What Women Want

Listening to God speaking in our hearts

10/09/2022

Lk 17:11-19 As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."

One of the hardest things to figure out, but also one of the most important things, is what God wants. Now, why is that so important? Well, because God made us, and so he knows better than anyone, even better than we ourselves, what paths in life will lead us to the greatest happiness. Figuring out what God wants is even more important than figuring out “What Women Want” like that Mel Gibson movie many years ago. Although, most of us spend far more time trying to figure out what women want, even women do.

Three pastors were discussing how they decide how much of the Sunday collection to allocate to God and church use and how much should be for their own personal use. The first said, “It is simple. I put everything on the table, close my eyes and pray, Then I toss everything in the air, and whatever lands on the table is for God and whatever lands on the floor is for me.” The second said, “I draw a round circle around me. Whatever falls inside the circle is for God, and whatever falls outside the circle is for me.”

The third one who had been listening carefully did not appreciate how they tried to take control of what really belongs to God. He explained how he divided things: “I do not use a table or a circle. After a prayer I take everything and toss it in the air. And all that belongs to God ascendeth.” Those three pastors would be more successful trying to figure out what women want than what God wants. But still, that was the question they were trying ineptly to answer: what does God want?

Today is Sunday, but it is also October 9th and the feast day of one of my favorite saints, John Henry Newman. Newman also desired deeply to discover what God wants. And then when he figured out God’s will, he made some huge changes in his life and at a very steep cost. He was one of the most well-respected and most learned Anglican priests in the 19th century. But through his fearless study of Scripture, the early Church Fathers, and Church history, he came to one inescapable conclusion.

The Church that Jesus Christ founded was the Roman Catholic Church, not the Church of England. And what did Newman do about that? He promptly gave up his pride, his prestige, and his professorship at Oxford, and became a Catholic in 1845. Newman tackled a lot of tough questions as an Anglican and as a Catholic, but behind them all was the most important question of all: What does God want? That question consumed Newman, and it should consume all of us. That burning question should lie behind all our other questions.

The main way Newman discovered what God wants was by listening attentively to his conscience. When he became a cardinal, his motto was “cor ad cor loquitur,” which means “heart speaks to heart.” God’s heart speaks to our heart. In other words, the best place to hear God’s voice is in the stillness and silence of our heart. The Catechism basically repeats Newman when it describes our conscience: “His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths” (no. 1776). John Henry Newman was not worried about what women want but what God wants. And he found the clearest answer to that million-dollar-question in his heart, where “cor ad cor loquitur”. God’s heart speaks to our heart.

Let me give you a concrete example of how we listen to God speaking in our heart and discover what God wants. Every year in September I welcome a new class of potential converts to Catholicism in our RCIA class. This is the same step that St. John Henry Newman took in 1845 to become a Catholic. I mention to them that they all have good reasons to explore more about the Catholic religion. Maybe they like coming to Mass, or their children attend Catholic schools, or they have studied Church history or have read Catholic saints and scholars. All those are good reasons, but they are not the best reason to become Catholic. Why not?

Well, the best reason to become a Catholic is if each person hears God’s voice in their heart prompting them to take that step. And each person must listen for that voice himself or herself. No one else can tell you what God wants. That is your sanctuary where you are alone with God. No one else is there with you in your depths. The best reason to become a Catholic is the best reason to do anything: because you think God wants you to. Why?

Well, because one day we will all die and stand before the judgment seat of God. And he will ask us to explain why we did all those things on earth. And the only good answer on that great and terrible day will be if we can honestly say, “Well, Lord, I thought you wanted me to.” In other words, I tried to discover and do what God wants with my life. No other answer will sound even half-way as good as that.

Today on October 9, the feast of St. John Henry Newman, let us ask for his prayers to have the same courage and conviction to listen to God speaking in our hearts and to do what God wants. And by the way, in the end, that is what all women will want, too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!