Whoever desires to enter into the kingdom of heaven should ask of God
that His will may be done. For Christ the Lord has said: Not every one that
says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven. 1
Consequently this Petition follows immediately after the one which prays for
the kingdom of heaven.
In order that the faithful may know the necessity of this Petition and
the numerous and salutary gifts which we obtain through it, the pastor should
direct their attention to the misery and wretchedness in which the sin of Adam
has involved mankind.
From the beginning God implanted in all creatures an inborn desire of
pursuing their own happiness that, by a sort of natural impulse, they may seek
and desire their own end, from which they never deviate, unless impeded by some
external obstacle. This impulse of seeking God, the author and father of his
happiness, was in the beginning all the more noble and exalted in man because
of the fact that he was endowed with reason and judgment. But, while irrational
creatures, which, at their creation were by nature good, continued, and still
continue in that original state and condition, {a} unhappy man went astray,
and lost not only original justice, with which he had been supernaturally
gifted and adorned by God, but also obscured that singular inclination toward
virtue which had been implanted in his soul. All, He says, have gone
aside, they are become unprofitable together; there is none that doth good, no,
not one. 2 For
the imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth.
3 Hence it is not difficult to perceive that of himself no man is
wise unto salvation; that all are prone to evil; and that man has innumerable
corrupt propensities, since he tends downwards and is carried with ardent
precipitancy to anger, hatred, pride. ambition, and to almost every species of
evil.
Although man is continually beset by these evils, yet his greatest
misery is that many of these appear to him not to be evils at all. It is a
proof of the most calamitous condition of man, that he is so blinded by passion
and cupidity as not to see that what he deems salutary generally contains a
deadly poison, that he rushes headlong after those pernicious evils as if they
were good and desirable, while those things which are really good and virtuous
are shunned as the contrary. Of this false estimate and corrupt judgment of man
God thus expresses His detestation: Wo to you that call evil good, and good
evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter. 4
In order, therefore, to delineate in vivid coloring the misery of our
condition, the Sacred Scripture compares us to those who have lost their sense
of taste and who, in consequence, loathe wholesome food, and prefer that which
is unwholesome.
It also compares us to sick persons who, as long as their malady lasts,
are incapable of fulfilling the duties and offices proper to persons of sound
and vigorous health. In the same way neither can we, without the assistance of
divine grace, undertake actions such as are acceptable to God. Even should we,
while in this condition, succeed in doing anything good, it will be of little
or no avail towards attaining the bliss of heaven. But to love and serve God as
we ought is something too noble and too sublime for us to accomplish by human
powers in our present lowly and feeble condition, unless we are assisted by the
grace of God.
Another very apt comparison to denote the miserable condition of
mankind is that wherein we are likened to children who, if left to go their own
way, are thoughtlessly attracted by everything that presents itself. Truly we
are children, thoughtless children, wholly devoted to vain conversations and
frivolous actions, once we become destitute of divine assistance; and hence the
reproof which divine wisdom directs against us: O children, how long will
you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to
themselves? 5
while the Apostle thus exhorts us: Do not become children in sense. 6
Not only this, but our folly and blindness are even greater than those
of children; for they are merely destitute of human prudence which they can of
themselves acquire in course of time; whereas, if not assisted by God's help
and grace, we can never aspire to that divine prudence which is so necessary to
salvation. And if God's assistance should fail us, we at once cast aside those
things that are truly good and rush headlong to voluntary ruin.
But should this darkness of spirit be removed with God's help; should
we but perceive these our miseries; and, shaking off our insensibility, should
we take account of the presence of the law of the members and recognize the
struggle of the senses against the law of the spirit; and were we aware of
every inclination of our nature to evil; how in that event could we fail to
seek with earnest endeavor a suitable remedy for the great evils with which our
nature is oppressed, and how fail to sigh for that salutary rule in accordance
with which every Christian's life should be modelled and guided?
Now this is what we ask when we address to God these words: Thy will
be done. We fell into this state of misery by disobeying and despising the
divine will. God vouchsafes to propose to us, as the sole corrective of such
great evils, a conformity to His will, which by sinning we despised; He
commands us to regulate all our thoughts and actions by this standard. Now it
is precisely His help to accomplish this that we ask when we suppliantly
address to God the prayer, Thy will be done.
