Wisdom from Fulton Sheen, Peter Kreeft, and St. Francis deSales

I  recently read a quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen that made me laugh. "The proud man counts his newspaper clippings; the humble man his blessings."

And then the insight....Omigosh! How many bloggers count their visit statistics and views?

Mea culpa! Mea culpa! Mea maxima culpa!

Some days I think about throwing up my hands, deleting my blog, retiring my newsletter and saying with St. Thomas Aquinas, "It's all straw." Actually, if Thomas' magnificent writings were straw, mine are the poop-covered shavings from the chicken coop...or the waste products on the bottom board of the bee hive.

So why do I keep on? Should I? Does my blog please God? Are my thoughts His thoughts....even imperfectly?

I think I'll take that question to adoration this week.

Is blogging what Jesus and Mary want from me among my other activities? Surely, it keeps me reading and studying the faith and that's a good thing. But is it earning me more time in Purgatory rather than leading me and others closer to God?

Is there something that the Lord is whispering in my ear that I miss because my head (and heart) are so filled with my own thoughts?

Please pray for me. More and more my daily petition is, Please, Lord, conform my will to yours. I know it's not well-conformed, because I see my own lack of charity every day "in what I have done and what I have failed to do." It is not enough to desire something; one has to follow through. So how do I conform my will more closely to God's?

Dr. Peter Kreeft

That is one of those philosophical questions that will last a lifetime.

Peter Kreeft is one of my favorite modern writers and he offers advice for discerning God's will. I'll run off his article, Discernment – How can I learn God’s Will for me?, and take it with me to study during adoration tonight.

But the saints seem to me to be the best guides, and I have numerous shelves filled with their writings. So I will take a journey through my bookshelves visiting with many of them to see what they have to say about discernment. No doubt St. John Bosco had a dream to help with the answer and Joan of Arc certainly sought God's will from her voices. The Father's of the Church and the founders of monasticism are so wise.

St. Francis de Sales

I think I will turn initially to one my first spiritual guides, St. Francis de Sales. I think if I asked him how to grow in discerning God's will, he would point to the virtue of humility. "Humility drives away Satan and keeps the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit safe within us." [Introduction to the Devout Life] And it is the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that will help us dwell in God's will. Humility says to God, "Thy will be done." Perhaps that's all we need.....Certainly it is a good beginning!