I’m not sure about a ‘cats crusade’…but there was a ‘children’s crusade’ in 1212. Considering the lack of any tangible success for the first four crusades, people responded to the call of a young boy to peacefully preach Christ to the Saracens of the Holy Land and thus convert them to Christianity. It subsequently lacked the momentum to even get to the Holy Land.

So can we judge ‘doing God’s Will’ in terms of external ‘successes’, and if not how do we determine ‘God’s Will’?

‘1You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

2You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

5You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

7Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

12even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.’            Psalm 139

Crucial for determining God’s Will is dwelling in what the psalmist describes as that state of being ‘fully Known’. Before ‘doing’ anything we need to dwell in that place of being fully connected to God…being immersed in prayer. Trusting in His presence ‘through us and in us’ where our focus is more on him and less on what ‘we’ are going to do with it…more of being in Gods presence and less trying to win approval…more Mary and less Martha (Luke 10:38-)…More relationship…less formula, especially in our own private time with God – our own room that Jesus requires us to enter (Matthew 6:6-8). We can be afraid of this as we fear doing nothing or doing little which will leave us with less standing in the righteousness stakes. But what we will find ourselves doing is more of Gods will and less of our own. Our spiritual energies (our ‘doing’) can be spent warding off the distractions that keep us from this primary relationship…confirming the old adage ‘less is more’.

I also think that we need confidence in the belief that our desire to please God does in fact please God…

(“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
―Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude)

…confidence that the desire of a child-like, pure, loving, humble, willing heart is one that has set the child of God on the right road in seeking and doing the will of the Father. Go forth in peace…but keep a good sword by your side (Ephesians 6 – the sword of the spirit)….’DeusVult’ spiritual warriors!!