Being Docile to Jesus’ Warnings

Divine Appeal Reflection - 191

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 191:  "I call souls to be docile to My warnings. Time is coming when souls will want and long to hear My words but they will not."

Docility begins when the soul allows truth to have the final word. Our Adorable Jesus is not calling souls merely to hear more religious words; He is calling them to become inwardly pliable before grace. A docile heart does not ask first, “Do I like this?” but, “Lord, what are You asking me to receive, surrender or change?” One of Scripture's remarkable examples is King Josiah. When the forgotten Book of the Law was discovered in the Temple, the king did not treat the discovery as historical information; he allowed the Word to judge the condition of the nation, tore his garments and sought God's direction (cf. 2 Kgs 22:8–13). Yet the answer came through Huldah,(cf. 2 Kgs 22:14–20) a woman prophet whose voice the king's officials received with seriousness . Docility is the mystical poverty of allowing God to speak through whatever instrument He chooses, even when the messenger is beneath our rank, younger than ourselves, or carrying no human authority . A bishop may learn from a poor parishioner, a professor from a student, a father from a child, or a superior from a junior member of the community. Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian servant overlooked by the powerful,(cf. Jer 38:7–13) perceived an injustice others had tolerated and risked himself to rescue Jeremiah . His humility did not make him passive; it made him available to truth. Samuel had to learn that God's voice could come through a person he had not expected, (cf. 1 Sam 3:8–10; 2 Kgs 5:10–14) while Naaman had to receive healing through instructions delivered by servants rather than through his own preferred manner of being healed . The Catechism(cf. CCC 1776–1782) teaches that conscience must be formed according to truth and faithfully followed . Thus, docility is not surrendering discernment, but surrendering the ego's demand to control how truth must arrive. The soul becomes spiritually dangerous when it hears Scripture without allowing Scripture(cf. Heb 4:12–13; Jas 1:22–25) to judge its thoughts, motives, attachments, and excuses . True docility is deeper than listening: it is permitting Divine Truth to enter, disturb, purify, and rearrange the interior world until the soul can honestly pray, “Speak, Lord; Your servant is listening” .

The Appeal becomes more searching when the warning of God arrives through the very word our wounded self refuses to receive. Micaiah stood before Ahab as an almost solitary witness,(cf. 1 Kgs 22:6–28) refusing to convert prophecy into royal reassurance . Ahab was not deprived of revelation;(cf. 2 Tim 4:3–4; Jer 6:16–17) he was imprisoned by his preference for voices that protected his desires . This is one of the deepest dangers of the spiritual life:(cf. Isa 30:9–11; Jn 3:19–21) the soul can surround itself with information about God while secretly constructing a world in which God is permitted to speak only what confirms it . The executive who dismisses reports of humiliation, the priest who rejects painful pastoral feedback, the husband who refuses to see how his silence wounds his wife, the superior who interprets every concern as rebellion, and the young Catholic who repeatedly returns to content that inflames impurity or contempt are not necessarily lacking warnings;(cf. Prov 12:15; 15:31–32; Ps 141:5) they may be resisting the grace hidden within the warning . Samuel had to become still enough to recognise a voice he did not initially understand, while Naaman had to accept healing through instructions that offended his expectations (cf. 1 Sam 3:7–10; 2 Kgs 5:10–14). Thus docility is a form of spiritual poverty:(cf. Ps 139:23–24; Lam 3:40) allowing Divine Truth to enter places where the ego has already pronounced judgment . St. Catherine of Siena repeatedly joins humility with truthful self-knowledge before God;(cf. CCC 2559) the Catechism likewise places humility at the beginning of prayer because prayer begins when the soul abandons the illusion of self-sufficiency . The proud soul wants God to reveal Himself without revealing the soul; the docile soul permits the Word to become a sword that separates truth from self-deception (cf. Heb 4:12–13). Sometimes Our Adorable Jesus wounds our self-image because He is touching the deeper wound beneath it. His correction may feel like rejection, yet secretly it can be mercy; His rebuke may feel like loss, yet it can be liberation; His truth may humble us, yet that very humility can become the doorway through which Divine Love finally reaches what pride had sealed away . The most dangerous soul is therefore not the one that never hears God's warning, but the one that hears it clearly and continually explains it away .

