We live in an era where many people crown their feelings as king of their lives. Feelings are everything, the tyrant that rules all. If a man feels like a woman or a woman like a man, they send for the surgeons and the shrinks to affirm and confirm their unreality because it feels so right. For them right and wrong are determined by feelings. As the song says, "It can't be wrong when it feels so right." Feelings justify fornication and adultery, cutting off friends and family, seeking revenge and punishing those who hurt your feelings.
God gave us our feelings. Why? Because they move us to compassion and love. They touch us at a deep level. Think of feelings aroused by viewing a glorious sunset or studying a work of art or listening to a Bach concerto. But feelings can also move us to hatred and revenge, to injure someone or fuel a grudge.
Feelings themselves are neither bad nor good. What counts is what we do with those feelings. And that is where the sheepdog, our conscience, comes into play. The sheepdog corrals the feelings and turns to its master, the will. Feelings that run wild can destroy: health, relationships, good decision-making, etc. Feelings, under the control of the will, can stimulate acts of love and charity, even toward our "enemies."
At Christmas we hear the balderdized version of good will with the reversal of God's message of peace on earth to "men of good will." Those who see God as the Pillsbury Dough Boy say God wishes "good will to men." Of course, God always has good will toward His creation, but that verse is a prophecy. Those who are of good will inherit peace because they conform their wills to God's. Even suffering becomes a source of grace and peace. Those who do not act in good will: liars, adulterers, sodomites, thieves, apostates, etc. will not experience peace in the long run, even if they feel happy today as they enjoy their sins.
In Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint Jure, S.J. writes:
It is not what we feel that prepares us for God's grace, but the act of our will, and this act is not one of feeling. It may well be accompanied by pleasurable sentiments, but this adds nothing to the merit of it. In the sight of God the absence of this sentiment or even the presence of contrary ones which we do not with to have in no way minimizes the value of the act itself.
Let us realize this fact, that prayer has no need of feeling in order to be of value. It consists solely in the movement of the will towards God, and by its nature this movement has nothing to do with feeling. God's grace operates in us in the same way.
Feelings can fool us into thinking we are holy because we feel so close to God or that we are evil because we don't. We need to sheepdog our feelings and let the master of masters train our will so it is conformed to His.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.
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