This is part 4 of a nine part series of meditations on the Word of God with reflections from the writings of Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo and Blessed James Alberione.
A key phrase that determined Mother Thecla’s journey was “the will of God.” This statement includes everything” vocation and mission, health and sickness, life and death, the divine and the human. She perceived the will of God at work in her life, from the beginning to end.
The Gospel Message
That is why he said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifices or cereal offering, but you gave me a body. You took no pleasure in burnt offering or sacrifice for sin; then I said, “Here I am, I am coming,” in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, God. He says first, You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your will. He is abolishing the first sort to establish the second.
And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once and for all (Heb. 10:5-10).
Holiness consists in carrying out the will of God at all times. In imitation of the Divine Master, Mother Thecla carried out the will of God to the point of self-sacrifice. Her testimony challenges us deeply.
Those who walk in the way of perfection seek to arrive at an always more profound and perfect union with God. And what is the most perfect union with God? The union of our will with his (CSAS 36/2).
…in order to live… the year dedicated to the Divine Master, let us imitate him especially in conformity to the will of God. Jesus came to earth to do the Father’s will. We are here to do the will of God; if we carry out that will well, the Lord will reward us with a beautiful heaven.
Here, too, we must be clever: the will of God must be done….At times, how much we ponder before we finally decide to do the will of God! It is the Lord who permits this or that. If we would only see the will of God in all things, in every disposition, we would lead a happy life (CSAS 8/3).
Let us willingly accept the small adversities of the day; let us willingly do the will of God, even when it is an effort. At times, it costs us quite a bit to do the will of God, yet we must do it. Blessed are we if we succeed in carrying out that will lovingly and not because we have no other choice. Carry out the will of God well, in imitation of Jesus Master; try to follow him along the way of the cross (CSAS 8/9).
There are many souls waiting for salvation and only a few workers for the Gospel. Just think: half of humanity still does not know God….Apostles are needed, but true apostles whose hearts are filled with the love of God (VPC 126).
I want to become a saint by doing the will of God always and in everything….At all times: not what pleases me, but what pleases you, my God (Spiritual Notes, October 1963).
Prayer from the Scriptures
Psalm 40 verses 1-13
Blessed James Alberione’s Thought
To do the will of God joyfully; to do whatever the Lord disposes, in every circumstance. At times, the will of God is manifested in difficult steps, yet Mother Thecla never showed the least resistance. She had to give up her own ideas, her own points of view (…).
She was convinced that she needed to carry out her mission in humility. The Lord did whatever he wanted with her because she never resisted him, as far as I could tell, She never resisted the Lord or his dispositions.
Alberione, Meditation, February 12, 1964
English: The Christ Pantocrator of St. Catherine’s Monastery at Sinai, a 6th-century encaustic icon., public domain, Wikimedia
