One often hears statements like the following:
"If God means for you to marry a particular person / become a priest / enter the religious state, then He will make it happen no matter what obstacles lie in your way, or how much others oppose you!"
Such statements are often made by genuinely pious people who love God and their fellow-man.
But this seems be a sort of pious hope rather than a well thought out theological statement.
If this were true, why would St. Alphonsus Liguori rant about parents who smother the vocations of their children?
Why would the Permissive Will of God, which permits several injustices in this world, (and are we not told that God draws straight with crooked lines, and that many injustices will only be righted on the occasion of the final General Judgement?) reserve this one area as a special preserve where His will is never to be thwarted in this world?
In the Gospel, did not Christ explicitly give a vocation to the Young Ruler? And did he not decline it and walk away?
I remember reading that in the crisis in the Church in the decades following Vatican 2, around 300,000 projected vocations to the priesthood are missing. Did God wish to negate every one of these vocations?
Orthodox blogger Fr. Stephen Freeman (OCA) has written extensively on this topic. In one of his articles, he addresses this explicitly:
"If God means for you to marry a particular person / become a priest / enter the religious state, then He will make it happen no matter what obstacles lie in your way, or how much others oppose you!"
Such statements are often made by genuinely pious people who love God and their fellow-man.
But this seems be a sort of pious hope rather than a well thought out theological statement.
If this were true, why would St. Alphonsus Liguori rant about parents who smother the vocations of their children?
Why would the Permissive Will of God, which permits several injustices in this world, (and are we not told that God draws straight with crooked lines, and that many injustices will only be righted on the occasion of the final General Judgement?) reserve this one area as a special preserve where His will is never to be thwarted in this world?
In the Gospel, did not Christ explicitly give a vocation to the Young Ruler? And did he not decline it and walk away?
I remember reading that in the crisis in the Church in the decades following Vatican 2, around 300,000 projected vocations to the priesthood are missing. Did God wish to negate every one of these vocations?
Orthodox blogger Fr. Stephen Freeman (OCA) has written extensively on this topic. In one of his articles, he addresses this explicitly:
But should an individual expect to know the “will of God?” The answer is both yes and no. The Scripture actually tells us what the will of God is:In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1Th 5:18)Some will be disappointed by this revelation. Popular Christian culture has subscribed to many of the myths of our times. Those surrounding success and happiness are among the deepest. We are taught in various places that by choosing the right path (job, marriage, vocation) and pursuing it with commitment (education, patience) will be rewarded with success and good outcomes. We are told, “What could be better than making a living doing something you like?”But this is tragically flawed.
Knowing God's Will by Fr. Stephen Freeman
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