If you want a talent that will make it incredibly "less difficult" to love then it must be Counsel. The supernatural ability to know the right thing to do for another person almost instantly. The right thing to do in a particular case.
Think about your instincts. How many times are you right? How many times are you wrong? Is the answer 50/50? Love, and the practice of love towards your fellow man rather than a grasping at material things can start to clear the air and allow the gift of counsel to shine out in us.
This is due to the fact that we have been "clearing the cobwebs" so to speak so that we may make decisions based on what the other person needs. This is helpful because when we make decisions, we would like for our first instinct to be the right one. When our first desire to is to truly sacrifice for another person rather than to consume material things, then we find ourselves uplifted by the very ability to sacrifice.
Oftentimes when we find that we are drained, that sacrificing for others leaves us out of balance, then we need to pray for the gift of counsel. The ability to make the best decision at the time is something that can only come as a gift from God but if we do not ask for it, how are we able to receive it? Sure, God may give it spontaneously, but it might help to ask.
It might be good to reflect on past decisions and to think about what your first reaction is. Were you able to take into account all of the factors at that one moment? Most likely you were not able to. You did the best you could with what you had at the time. Our experience in life helps us to develop this gift. The more of life that we experience, the more certain results and behaviors are drilled into our heads. We may cheat on our taxes when we are younger, but after getting audited a few times, we develop counsel to do the right thing when April comes around, almost instinctively.
When it comes to our fellow man this gift becomes a little more difficult. This is because human beings are not taxes. Human beings are more complex than numbers and more complex than objective decisions. Each human being is distinct with a history and a soul and gifts that we can't possibly understand immediately so as to give the person exactly what they need at that moment.
That is why we find ourselves expending energy on a great number of things hoping that one of those things is what the person needs in order to go to heaven.
I do it all the time. I will be engaged in a conversation and think that I have the right thing to say to the person and I will continue to talk my way around the issue, thinking that I am giving the person the advice that they need when the truth is they don't want my advice. They simply need an ear to listen to them. It is my own lack of counsel that makes it difficult for me to love.
It is my own pride that prevents me from utilizing the gift of counsel.
Jesus didn't suffer from this. Jesus knew exactly what to do and say at the given moment. Read some of the cases where the scribes and the people in charge tried to trip Jesus up, tried to trap him in his words. I would have fallen for it. I would have engaged in the fight. It seemed almost too easy.
I ran into this situation in the rectory of a Church I am helping out. A man entered with the clear agenda of picking a fight. He started to rail against the Church because of everything from World War II to something that happened last week.
As I stood there listening, I started to get my "apologetics" cap on so that I could get into the fight and make him pay! He would know the truth before I was done! There was no way this guy was going to get away with making these types of statements!
My first instinct was not to simply tell him I would pray for him, but it was to make sure that he knew I knew he was wrong.
How prideful.
How greedy for glory.
Today we pray for the talent, for the gift of counsel. That God may impact our lives so that we may instinctively and supernaturally know the right course of action for the people around us. That when they come to us for advice we are able to provide them with the will of God and when we are faced with a difficult situation we are able to react with mercy and love.
Questions for Reflection:
- Do you find that your instincts are usually loving or selfish? Greedy or merciful? Why?
- Is counsel a gift that you have considered in the past? Do you feel it is something that you should learn or something that you simply receive from God?
- In what ways would your life change if you had the talent, the gift of counsel?
- Do you trust your instincts? Why or why not? Do you need to pray more to trust that your instincts are in line with what God wants?
- Who in your life do you know that has the gift of counsel? How do you see them using it? What can you do to develop your own gift of counsel?
- Write down your first instinctive reaction to three decisions today. If possible, follow up to see if those instincts are right or wrong. Pray for the ability to make the right decision.
- Talk to someone whose counsel you respect. Ask them why they are able to seemingly "know" the right thing to do. Is it something they are born with? Do they consider themselves "lucky" or "blessed"? Ask if they have any tips for developing the gift of counsel.
- Every day, try to follow your instinct just once to see how things play out. If you find that the result is often negative, pray to receive the gift of counsel so that God may allow you to act lovingly.
- Make a concerted effort to pray immediately upon the request to make a decision. Ask God specifically for the gift of counsel so that you may make the proper decision.
- Most decisions are made based on what we see and hear, but the spiritual realm is often neither. Make an effort this week to recognize the spiritual battle that is at stake between good and evil. Look into your heart to see that you desire the good. The more you choose to desire the good, the easier it will become for you to instinctively seek the good for others in all situations.
Go to Mass or read the readings for the day.
Prayer of St. Francis: (to be said in the morning)
- Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
- where there is hatred, let me sow love;
- where there is injury, pardon;
- where there is doubt, faith;
- where there is despair, hope;
- where there is darkness, light;
- and where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love;
- for it is in giving that we receive,
- it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
- Amen.
(Before talking to another person) Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
Act of Contrition: (to be said at night)
O My God, I'm heartily sorry for having offended thee. I detest all of my sins, because of thy just punishment. Most of all, because I have offended thee, My God, who art all good, and deserving of all my love, I firmly resolve, with the help of thy Grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasion of sin again, Amen.
Prayer of Counsel: (to be said before making a decision)
Direct, Lord, our counsel, following what is pleasing and acceptable in your sight, so that by exercising with devotion and in peace and gentleness, the power that you have given us, we may find favor with you.