The same should also be the fervent prayer of those in whose souls God
already reigns; who have been already illumined with the divine light, which
enables them to obey the will of God. Although thus prepared, they have still
to struggle against their own passions on account of the tendency to evil
implanted in man's sensual appetite. Hence even though we are of the number of
the just, we are still exposed to great danger from our own frailty, and should
always fear lest, drawn aside and allured by our concupiscences, which war
in our members, we should again stray from the path of salvation. Of this
danger Christ the Lord admonishes us in these words: Watch ye and pray that
ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is
weak. 7
It is not in the power of man, not even of him who has been justified by
the grace of God, to reduce the irregular desires of the flesh to such a state
of utter subjection that they may never afterwards rebel. By justifying grace
God no doubt heals the wounds of the soul; but not those also of the flesh
concerning which the Apostle wrote: I know that there dwelleth not in me,
that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good. 8
The moment the first man forfeited original justice, which enabled him
to bridle the passions, reason was no longer able to restrain them within the
bounds of duty, or to repress those inordinate desires which are repugnant to
reason. This is why the Apostle tells us that sin, that is to say, the
incentive to sin, dwells in the flesh, thus giving us to understand that it
does not make a mere temporary stay within us as a passing guest, but that as
long as we live it maintains its abode in our members as a permanent inhabitant
of the body.
Continually beset as we are by our domestic and interior enemies, it is
easy for us to understand that we must fly to God's help and beg of Him that
His will may be done in us. {b}
Though the faithful are not to be left in ignorance of the import of
this Petition, yet in this connection many questions concerning the will of God
may be passed over which are discussed at great length and with much utility by
scholastic doctors. Accordingly we shall content ourselves with saying that by
the will of God is here meant that will which is commonly called the will of
sign; that is to say, whatever God has commanded or counselled us to do or to
avoid.
Hence, under the word will are here comprised all things that
have been proposed to us as a means of securing the happiness of heaven,
whether they regard faith or whether they regard morals, all, in a word, that Christ
the Lord has commanded or forbidden either directly or through His Church. It
is of this will that the Apostle thus writes: Become not unwise, but
understand what is the will of God. 9 {c}
When, therefore, we pray, Thy will be done, we first of all ask
our heavenly Father to give us the strength to obey His Commandments, and to
serve Him in holiness and justice all our days; 10 to do all things according
to His will and pleasure; to discharge all the duties prescribed for us in
Sacred Scripture; under His guidance and assistance to perform all that becomes
those who are born, not of the will of the flesh but of God, 11 thus following the example
of Christ the Lord who was made obedient unto death, even unto the death of
the cross; 12
finally, to be ready to bear all things rather than depart from His holy will
in even the slightest degree.
Assuredly there is no one who burns with a more ardent desire and anxiety
to obtain (the effect of this Petition) than he who has been so blessed as to
be able to understand the sublime dignity attaching to those who obey God. For
such a one thoroughly understands how true it is to say that to serve God and
obey Him is to reign. Whoever, says the Lord, shall do the will of my
Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother; 13 that is
to say, to him am I attached by the closest bonds of good will and love.
The Saints, with scarcely a single exception, failed not to make the
principal gift contemplated by this Petition the object of their fervent
prayers to God. All, indeed, have in substance made use of this admirable
prayer, but not unfrequently in different words. David, whose strains breathe
such wondrous sweetness, pours out the same prayer in various aspirations: O
! that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications; 14 Lead me into the path of
thy commandments; 15 Direct my steps according to thy word, and let no iniquity have
dominion over me. 16 In the same spirit he says: Give
me understanding, and I will learn thy commandments; 17 Teach me thy judgments;
18 Give me understanding
that I may know thy testimonies. 19 He often expresses and repeats the same sentiment
in other words. These passages should be carefully noticed and explained to the
faithful, that all may know and comprehend the greatness and profusion of
salutary gifts which are comprehended in the first part of this Petition.
In the second place, when we say, Thy will be done, we express
our detestation of the works of the flesh, of which the Apostle writes: The
works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness immodesty,
lust, etc.; 20 if you live according to the flesh you
shall die. 21
We also beg of God not to suffer us to yield to the suggestions of sensual
appetite, of our lusts, of our infirmities, but to govern our will by His will.
