May we all grow in doing God's will this year

I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that you are refreshed and renewed as we enter 2022.
We often try to make a new beginning in a new year. We try to be better spouses, better parents, better sons/daughters, better employees, better bosses, etc. I would like to propose a simple approach recommended by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Jan. 4  was her feast day. She was an Anglican and was a married mother of five. She was subsequently widowed and later converted to Catholicism. In one of her letters she gives simple advice to the sisters who joined the order that she had started.
She advises the sisters that in their daily duties they should do the will of God. Simple enough to say and it is certainly clear advice, but how often do we ask ourselves, “Is this the will of God?” And I mean do we ask that question when we are faced with mundane choices from our daily life? I tend to think of “seeking God’s will” as an exercise reserved for “spiritual things.” But in reality the decision I make about whether to empty the dishwasher or leave it for someone else is precisely the kind of decision that determines whether or not I am doing God’s will. Getting to work on time, how I treat people in the store, my willingness to give my time to my children, spouse or stranger … these are all the true measure of whether I am doing God’s will. 
St. Elizabeth Ann then expounds just a bit and tells the sisters that she knows the will of God through those who direct her. 
For those of us who are laity this does not involve a religious superior, but it does involve those choices I have committed myself to. In other words, I made commitments to my wife and my children. Those commitments are binding on me. When I fulfill my duties as a husband and father I am doing God’s will.
St. Elizabeth Ann also advises that we do the will of God in the manner that God wants it done. I love to do things my way. I am quick to make exceptions for myself from rules I don’t like.  I have to learn to be humble and do things the way God wants them done.
May we all grow in doing God’s will this year!
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected] 
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