Devotion for today: “Thy will be done” is seen in Jesus

Today we look at more ideas on “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

This is what I had written:

God’s will is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s will. If you want to know God’s will, study Jesus. Jesus was love, compassion, obedience, service, sacrifice, and faithfulness. Jesus was firm in His statements, kind in His mercy, goal-oriented in His life. Jesus died so that the will of His Father would be done. Can we expect to do any less than to die to self in order to have God and His will reign in our lives? Jesus is our model: study Jesus and we will be studying God’s will.

The Bible tells us:

John 12:49-50, 18: For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me.”  He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

John 5:19,30: Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. ³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 14:8-12: Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.”Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. 

We turn now to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for our commentary today. He writes in his excellent book, Jesus of Nazareth (Ignatius Press, 2007): “Now, when Jesus speaks to us of God’s will and of heaven, the place where God’s will is fulfilled, the core of what he says is again connected to his mission. At Jacob's well, he says to the disciples who bring him food: ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work ‘(John 4:36). What he means is that his oneness with the Father’s will is the foundation of his life. The unity of his will with the Father’s will is the core of his very being. Above all, though, what we hear in this petition of the Our Father is an echo of Jesus’ own passionate struggle in dialogue with his Father on the Mount of Olives: ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt’ – ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done’ (Matthew 26:39, 42)…. Jesus gives us a glimpse into his human soul and its ‘becoming one’ with the will of God…. And in this light we now understand that Jesus is ‘heaven’ in the deepest and truest sense of the word – he in whom and through whom God’s will is wholly done. Looking at him we realize that, left to ourselves we can never be completely just: the gravitational pull of our own will constantly pulls us away from God’s will and turns us into mere ‘earth’. But he accepts us, he draws us up to himself, into himself, and in communion with him we too learn God’s will. Thus, what we are ultimately praying for in this third petition of the Our Father is that we come closer and closer to him, so that God’s will can conquer the downward pull of our selfishness and make us capable of the lofty height to which we are called.

Devotion for today: going deeper into “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

Yesterday I gave you my outline of some ways we can look at the petition from The Lord’s Prayer “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. What do the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Catechism of the Catholic Church tell us about this thought:

Here is what I wrote yesterday in point one: God’s will, which is to be done on earth, is found in the 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes. It is found throughout the New Testament in the words of Jesus Christ and those of the New Testament writers. It is the blueprint for the way life needs to be led. God created the world, and His will for the world is made very clear in these two “direction manuals.” It boils down to loving God enough to follow His commands,  to loving our neighbor and loving ourselves enough to want to spend eternity with God. He tells us specifically how to do this, but if we constantly change God’s ways into our ways we can truthfully say we have written our own manual. No matter what the world tells you, it won’t work.

Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.

Deuteronomy 26:16-19: The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws— that you will listen to him. And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2: If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.  All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: 2822 Our Father "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." He "is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish." His commandment is "that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." This commandment summarizes all the others and expresses his entire will.

Matthew 19:16-22: Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 5:17-20: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Acts 5:29: Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings.”

“When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God that his kingdom come, his will be done on earth and in our own lives. As we do, we enter into the deepest hope and driving force of Jesus’ earthly life. The proclamation of the kingdom, or reign, of God was the major focus of Jesus’ public ministry. In the very first chapter of his gospel, Mark begins his account of Jesus’ ministry with these words: “After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, and there he proclaimed the good news from God. ‘The time has come,’ he said, ‘And the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the good news.’” It was about this reign of God that Jesus told his earthy and often unnerving string of stories that we know as parables. It was in order to make this kingdom present -- to make it a living reality -- that Jesus acted in opposition to all those forces that oppressed and imprisoned people. And so, Jesus made the reign of God present when he reached out to touch the leper and strengthen the limbs of the paralyzed, when he expelled demons that drained the life out of people, and when he opened the eyes of the blind.” Fr. Robin Ryan, cphttp://www.catholicsoncall.org/week-two-your-kingdom-come-your-will-be-done-earth-it-heaven%E2%80%9D

Devotion for today: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Cataract surgery was a success. Now let us continue our meditation on The Lord’s Prayer.

John 6:38-40: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent  Me. "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing,  but raise it up on the last day.  "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds 

the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

What is God’s will? I think, from all the reading I have done on this, that I can summarize God’s will in a few points.

