A prayer to know God’s will—and carry it out

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He has given his life over to God as definitively as anyone I know. He wakes up every morning and immediately prays for, as he puts it, “knowledge of God’s will and the power to carry that out.” And he takes God’s direction seriously. (And not that simple: St. Ignatius set down more than 20 rules, methods and steps for discerning spirits, for understanding God’s will. But God’s word, God’s will, is knowable. Following the will of God has not yoked him to a capricious power casting him hither and yon.