Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 521 – Part IV.

YOUCAT Question n. 521 - Part IV. What does it mean to say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

(Youcat answer repeated) When we pray for the universal accomplishment of God’s will, we pray that on earth and in our own heart it may become as it already is in heaven.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2826) By prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it (Rom 12:2; cf. Eph 5:17; cf. Heb 10:36). Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven" (Mt 7:21).     

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) As long as we continue to set our hearts on our own plans, our will, and our ideas, earth cannot become heaven. One person wants this, the other that. We find our happiness, however, when together we want what God wills. Praying means making room bit by bit for God’s will on this earth. 

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2827) "If any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him" (Jn 9:31; cf. 1 Jn 5:14). Such is the power of the Church's prayer in the name of her Lord, above all in the Eucharist. Her prayer is also a communion of intercession with the all-holy Mother of God (Cf. Lk 1:38, 49) and all the saints who have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed his will alone: It would not be inconsistent with the truth to understand the words, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," to mean: "in the Church as in our Lord Jesus Christ himself"; or "in the Bride who has been betrothed, just as in the Bridegroom who has accomplished the will of the Father" (St. Augustine, De serm. Dom. 2, 6, 24: PL 34, 1279).

(The next question is:  What does it mean to say, “Give us this day our daily bread”?)