The Heliotropium

 It's a book title I was fascinated about before. It's also a classic spiritual reading.

I don't know why I'm fascinated with man's will conforming with God's will. Maybe because I see it before as the easiest hacks to becoming holy, finding peace with oneself, with the world, and with God.

It's main gist is this:

We must conform our will to the will of God in all things, sin excepted.

Let's phenomenologically reflect on the phrase "in all things". Sa lahat ng bagay pwera sa kasalanan, dapat pareho ang kalooban ko sa kalooban ng Dyos. Parang walang nangyayari sa buhay ko, so be it. Parang walang direksiyon pa rin ang buhay ko, so be it. May kasalanan ba akong ginagawa kaya nangyayari iyan? Napakarami bukod pa sa mga kahinaan ko. Paano ko ngayon sasabihin so be it kung epekto pala iyon ng mga kasalanan ko? Dapat ay Lord have mercy, di ba? Ok, ok!

Kung alam ko daw na kasalanan ko, malinaw na malinaw, kasalanan iyon at di kalooban ng Dyos.

 Repent what you're certain was sin.

 Accept what you're uncertain about as material for humility and trust.

 Offer all of it to God as the raw material of your sanctity...

 Not all bad things in my life were sin.

 But my sins did have real consequences.

 I accept them now without blaming circumstances.

 God permits sin—but only to bring about a greater good. -ChatGPT-4o, 11 June 2025

Wala nga sa hinagap na santo ako dahil makasalanan talaga ako at di sang-ayon ang buhay ko sa kalooban ng Diyos. Pero nakalipas na iyon at pinagdurusahan ko ang consequences ng aking mga kasalanan hanggang sa ngayon. Can I rather at present conform to the will of God? It seems so good to be so. I think so that God has forgiven your past if you repented and is doing your best to become good today. Then you can be certain that whatever consequenses of your sin you are experiencing in your present becomes a part of God's permissive will, and so you are in conformity with God as long as what you are doing in the present is good.

Now there are so many good things in the present you can do. What maybe is God's will for me today? This question is already discernment material and is rather answered by St. Ignatius consolation/desolation where God is leading you. We're finished with such topic that if you don't remember how, just please review it. We won't discuss it here again.

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Activity

In the present moment of your life, you choose to point out what is God's will, what is not. It is difficult and sometimes needs prudence since it can range from the following:

            1. It is God's will. (Everything that is good.)

            2. It is not God's will. (My sin.)

            3. It is a consequence of my sin. (Bad things today I'm suffering.)

            4. Bad things that are not my sin, not a consequence of my sin, but permitted by God.

So the question "Is this God's will?" is to be asked in the present moment of our lives to get used to identifying where God is in our lives and not ruminate always about our past failures and sins.

Because it is a difficult question to answer, getting used to such can empower us to live in the present graces of our Lord. In the process, you can identify your sinful tendencies and tell yourself to stop it since it is not God's will.

You will realize you are suffering the consequences of your sins and failures. But also realize that they were permitted by God in the past, and now by God's mercy, is being used by Him to sanctify you or bring about a greater good.

After getting used to it, you can say to yourself that identifying God's will is not really that difficult.

You can likewise point towards the life of others like your friend whom you know, if what you identify in their life is God's will or not. However, we are curious about the difficulty of identifying God's will for our own life. So, leave identifying others' sins as not part of this activity. Also, leave what is happening in the world rather in the merciful hands of God and save yourself from the headache of complexity. By such regard you will be able to identify easily bad and evil things in this world as not directly your own fault or sin. We are also trying phenomenological reflection, and we are only aware or consious of our guilt unless others testify to their crime and asks for forgiveness. We aren't though in place to judge others or the world, maybe only ourselves. Yet even our own self is still in the hands of the mercy of God's loving forgiveness that like those who commited suicide denied themselves.

