This is the time of year when most people set goals or make commitments for the new year. A spiritual goal for me has always been and continues to be “may God’s will be done.”
Like most people, I have a choice of making decisions according to my own free will or asking God for help on a spiritual path toward salvation. As Catholics, do most of us actually follow this way of living, or do we just go through the motions in hopes that spiritual guidance will magically follow?
After reading various newspaper articles and viewing comments made by extended family members on Facebook, I have become more and more cynical about the choices some young people are making regarding relationships and commitments made in everyday living. Because we have the right to make choices according to our own free will, we can choose to get married or cohabitate, have children in or out of wedlock, marry in or outside the Church, raise our children Catholic or not, and stay married or get divorced. Can young people today honestly say the choices they make are well thought-out and include God’s will in their decision-making process?
Yes, we are all given the gift of free will and have the right to make choices in our lives, but don’t we also have a spiritual obligation to follow the will of God? Free will and God’s will can work together only if we honestly seek a spiritual path toward salvation.
Jim Harder
Davenport
