Willful but not voluntaristic

YES, we have to make full use of our faculties, especially

the will, but we need to see to it that our will is properly grounded,

inspired and oriented. Yes, we have to be willful as much as we can,

but seeing to it that our will is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Otherwise, we may simply become voluntaristic, that is, using our will

simply on our own, guided only by our own reasoning and even by our

own feelings alone.

  

            That we have to make full use of our will can be gleaned

from the words of Christ who told us what the greatest commandment is

for us. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your

soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22,37) Of course, loving is a matter

of our will that has to deploy all the other faculties we have—our

heart, our soul, our mind.

  

            But we need to understand that we can only love properly

if that will of ours that we use for loving is inspired by God who in

the Holy Spirit provides us with the source, the pattern and the power

of loving. That’s because, as St. John tells us, God is the love, his

very essence is love. (cfr. 1 Jn 4,8)

  

            Outside of God, when we simply rely on our idea of loving

that can only be based on some passing and perishable element, we can

only have an illusion of love, a fake love that can mesmerize us for a

while but will not last long and cannot tackle all the trials and

challenges of our earthly life.

  

            We have to make sure that our will as the engine of our

loving is fully inspired by the Holy Spirit who makes God’s love

present in us. Loving in the Holy Spirit fulfills what St. Paul said

in his Letter to the Ephesians, that is, that we have to “speak the

truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ.” (4,15)

  

            It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to the whole truth,

who will provide us for all our needs, especially in our difficulties.

He will be the one who reassures us that it is all worthwhile to

suffer the unavoidable evils in this world and to find peace and joy

even as we swim and float on the vast ocean of mysteries in our

earthly life.

  

            This he does by giving us his gifts and fruits that would

enable us to handle any possible situation we can find ourselves in,

whether it be good or bad. It would be good if we examine ourselves

frequently if we are still vitally connected with him, primarily

through our will. And this is not fantasizing on our part. The Holy

Spirit is our constant and infallible prompter who guides us every

step of our way.

  

            We have to be wary when we allow ourselves to be carried

away by mere human impulses and worldly trends. We have to be properly

guarded against this tendency that is quite common and strong, and

even irresistible.

  

            When our will is conformed to the Holy Spirit, our

passions can be both fiery and tender, intense and delicate.