The Question
I have learned so much already from this course and am sharing some of what I am learning with my Lectio Divina group of six Catholic women. We do not ask the Lord, “What do You want me to do?” We ask, “What do You desire to say personally to me?”
Since February, some of us have received a word of comfort which has brought tears and a sense of His love and presence for specific situations in our lives. Sometimes He asks us to act, sometimes He heals or teaches.
We are not reflecting on the passage itself; we remain open and receptive, leaving plenty of silence between the readings during silent prayer. We know the Holy Spirit is our spiritual guide, and He decides what to reveal, just as the Risen Christ speaks personally to us. For all of us, this approach has also changed the way we attend Mass. I am just wondering why we are taught to pray, “What do You want me to do?” rather than “What do You want to say to me?”
Summary: The question highlights a tension between listening to God and actively responding in obedience.
Answer
Hearing and Doing: The Mystery of the Incarnation
When we ask, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”, it is not merely about action. It touches the very mystery of the Incarnation: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The Word always seeks to become flesh — not only to be heard, but to be lived.
We have both a mind and a will, and prayer engages both. We are not meant to remain passive before the Word. To His friends, Jesus says: “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15). To the friend, He shares His thought so that the friend may also share His action.
Summary: True friendship with God engages both mind and will — listening alone is not enough.
The Model of Jesus: Obedience and Collaboration
Jesus teaches us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), and “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Doing the Father’s will and receiving the Word as daily nourishment belong together.
He reveals the dynamic of divine collaboration: “My Father is still working, and I also am working” (John 5:17). “The Son can do nothing on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). In God, saying is doing — “For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm”(Psalm 33:9).
The Son’s keenness to do the Father’s will is expressed in Hebrews: “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book’” (Hebrews 10:7). Jesus did not come merely to speak, but to do God’s will in full obedience and love.
Summary: Jesus’ life models full collaboration with the Father — words are inseparable from action.
Scripture and Practice: Obedience as Love
Jesus says, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46), and Saint James echoes this: “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive yourselves” (James 1:22).
The parable of the two sons illustrates this truth: “A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” (Matthew 21:28–31). The one who acts according to the Father’s will is the true son.
The human being is mind and will, inseparably. God shares His life with us — light and dunamis (power). Light enlightens our mind; dunamis energises our will. This is the full incarnation of an uttered Word — contemplation becoming collaboration.
Summary: Obedience is inseparable from love; God’s Word must shape both mind and will.
Mary: The Perfect Model of Listening and Doing
In Luke and John, the challenge is to receive a Word from Jesus and put it into practice. Mary exemplifies this. She seeks understanding: “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34), in order to collaborate fully with her mind and will. Her final response expresses love and obedience: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
At Cana, she instructs the servants: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). Love enters the divine dunamis — coming out of oneself into God’s action — and draws us into participation with His life.
Summary: Mary models the perfect integration of listening, understanding, and acting in God’s will.
The Synergy of Mind, Will, and Word
From God’s side, we are saved by Jesus’ human will, as affirmed by Pope St Martin I: salvation is accomplished through the obedience of His human will united to the divine. From our side, we are saved by putting His will into practice — a Word inseparably light and love, illumination for our mind and dunamis for our will. The diagram of mind and will (see below and in the book also) helps us understand the true meaning of the first demand: “What do You want from me — what do You want me to do?”
Asking, “What do You want me to do?” allows the Word to reach our will, not only our understanding. It draws us into God’s activity, restoring the purpose of our creation: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26). We are called to collaborate with Him — con-labour — as partners and friends.
Summary: Full participation with God requires engaging mind, will, and action together.
Conclusion: Hearing and Doing
Your question — “What do You desire to say personally to me?” — expresses the first movement of listening.The question “What do You want me to do?” — implicitly expresses the first movement and explicitly focuses on the second: the incarnation of Jesus’ Word in our life. Both belong together: hearing and doing, understanding his will and putting it into practise.
The way we frame the request determines the purpose of Lectio Divina and prevents the kind of random or unfocused fruitfulness that too often occurs.
Note: a new knowledge, involving mind and will, is born as a result of the experience of putting His Will/Word into practise (see this article: The Nature of Contemplation in Lectio Divina)
Through this synergy between Jesus’ Word and Spirit and our mind and will, the Word becomes flesh within us, transforming mind and will, and enabling us to participate fully in God’s ongoing work in the world.
Lectio Divina is placed under the daily necessity of conversion and transformation. When practised properly, it possesses such transformative power that it becomes the most powerful means of prayer and sanctification.
Summary: True spiritual life requires both attentive listening and concrete obedience; the Word transforms only when mind and will act together.
Read also
– Finished and Unfinished Lectio Divina. How The General Light Becomes Clear
– How The Grace Of God Works In Lectio Divina
– The Space We Dig In Ourselves