did it all to please me. I therefore better like the obedience that knows nothing of its own will, then I do over a great offering.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 9, Chapter 60 (my own translation)
God likes obedience better than sacrifice:
1 Kings 15:22-23: “And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king.”
Hence, “Let your door stand open to receive Him, unlock your soul to Him, offer Him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light…”
--St. Ambrose
On Adam and Eve: “I gave them permission to have relations, because before my permission [after the fall] and the enunciation of my will they were stricken with fear and were afraid to unite and have relations. Likewise, when Abel was killed and they were in mourning for a long time and observing abstinence, I was moved with compassion and comforted them. And when they understood my will, they began again to have relations and to procreate children, from which family I, their Creator, promised to be born.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 26
Commentary: This revelation indicates that one should have sexual relations preferably when one thinks this is God's will, and for the primary purpose of procreation to the honor, love and glory of God. It also shows that one should fear God also during the sex act, and that there can come evils from the sex act, such as evil children (even though the act is not evil provided no sin, excess or abuse is committed). That is why one should pray to God fervently before the marital act to be blessed with good and holy children that will do His Holy Will.
“They come to the doors of my church with one mind and consent, but all their desires and inner thoughts are completely against me. They prefer their own will, which aims at pleasing the world, instead of my will. If all their thoughts and wishes were directed toward me, and if they entrusted their will into my hands and entered into wedlock in fear of me, then I would give them my consent and be as the third with them. But now is my consent, which should be their most precious thing, gone from them, because they have lust in their heart and not my love. Thereafter, they go up to my altar where they hear that they should be one heart and one soul, but then my heart flees from them because they have not the warmth of my heart and know not the taste of my body.
“They seek the warmth and sexual lust that will perish and love the flesh that will be eaten by worms. Therefore do such people join in marriage without the bond and union of God the Father and without the Son’s love and without the Holy Spirit’s consolation. When the couple comes to the bed, my Spirit leaves them immediately and the spirit of impurity approaches instead because they only come together for the sake of lust and do not discuss or think about anything else with each other. But my mercy is still with them if they will be converted to me. Because of my great love, I place a living soul created by my power into their seed. Sometimes I let evil parents give birth to good children, but more often, evil children are born of evil parents, since these children imitate the evil and unrighteous deeds of their parents as much as they are able and would imitate it even more if my patience allowed them. Such a married couple will never see my face unless they repent. For there is no sin so heavy or grave that penitence and repentance does not wash it away.
“For that reason, I wish to turn to the spiritual marriage, the kind that is appropriate for God to have with a chaste soul and chaste body. There are seven good things in it opposed to the evils mentioned above: First, there is no desire for beauty of form or bodily beauty or lustful sights, but only for the sight and love of God. Second, there is no desire to possess anything else than what is needed to survive, and just the necessities with nothing in excess. Third, they avoid vain and frivolous talk. Fourth, they do not care about seeing friends or relatives, but I am their love and desire. Fifth, they desire to keep the humility inwardly in their conscience and outwardly in the way they dress. Sixth, they never have any will of leading lustful lives. Seventh, they beget sons and daughters for their God through their good behavior and good example and through the preaching of spiritual words.
“They preserve their faith undefiled when they stand outside the doors of my church where they give me their consent and I give them mine. They go up to my altar when they enjoy the spiritual delight of my Body and Blood in which delight they wish to be of one heart and one body and one will with me, and I, true God and man, mighty in heaven and on earth, shall be as the third with them and will fill their heart. The worldly spouses begin their marriage in lustful desires like brute beasts, and even worse than brute beasts! But these spiritual spouses begin in love and fear of God and do not bother to please anyone but me. The evil spirit fills and incites those in the worldly marriage to carnal lust where there is nothing but unclean stench, but those in the spiritual marriage are filled with my Spirit and inflamed with the fire of my love that will never fail them.
“I am one God in three Persons, and one in Divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Just as it is impossible for the Father to be separated from the Son and the Holy Spirit to be separated from them both, and as it is impossible for warmth to be separated from fire, so it is impossible for these spiritual spouses to be separated from me; I am always as the third with them. Once my body was ravaged and died in torments, but it will never more be hurt or die. Likewise, those who are incorporated into me with a true faith and a perfect will shall never die away from me; for wherever they stand or sit or walk, I am always as the third with them.”
--The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 1, Chapter 26
Prayer to do God’s Will
Each day do I ask of Thee, O Lord, that Thy Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Hearken to my prayer, I beseech Thee, and grant that I may perform all my actions in compliance with Thy Holy Will, and ever make it the sole rule of my conduct. Deliver my soul from the slavery of its passions. Grant that they may all yield to Thine empire, and that to please and love Thee may ever be the predominant desire of my soul. Amen.
Related book [must read]:
St. Bridget's Prophecies & Revelations
http://www.trusaint.com/saints/st-bridget/book-1/
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