The sensualist, whose every thought and care is absorbed in the transient
things of this world, is estranged from the will of God. Borne along by the
tide of passion, he indulges his licentious appetites. In this gratification he
places all his happiness, and considers that man happy who obtains whatever he
desires. We, on the contrary, beseech God in the language of the Apostle that we
make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscence, 22 but that His will be done.
We are not easily induced to entreat God not to satisfy our inordinate
desires. This disposition of soul is difficult of attainment, and by offering
such a prayer we seem in some sort to hate ourselves. To those who are slaves
to the flesh such conduct appears folly; but be it ours cheerfully to incur the
imputation of folly for the sake of Christ who has said: If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself. 23 This is especially so since we know that it is much
better to desire what is right and just, than to obtain what is opposed to
reason and religion and to the laws of God. Unquestionably the condition of the
man who attains the gratification of his rash and inordinate desires is less
enviable than that of him who does not obtain the object of his pious prayers.
Our prayers, however, have not solely for object that God should deny
us what accords with our desires, when it is clear that they are depraved; but
also that He would not grant us those things for which, under the persuasion
and impulse of the devil, who transforms himself into an Angel of light, we
sometimes pray, believing them to be good.
The desire of the Prince of the Apostles to dissuade the Lord from His
determination to meet death, appeared not less reasonable than religious; yet
the Lord severely rebuked him, because he was led, not by supernatural motives,
but by natural feeling.
What stronger proof of love towards the Lord than that shown by the
request of St. James and St. John, who, filled with indignation against the
Samaritans for refusing to entertain their Master, besought Him to command fire
to descend from heaven and consume those hardhearted and inhuman men? Yet they
were reproved by Christ the Lord in these words: You know not of what spirit
you are; the son of man came not to destroy souls but to save them. 24
We should beseech God that His will be done, not only when our desires
are wrong, or have the appearance of wrong. We should ask this even when the
object of our desire is not really evil, as when the will, obeying its
instinctive impulse, desires what is necessary for our preservation, and
rejects what seems to be opposed thereto. When about to pray for such things we
should say from our hearts, Thy will be done, in imitation of the
example of Him from whom we receive salvation and the science of salvation,
who, when agitated by a natural dread of torments and of a cruel death, bowed
in that horror of supreme sorrow with meek submission to the will of His
heavenly Father: Not my will but thine be done. 25
But, such is the degeneracy of our nature that, even when we have done
violence to our passions and subjected them to the will of God, we cannot avoid
sin without His assistance, by which we are protected from evil and directed in
the pursuit of good. To this Petition, therefore, we must have recourse,
beseeching God to perfect in us those things which He has begun; to repress the
turbulent emotions of passion; to subject our sensual appetites to reason; in a
word, to render us entirely conformable to His holy will.
We pray that the whole world may receive the knowledge of God's will,
that the mystery of God, hidden from all ages and generations, may be made
known to all.
We also pray for the standard and model of this obedience, that our
conformity to the will of God be regulated according to the rule observed in
heaven by the blessed Angels and choirs of heavenly spirits, that, as they
willingly and with supreme joy obey God, we too may yield a cheerful obedience
to His will in the manner most acceptable to Him.
God requires that in serving Him we be actuated by the greatest love
and by the most exalted charity; that although we devote ourselves entirely to
Him with the hope of receiving heaven as reward, yet the reason we look forward
to that reward should be that the Divine Majesty has commanded us to cherish
that hope. Let all our hopes, therefore, be based on the love of God, who
promises to reward our love with eternal happiness.
There are some who serve another with love, but who do so solely with a
view to some recompense, which is the end and aim of their love; while others,
influenced by love and loyalty alone, look to nothing else in the services
which they render than the goodness and worth of him whom they serve, and,
knowing and admiring his qualities consider themselves happy in being able to
render him these services. This is the meaning of the clause On earth as it
is in heaven appended (to the Petition).
