THE PRACTICE OF CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
Taken from "Preparation for Death" by St Alphonsus de Liguroi,
Bishop and Doctor of the Church (page 450)

All sanctity consists in loving God; and the love of God consists in
fulfilling his holy will. In this is our life: "And life in His good
will." (Ps. xxix.6) And he who is always united with the will of God
is always in peace; for the divine will takes away the bitterness of
every cross. By saying, God wills it so, God has so willed, holy
souls find peace in all their labors: "Whatsoever shall befall the
just man, it shall not make him sad." (Prov. xii.27) You say:
Everything goes wrong with me; God sends me all kinds of misfortunes.
Things go wrong with you, my friend, because you make them go wrong;
if you were to be resigned to the will of God, all would go well, and
for your good. The crosses which God sends you are misfortunes,
because you make them misfortunes; if you would take them with
resignation, they would no longer be misfortunes, but riches for
paradise. Ven. Balthazar Alvarez says: "He who in his troubles
resigns himself with peacefulness to the divine will, runs to God
post-haste." Let us now come to the practice.

And first, let us resign ourselves in the sicknesses which befall us.
Worldly people call illnesses misfortunes, but the saints call them
visitations of God and favors. When we are ill we ought certainly to
take remedies in order to be cured, but we should always be resigned
to whatever God disposes. And if we pray for restoration to heath,
let it always be done with resignation, otherwise we shall not obtain
the favor. But how much do we not gain when we are ill by offering to
God all we suffer! He who loves God from his heart does not desire to
be cured of his illness in order not to suffer, but he desires to
please God by suffering. It was this love which made the scourge, the
rack, and the burning pitch sweet to the holy martyrs. We must also be
especially resigned in mortal sickness. To accept death at such a
time, in order that the will of God may be fulfilled, merits for us a
reward similar to that of the martyrs, because they accepted death to
please God. He who dies in union with the will of God makes a holy
death; and the more closely he is united to it, the more holy death
does he die. The Venerable Blosius declares that an act of perfect
conformity to the will of God at the hour of death not only delivers
us from hell, but also from purgatory.*

Secondly, we must also unite ourselves to the will of God with regard
to our natural defects, as want of talents, being of low birth, weak
health, bad sight, want of ability for affairs, and the like. All
that we have is the free gift of God. Might he not have made us a fly
or a blade of grass? A hundred years ago were we anything but
nothingness? And what more do we want? Let it suffice that God has
given us the power of becoming saints. Although we may have little
talent, poor health, and may be poor and abject, we may very well
become saints through his grace if we have the will. Oh, how many
unfortunate beings have been damned on account of their talents,
their health, high birth, riches or beauty? Let us then be content
with what God has done for us; and let us thank him always for the
good things he has given us, and particularly for having called us to
the holy faith; this is a great gift, and one for which few are found
to thank God.

Thirdly, we must resign ourselves in all adversities that may happen
to us, as the loss of property, of our expectations, of our
relatives; and in the attacks and persecutions we may meet with from
men. You will say: But God does not will sin; how is it that I must
resign myself when some one calumniates me, wrongs me, attacks and
defrauds me? That cannot happen by the will of God. What a deception
is this! God does not will the sin of such a one; he permits it: but,
on the other hand, he does will the adversity which you suffer by
means of this person. So that it is our Lord himself who sends you
that cross, though it comes to you by means of your neighbor;
therefore even in these cases you must embrace the cross as coming
from God. Nor let us seek to find out a reason for such treatment.
St. Teresa says: "If you are willing to bear only those crosses for
which you see a reason, perfection is not for you.

Fourthly, we must be resigned in aridity of soul; if, when we say our
prayers, make our Communions, visit the Blessed Sacrament, etc. All
seems to weary and give us not comfort, let us be satisfied in
knowing that we please God, and that the less satisfaction we feel
ourselves in our devotions the more pleasure do we give him. At no
time can we know better our own insufficiency and misery than in the
time of aridity; and therefore let us humble ourselves in our
prayers, and put ourselves with resignation into God's hands, and
say: "Lord, I do not deserve consolations; I desire nothing but that
Thou have pity on me; keep me in Thy grace and do with me what Thou
wilt." And so doing, we shall gain more in one day of desolation than
in a month of tears and sensible devotion. And generally speaking,
this should be the continual tenor of our prayers, offering ourselves
to God, that he may do with us as he pleases; saying to him in our
prayers, our Communions, and in the visit: "My God, make me do Thy
will." In doing the will of God we shall do everything. For this end
let us accustom ourselves to have always on our lips the ejaculation:
"Fiat voluntas tua! "Thy will be done," even in the least things we
do; for instance, if we snuff out a candle, break a glass, or stumble
over something, let us always repeat; "May the will of God be done!"
When we lose an y of our possessions, or when on of our relatives
dies, or anything else of the same sort happens to us, let us say: "O
Lord, it is Thy will, it is my will also." And when we fear any
temporal ill, let us say: "O Lord, I will whatever Thou willest."
Thus we shall be very pleasing in the sight of God, and shall be
always in peace.