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Following what God wants you to do

By Father Dennis Meinen
View from the scooter

A long time ago I was going to give a talk to a woman’s organization, and for some reason I was using the word “Jacuzzi.” At that time the computer didn’t recognize the word. Know what word it suggested? The word means “a male donkey.” Many years before that, a group of experts developed a computer program to translate texts from one language to another. After extensive work, they were sure they had it right, so they typed in the very first text ever to be translated by a computer. It was a familiar text from scripture: “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the computer printed out the translation which read as follows: “The liquor’s still good, but the meat’s gone bad.”
 
Life is a struggle, from beginning to end, not just those working with computers. Those who are disabled know that few things ever come easy. At the beginning of life we strain hard to stand upright without anybody holding onto us. At the end of life we’re back to the very same task. If your disability involves walking or standing you deal with that every day. And in between, the struggles are laid end to end: some choose marriage, raising kids, finding their life’s work. Sometimes people with a disability feel their disability limits what their mission in life will be. I love this prayer by Thomas Merton Thomas, a 20th century Trappist Monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky. He was also a poet, social activist and student of comparative religion and a Catholic writer. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. Merton’s prayer describes his search to discover what God wanted him to do in life. It’s a prayer for anyone who is searching for the meaning of their existence.

Thomas Merton (From Thoughts in Solitude)
 
My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really understand myself.
And the fact that I think I am following
Your will does not mean I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.
And I hope I have the desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the
right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may
seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear for you are ever with me and
you will never leave me to face my troubles alone.