As Catholics, we might take it for granted that we understand what the will of God is. It’s a phrase bandied about frequently, especially in circles of those who are truly pursuing God’s design for their lives. It is certainly a phrase I heard and used often in the days before I met and married my husband, it was the perennial question on my mind - what is God’s will for my life and how can I know it in a deep, profound, and confident way? Saints have written frequently on the subject. The most common prayer of all - the Our Father - explicitly mentions, “Thy will be done.” The will of God being accomplished is constantly on the mind of the faithful. 

Servant of God Cora Evans was born into a Mormon family and was married to a Mormon man until their later conversions some 10 years into their marriage. Cora tells Brother Edward Behan, as recorded in Introduction ot the Life and Writings of Cora Evans, that she did not understand what the phrase “will of God” meant when she became a Catholic. It was not a phrase in the Mormon handbook. 

The Church distinguishes the will of God in two ways - the sovereign (also known as active) will of God and the passive will of God. The sovereign will of God is that which God ordains and designs in an explicit, orderly, loving way - how He built all of creation and His loving plan for each and every human person. The passive will of God is how we understand the fact that an all-loving, all-knowing, all-good God allows evil things to happen. He permits evil to happen only because He can and does bring greater good out of that which is evil. He does not will evil things to happen, but He does permit them because He respects our free will and because He can bring good out of evil situations. Just as God lovingly built the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve, He also permitted them to choose evil. His plan of salvation has been the long-reaching plan of love to draw us back to Himself. The question of evil and free will is not an uncomplicated one. For deeper insights on the mysterious and stark realities of the providence of God turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church nos 302-314. 

According to Brother Behan, Cora Evans was bothered long into her life as a Catholic by what exactly the phrase “the will of God” meant. Then one day she was meditating on the passive will of God and received a vision which she wrote down and later shared a copy of the manuscript with Brother Behan, recounted in his book. Cora discusses struggling with the permissive will of Jesus, allowing people the freedom to be disobedient to His will directly or through the obedience they ought to have towards superiors. She then records words of Christ to her on this very subject that are eye-opening, part of which is recorded below: 

“ ‘Obedience is proportionate to all men, but is governed according to grace that has been built on understanding and knowledge. This higher grace of justice and its laws that I frequently give to contemplatives is above the simple faith of mercy. In the oceans of time there are many kinds of water and many different channels. Yet everything in the ocean and that which enters into it makes up the ocean. Let us use this as the figure of My visible Church on earth. You as a lay person represent the breakers along the coast. Because you have not taken the vows of obedience you have not killed zeal - you are not expected to be tested with great restraint….Zealous persons make many mistakes, but always there is good done when the motive is for My glory. I allow for this kind of zeal. My Church in the early ages made many great strides in conversions and faiths because there were no restrictions or restraints given to bodies of people. But now the world is in such warfare with real life and freedom, evil has become a force in its way of knowledge and understanding. In order to combat its effects, I have instituted dynamos of religious orders whose combined efforts of willful restraint offer Me glory and power which I am free to use for the good of the world. Their restraint in numbers is power and of that power you as a lay person receive for the doing of good and furthering zeal as the breakers of the sea. That which pushed the breakers was the depth, power, and calmness of the sea at its center. In that sea of time there are orders of nuns, brothers, and priests who came under the bands or laws of restraint that you may reach over the beach to new lands even though you cause a roughness and storm to do so, but even storms subside into the peace of a calm Sea….Faith has effects - a rose bud unfolds either outdoors on a rugged bush or in a sheltered hothouse. Their laws of life are not the same even though they resemble one another. One rose has a fragrance because of zeal to entice, while the other fragrance is dead that I might use its fragrance through the channels of Heaven to the earth according to My will. I do not give a cross too great to bear; if one will only analyze the different states in life, they see the logic and reason why I give to one and take from another the precious gift of zeal. When a cross is so great as to cause the questioning of faith, it is not from Me for I do not tempt anyone into evil. Analyze the states of life before you act, lest you accuse me of evil.’ “ 

Jesus is here emphasizing to Cora that His will is accomplished differently in the different states of life. It is more fitting for lay persons to overflow with zeal and do more outlandish things to spread the faith than it is for priests and religious to do so. When Cora was tempted to question aspects of the faith, including devotions and differing dispositions, she was reminded here by Our Lord that His will is accomplished through many different channels of His grace. He gives different graces as He sees fit, and not as we might see fit. It might shock a lay person to understand the strict obedience that priests and religious have committed themselves to. It might be unfitting for a priest or religious to behave with zealous abandon in the same manner as a lay person. God grants differing  graces and demands different things from His faithful according to His will, as He sees fitting and right. When wondering how another in the Church could possibly be doing that, we must first ask: are they behaving according to the Will of God? This is of utmost importance. Servant of God Cora Evans and the Church’s tradition bring us to a closer understanding of the will of God, both passive and active, and how we ought to understand our part in helping His will come to pass.