It is then, our duty to endeavour to the best of our ability to be
obedient to God, as we have said the blessed spirits are, whose profound
obedience is praised by David in the Psalm in which he sings: Bless the
Lord, all ye hosts; ye ministers of his that do his will. 26
Should anyone, adopting the interpretation of St. Cyprian, 27 understand the words in
heaven, to mean in the good and the pious, and the words on earth,
in the wicked and the impious, we do not disapprove of the interpretation, by
the word heaven understanding the spirit, and by the word earth,
the flesh, that every person and every creature may in all things obey the
will of God.
This Petition also includes thanksgiving. We revere the most holy will
of God, and in transports of joy celebrate all His works with the highest
praise and acknowledgment, being assured that He has done all things well. It is
certain that God is omnipotent; and the consequence necessarily forces itself
on the mind that all things were created at His command. We also confess the
truth that He is the supreme Good. We must, therefore, confess that all His
works are good, for to all He imparted His own goodness. But if we cannot
fathom in everything the divine plan, let us in all things banish every doubt
and hesitation from the mind, and with the Apostle declare that his ways are
unsearchable. 28
But the most powerful incentive to revere the will of God is that He
has deigned to illumine by His heavenly light; for, He hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son
of his love. 29
To close our exposition of this Petition we must revert to a subject at
which we glanced in the beginning. It is that the faithful in uttering this
Petition should be humble and lowly in spirit: keeping in view the violence of
their inborn passions which revolt against the will of God; recollecting that
in this duty (of obedience) man is excelled by all other creatures, of whom it
is written: All things serve thee; 30 and reflecting, that he who is unable without
divine help to undertake, not to say, perform, anything acceptable to God, must
be very weak indeed.
But as there is nothing greater, nothing more exalted, as we have
already said, than to serve God and live in obedience to His law and
Commandments, what more desirable to a Christian than to walk in the ways of
the Lord, to think nothing, to undertake nothing, at variance with His will? In
order that the faithful may adopt this rule of life, and adhere to it with
greater fidelity, (the pastor) should borrow from Scripture examples of
individuals, who, by not referring their views to the will of God, have failed
in all their undertakings.
Finally, the faithful are to be admonished to acquiesce in the simple
and absolute will of God. Let him, who thinks that he occupies a place in
society inferior to his deserts, bear his lot with patient resignation; let him
not abandon his proper sphere, but abide in the vocation to which he has been
called. Let him subject his own judgment to the will of God, who provides
better for our interests than we can even desire ourselves. If troubled by
poverty, by sickness, by persecution, or afflictions and anxieties of any sort,
let us be convinced that none of these things can happen to us without the
permission of God, who is the supreme Arbiter of all things. We should,
therefore, not suffer our minds to be too much disturbed by them, but bear up
against them with fortitude, having always on our lips the words: The will
of the Lord be done; 31 and also those of holy Job, As it hath pleased the Lord, so it is
done: blessed be the name of the Lord. 32
Endnotes
– The Third Petition
1>
Matt.
vii. 21
2>
Ps.
lii. 4.
3>
Gen.
viii. 21.
4>
Isa.
v. 20.
5>
Prov.
i. 22.
6>
1
Cor. xiv. 20.
7>
Matt.
xxvi. 41.
8>
Rom.
viii. 18.
9>
Eph.
v. 17.
10> John i 13.
11> Luke i. 75.
12> Philip ii. 8.
13> Matt. xii. 50.
14> Ps. cxviii. 5.
15> Ps. cxviii. 35.
16> Ps. cxviii. 133.
17> Ps. cxviii. 73.
18> Ps. cxviii. 108.
19> Ps. cxviii. 125.
20> Gal. v. 19.
21> Rom. viii. 13.
22> Rom. xiii. 14.
23> Matt. xvi. 24; Luke ix. 23.
24> Luke ix. 54-56.
25> Luke xxii. 42.
26> Ps. cii. 21.
27> In Orat. Dom.
28> Rom. xi. 33.
29> Col. i. 13.
30> Ps. cxviii. 91.
31> Acts xxi. 14.
32> Job i. 21.
{a}
On the consequences of the Fall in irrational creatures see Summa Theol. 1a.
xcvi. 1. ad 2: 2a. 2ć. lxxvi. 2; clxiv.
2.
{b}
On the effects of sin see Summa Theol. 1a. 2ć. lxxxv. ff.
{c}
On the will of God see Summa Theol. 1a. xix.