Another extraordinary biblical school of docility appears in the daughters of Zelophehad. They approached Moses with a genuine difficulty concerning their family's inheritance (cf. Num 27:1–7). Moses did not defend his authority, improvise an answer, or conceal his uncertainty;(cf. Num 27:5–7; Ex 18:19) he brought their question before the Lord, and God gave light . Here authority becomes contemplative:(cf. Deut 17:8–11; Jas 1:5) the true leader is not diminished by admitting that he must listen, because his authority itself remains beneath the greater authority of God . Spiritual maturity therefore means knowing not only when to speak, but when to become silent before a truth arriving through another person . A priest may need to say, “I need to pray about this”; a parent may admit to an adult child, “I was wrong”; a superior may reconsider a decision after listening to the community; a doctor may seek another specialist rather than protect professional pride; a catechist may discover that a teenager's question exposes a deeper weakness in his explanation of the faith; a husband may finally recognise through his wife's perception what he could not see himself . Elihu waited before speaking, acknowledging that wisdom is not automatically possessed by the young or the old,(cf. Job 32:6–14; 38:1–4; 42:1–6) while the entire drama of Job ultimately teaches that human understanding must bow before the mystery of God . The Catechism (cf. CCC 88–95) likewise holds together fidelity to the Church's teaching authority and the responsibility of the faithful to receive, understand, and transmit the truth . St. Benedict begins his spiritual path with attentive listening, because obedience first requires a heart capable of receiving (cf. Jas 1:19–22; Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue). Sometimes Our Adorable Jesus does not need to send another revelation; He needs to remove the pride that prevents us from recognising the wisdom already standing before us . The deepest authority is therefore not the power to have the final word, but the humility to remain beneath the Word . 

Docility is tested most deeply when God's answer contradicts our preferred timetable. The Shunammite woman received a son as an unexpected gift,(cf. 2 Kgs 4:8–17, 18–37) only to carry his sudden death into the mystery of God's silence . Her faith does not offer a formula that every tragedy will be reversed;(cf. Hab 3:17–19; Job 13:15) it reveals something more profound—the soul can cling to God even when it cannot understand what God is doing . Paul likewise records that Trophimus remained sick at Miletus, (cf. 2 Tim 4:20) showing that apostolic faith does not require pretending that every suffering will receive the outcome we desire . Timothy's recurring weakness(cf. 1 Tim 5:23) was met with practical pastoral care rather than a simplistic promise of miraculous healing . Docility therefore means allowing God to remain God when His answer is different from our request . A couple may pray for a child and remain in years of waiting; a missionary may labour for conversion and see little fruit; a sick person may pray for healing yet receive grace to walk faithfully through treatment; a priest may plead for reconciliation while another remains unwilling; a young person may surrender a desired vocation when Providence closes that door . The docile soul does not immediately interpret every closed door as divine rejection;(cf. Acts 16:6–10; Jn 21:18–22) it asks, “Lord, what does fidelity look like here?” . St. Francis de Sales taught patient cooperation with Providence, while St. Thérèse revealed the immense apostolic value of hidden fidelity. The deepest docility is therefore not understanding God's plan, but remaining lovingly available within it (cf. Prov 3:5–6; Lk 1:38). It is loving God when Providence refuses to explain itself, trusting that hidden does not mean absent, and delayed does not mean forgotten (cf. Ps 13:1–6; Jn 20:29; CCC 305–314).

The final warning—that souls may eventually long to hear God's word and yet not hear it—can be understood as the terrible harvest of repeatedly refusing present grace . The tragedy of the rich man and Lazarus is therefore deeper than wealth versus poverty: Lazarus lay at his gate, repeatedly within the reach of his mercy,(cf. Lk 16:19–31; 1 Jn 3:17–18) yet his suffering remained invisible to a heart gradually sealed by indifference . When the rich man finally desires a warning for his brothers, the earthly moment for responding to grace has passed. The Bereans reveal the opposite disposition: they received the Word eagerly while examining it carefully in Scripture (cf. Acts 17:10–12; 1 Jn 4:1), showing that authentic docility unites openness with discernment . They neither hardened themselves against the Word nor surrendered their minds uncritically; (cf. Heb 4:12–13) they allowed truth to search them while humbly seeking its light . The Syrophoenician woman reveals another mystery: she encountered a response she could not immediately understand (cf. Mk 7:24–30; Mt 15:21–28), (cf. Ps 27:13–14; Rom 8:24–25) yet refused to allow apparent rejection to extinguish her trust . She remained at the threshold of mercy when she could not yet understand the manner in which mercy was moving. Thus, docility sometimes means remaining beneath a word until its hidden grace becomes visible . Docility therefore does not mean surrendering reason; it means surrendering the pride that makes our own judgment the final court . Spiritual deafness often begins quietly: forgiveness postponed, a habit excused, Confession delayed, prayer continually displaced, reconciliation deferred . Repeated resistance can gradually dull the conscience (cf. 1 Tim 4:1–2). The Catechism(cf. CCC 1428) therefore presents conversion as a continual call requiring an ever-deeper response to grace . The Divine Appeal therefore speaks with urgency: do not wait until you long for a voice you are presently resisting. If Scripture unsettles you, remain beneath its light (cf. Heb 4:12–13); if conscience exposes an attachment, surrender it (cf. Ps 139:23–24); if correction wounds your pride, receive it prayerfully (cf. Prov 12:1); if Christ asks forgiveness, obey ; if charity interrupts your plans, recognise the interruption as an opportunity for love . The docile soul remains spiritually alive because it never merely hears God's Word—it continually allows the Word to become flesh in its life .

Prayer

Our Adorable Jesus, make our hearts humble, attentive, and docile before Your truth . Give us courage to receive correction, wisdom to discern Your warnings, and patience when Your answers differ from ours . Preserve us from hardened hearts, and turn every interruption into deeper conversion, love, and fidelity . Amen.

Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.