God’s will which is to be done on earth is found in the 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes. It is found throughout the New Testament in the words of Jesus Christ and those of the New Testament writers. It is the blueprint for the way life needs to be led. God created the world, and His will for the world is made very clear in these two “direction manuals.” It boils down to loving God enough to follow His commands,  to loving our neighbor and loving ourselves enough to want to spend eternity with God. He tells us specifically how to do this, but if we constantly change God’s ways into our ways we can truthfully say we have written our own manual. No matter what the world tells you, it won’t work.

 God’s will is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s will. If you want to know God’s will, study Jesus. Jesus was love, compassion, obedience, service, sacrifice, and faithfulness. Jesus was firm in His statements, kind in His mercy, goal-oriented in His life. Jesus died so that the will of His Father would be done. Can we expect to do any less than to die to self in order to have God and His will reign in our lives? Jesus is our model: study Jesus and we will be studying God’s will.

God’s will is love. Heaven is the perfect existence of love. God is love; those in His presence are filled with love of God, those who die filled with love of God and His will die filled with God. Hence they have done God’s will on earth and will now be doing it in heaven. The old expression is true: You die the way you lived. If you die filled with the little demons of loving secular life too much, and loving your own will too much, you cannot enter into pure love. You have too much pride in your own beliefs, and as a result, you have chosen to do your will instead of God’s. As C. S. Lewis so brilliantly states: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in hell choose it. Without that self-choice, there could be no hell.” Doing God’s will is simply choosing God in every thought, word and deed of your life.

God’s will for you is the dream He had for you when He placed you in your mother’s womb. Every talent, every ability, every physical feature, where and when you were born, were all part of His plan for you. He embedded in your heart the desire to become what He needs in the world at this time in history. He blessed you with faith and hope and love in order to get yourself and everyone He placed in your life back to Him. Ralph Martin tells us in his book “The Fulfillment of all Desire” that “God’s will for us is our total perfection, our total conformity to love of God and neighbor.” Examine your life, study your gifts and compare your life to that of Jesus’. How are you doing so far?

God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven” can also be interpreted as God’s will for your body (earth) as well as for your spirit (heaven). Many people believe that if they do enough holy things and read enough holy books they will get a “Go to Heaven free pass”. Not so. God needs His will done in your body as well as in your soul. He wants you to be perfect as He is perfect. That can only occur when you give up your earthly addictions to pleasure, power, personal righteousness and prestige, and give that earthly will to God to do as He pleases. Your heavenly will is the same. Some people become addicted to always searching for God. They love the search more that they love the physical works of mercy they must also do to become like Jesus.  What they are not doing is spending much time in God’s presence, in prayer, in quiet solitude, letting God into their souls. What they are not doing is being God’s servant to those who need Him in their lives. God must be in our body, which came from the earth, and our spirits, which came from heaven in order to be the Lord of our lives. When we say “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” let us  not bemoan the state of affairs in the world, but instead, let us bemoan the state of affairs in ourselves, discover and repent of our physical and spiritual weaknesses, and begin again to “seek first the things of the kingdom, the will of God.” God in His infinite mercy awaits us. St. Cyprian tells us:

We also say in addition: 'Thy will be done in heaven as it is on earth,' not that God may do what He wishes, but that we may be able to do what God wishes. For who stands in the way of God's doing what He wishes? But since the devil stands in the way of our mind and action obeying God in all things, we pray and petition that God's will be done in us. That it may be done in us, there is need of God's will, that is, of His help and protection, because no one is strong in his own strength, but is safe by the indulgence and mercy of God. Finally also the Lord, showing the infirmity of man which He was bearing, says: 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,' and giving forth to His disciples an example not to do their own will but God's, He added: 'Yet not as I will, but as thou wills.' And in another place He says: 'For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.' But if the Son obeyed to do His Father's will, how much more should the servant obey to do his Lord's will, just as John also in his epistle urges and instructs us to do the will of God, saying: 'Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him, because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life which is not from the Father, but from the lust of the world. And the world with its lust will pass away, but he who does the will of God abides forever, as God also abides forever.' We who wish to abide forever should do the will of God who is eternal.

Tomorrow we will look at Biblical quotes, the Catechism and great saints and writers to see what they say about my summary. I think they would like it!