Example: The scorching heat is not God's will but permitted by him(4). I accept it and open up the fan while still using pamaypay. God wills that I be more productive(1) and stop playing more online games(2). So I read an online article I'm curious about instead which is connected to my hobby(1). It is not God's will that I still consume more than what can be recreational online gaming only and constitutes as venial sin(2). But my blurry vision at this moment can be attributed to too much unmanaged gadget use(3). I drank too some cold water which refreshed my mind while reflecting on what I finished reading forwardly looking at my country to be like Sweden already importing waste from other countries because their waste management is so efficient(1).

Take note that I didn't go into the details of global warming that causes scorching heat. I can point to everything causing it including scientists not yet inventing alternative energy source, etc. And me still riding that trycycle when it's just near where I'm going to. But our target is the present moment where I'm just sitting at my shop without aircon.

God is so good that I have a fan, a refrigerator, was called by him to be more productive, and realized his call and refreshment!

It may not constitute holiness yet, but I am seeing that my will is at least conforming to God's will. Thanks be to God for that already.

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Let's get back to our pheno reflection on the phrase "in all things". Do you think you are in complete conformity with God's will, like in all things, really? If not yet, what are those sins in the present moment you are still holding on to? I'm not asking about the past sins you've done. If there is none, then most probably you are living in God's will already. Of course it's not a perfect one, but leave that concern to God's mercy and be rather already happy that you are really living in God's will. You may be not holy and have so many weaknesses. But precisely this living in the will of God that we're talking about as an easy hack is a great help to holiness because Jesus had already saved us. And every new day is being given us as a new beginning.

Joys and successes will be its easier part. Are you ready now with the other part of the "in all things"? It includes the sufferings and the losses, a time when God will grace us to be crucified with Christ. It is intriguing though, as I've said, that carrying our own crosses as God's will, is the grace that enables us to bear it. A grudging submission to the will of God makes the cross heavier than if we joyfully embrace it. (reference, ChatGPT-4o, 12 June 2025)

Have I told you how I blaspheme God before? I cannot believe how God has transformed me. I'm always against God. I always questioned him why he still created me, sinful and suffering in this imperfect world. Now my recall has come in full circle why I'm obssessed with conforming my will with God's will. It is in having a loving omniscient Father always by my side to guide me an imperfect and weak being in this very confusing and unforgiving world. He no longer is a God who seem to be punishing me, so cruel he enjoys seeing me suffer and left to luck whether to survive my wandering aimlessly. If I'm suffering something which isn't a direct effect of my sin, I no longer complain so easily, but always ready to offer it up for the forgiveness of my own sins and those of others, and the salvation of all souls. I easily come to my senses when I feel I'm not at peace and God seems to be disturbing me because I am doing something sinful, or God wants me to do something better.

But the Lord's not my will but yours be done, and Mama Mary's let it be done unto me according to your word, are both situational, an acceptance of God's will manifested at the moment in its full grandeur and clarity. Mama Mary accepting the will of God despite doubts, our Lord accepting the Father's will despite the agony.

But just like Mama Mary and our Lord Jesus, later you will realize and tell God, salamat Lord dahil ang kalooban mo ang nasunod at di ang kalooban ko.

Yet more often, you will ask why your will is still not being granted by God even though it is ethically, theologically, and even according to the counsel, good. And the answer is because you asked that God's will be done.🤣

"As soon as you truly abandon yourself in the Lord, you will know how to be content with whatever happens. You will not lose your peace if your undertakings do not turn out the way you hoped, even if you have put everything into them, and used all the means necessary. For they will have “turned out” the way God wants them to."

-St. Josemaria Escriva

(Furrow, 860)

 We assume here though that we already know what the Lord has taught us, since only God can reveal his will to human beings, and so it is also God who can only reveal his will for our own lives.

For what man knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what our LORD intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out? Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight, and men learned what was your pleasure, and were saved by Wisdom. -Wisdom 9:13-18

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