591. Why pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 591 repetition) The will of the
Father is that “all men be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). For this Jesus came: to
perfectly fulfill the saving will of his Father. We pray God our Father to
unite our will to that of his Son after the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and the saints. We ask that this loving plan be fully realized on earth as it
is already in heaven. It is through prayer that we can discern “what is the
will of God” (Romans 12:2) and have the “steadfastness to do it” (Hebrews
10:36).
“In brief”
(CCC 2860) In the third petition,
we ask our Father to unite our will to that of his Son, so as to fulfill his
plan of salvation in the life of the world.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2824) In Christ, and through his human will, the will
of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering
into this world: "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God" (Heb 10:7;
Ps 40:7). Only Jesus can say: "I always do what is pleasing to him"
(Jn 8:29). In the prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will:
"not my will, but yours be done" (Lk 22:42; cf. Jn 4:34; 5:30; 6:38).
For this reason Jesus "gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the
present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father" (Gal 1:4).
"And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 10:10).
Reflection
(CCC 2825) "Although he was a Son, [Jesus] learned
obedience through what he suffered" (Heb 5:8). How much more reason have
we sinful creatures to learn obedience - we who in him have become children of
adoption. We ask our Father to unite our will to his Son's, in order to fulfill
his will, his plan of salvation for the life of the world. We are radically incapable
of this, but united with Jesus and with the power of his Holy Spirit, we can
surrender our will to him and decide to choose what his Son has always chosen:
to do what is pleasing to the Father (Cf. Jn 8:29). In committing ourselves to
[Christ], we can become one spirit with him, and thereby accomplish his will,
in such wise that it will be perfect on earth as it is in heaven (Origen, De orat. 26 PG 11, 501B). Consider how
[Jesus Christ] teaches us to be humble, by making us see that our virtue does
not depend on our work alone but on grace from on high. He commands each of the
faithful who prays to do so universally, for the whole world. For he did not
say "thy will be done in me or in us," but "on earth," the
whole earth, so that error may be banished from it, truth take root in it, all
vice be destroyed on it, virtue flourish on it, and earth no longer differ from
heaven. [IT CONTINUES]
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