Chapter 6 - Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven

He who here teaches us to ask for ourselves and others the fulfillment of the will of our heavenly Father is the Son of God Himself, who descended from heaven to do His Father's will, whose life's work was to accomplish that holy will, who devoted Himself to it from the first moment of His entrance into the world, and who did, always and in every thing, that which was agreeable to His Father. If Christ, truly God as He was, was obliged on account of His humanity, to submit to the will of His Father; and if He really carried His submission and His obedience even to death, and to death upon the cross, how much more ought we to be submissive to God, - we who are only His creatures, we to whom He who is God of God gave us the example! And He gave it because He became like us, and represented us. How should we fulfill this divine will? As blessed spirits and saints accomplish it in heaven, - with the same fidelity, the same promptitude, the same love, the same detachment from outward things and from all self-interest. The good pleasure of God is the supreme rule among the inhabitants of heaven. When He signifies it to them, they conform to it with perfect exactness: they omit nothing; they dispense with nothing; they make no excuse - such a thought even does not occur to them; they do not stop to reason about the order they have received, but they execute it; they do not deliberate, they act; they do not delay, they leave every thing, and go the moment God sends them. They not only have no reluctance, but they manifest an eagerness, a zeal, an inexpressible joy; they obey because they love, and as fully as they love; and they rest all their happiness on obedience. Their disinterestedness is so pure that they never think of themselves; and at the slightest indication of the good pleasure of God, they would be ready to sacrifice their happiness.

Such is the model that Jesus Christ has given us in this prayer, and that He has Himself infinitely surpassed. If it is just that the will of God should be the only law of heaven, is it not also just that it should be the only law of earth? Are we any less His creatures than the celestial spirits? Does not His dominion extend over us, as well as over them? Have we rights and privileges that they have not? If conformity to the divine will is the principal source of their happiness, why should it not be also of ours? The only difference between us is, that we are still on probation, consequently are left to our own free will to obey or not, as we choose, - while they are at the goal: their condition is fixed and unchangeable; and they are resolved, in the presence and possession of God, never to deviate from His will. This difference is to our advantage in more senses than one. Obedience above is a recompense: here below it is a merit. Our obedience alone can glorify God, because it is free on our part; while theirs, however voluntary, is still a necessary result of their state. It is true indeed, that our obedience is painful, it demands constant struggle, it costs sacrifice; but it is just this that renders it acceptable to God, and precious in His sight. We should like it to cost us nothing but blessedness. But is this reasonable? Is it consistent with our present condition? We have one means of rendering our obedience sweet and easy. Nothing prevents our using it: rather, every thing encourages us thereto; and that is, to give ourselves wholly to God, that He Himself may accomplish His will in us, bending ours by the gentleness and the efficacy of His grace. The difficulty is, that we always prefer to remain master of ourselves in every encounter; hence it happens that what God wills, we do not will.

Let us renounce this fatal right, which is a veritable usurpation. Let us acknowledge that we hold our free will from God; let us consecrate it to Him, and use it according to His good pleasure. When we have consecrated it, love will teach us as it taught the saints, to rest our glory and our happiness in submission and conformity to His will; thereby we shall attain to the closest resemblance to the blessed to which we can possibly aspire on earth. If obedience is painful, we shall not regard it so, but we shall rather rejoice to make a sacrifice for God. In the various events of life which vex or humiliate or crucify us, we shall behold only the good pleasure of God; and this will be our strength and our consolation. If we naturally feel any repugnance, it will be an opportunity to wrestle and to conquer. Whatever sacrifice it may be necessary to make to the divine will, we shall make it heartily, in the thought that love lives upon sacrifice. On the one side, our courage and our generosity will gradually increase; on the other, difficulties will disappear, and that which seemed impracticable in the beginning will become easy in the end. At last the will of God will become the nourishment of our soul; so much so, that it will not be able to live except by that holy will, as is the case exactly with the angels and the saints, excepting of course, the difference between their state and ours. How many saints have arrived at this degree of perfection? We say daily, "Thy will be done," as they did: but we limit ourselves too often to saying it with the lips, and with little attention, and only formally; while they said it from the heart, with reflection, and by the power of grace. What we are satisfied with often reciting, without making it the rule of our life, they endeavored constantly to put into practice. But we have the same inducements which they had; we are in similar circumstances. Not a day passes without presenting some occasion to conform ourselves to the divine will, some occasion that vexes and disturbs us; it may be to correct, or it may be to prove us. But we do not make the same use of these opportunities that the saints did. We rebel interiorly; we murmur; we yield to impatience, irritability, discouragement, sadness, sometimes to blasphemy and despair. What do we gain thereby? We only increase the trouble; and the will of God is none the less accomplished, but without comfort, and without merit to ourselves.

Is it possible that a way of holiness being open to us, so sure, so short, so simple, so consistent not only with the principles of faith, but with the light of reason; at the same time so easy, so sweet, so comforting, and yet we refuse to walk in it? What does it require? To wish constantly what God wishes, and not to wish what He does not wish. Our perfection, our present happiness even, hangs only on this point. We cannot doubt it. Let us then immediately put our will in this holy disposition, and let us make by grace, every effort to maintain it there. Then we shall find the peace that we have sought in vain elsewhere, - a peace interior, solid, lasting, sometimes even delightful, in the midst of the greatest afflictions and the most desolating crosses. What is it that God desires only, next to His own glory? Our happiness.

In the arrangements of Providence with regard to us, His end is to conciliate these two things, and to make them always move on together in the front rank. For this He has devised infallible means. It remains only for us to let Him work, and to acquiesce in every thing which happens to us, whether it is directly from Him, or by the intervention of His creatures. In wishing what He wishes, we wish for our own happiness. In accepting the means that He employs, we accept that which cannot fail to lead to it Let us consider then, what God ordains for us. We shall see that all events, even the smallest, are designed to make us practise some virtue, or to correct some vice; especially to humiliate our pride, and mortify our self-love. We know by experience that these are the two sources of all the sins that close the gate of heaven, and of all the troubles which prevent our tasting any real happiness on earth. Therefore, in conforming in every thing to the will of God, we exhaust, little by little, both of these sources; and we secure our happiness, as far as possible, both in this life and in the life to come. Let us pray then sincerely, and with all the affection of our soul, that for the glory of God, for our happiness and that of our brothers, the will of God may be done by them and by us, and in them and in us. Let us pray that we may never raise any obstacle; and as this is a daily practice, let us accustom ourselves to being humble, to bending under the powerful hand of God, and to accepting every thing which comes from Him, persuaded that He has in view only our good. In all trying circumstances, let us have on our lips, and especially on our heart, these admirable words of Christ, "Thy will, not mine, be done."

It may be observed here, that these three petitions are the best acts of love we can make; and consequently, fidelity in reducing them to practice is a continual exercise of love, even of the purest love, since God is directly its object, which does not exclude our happiness, but which assures it. We address these prayers to God, because He alone can give us the disposition of love which they imply, because we cannot co-operate to perform them effectually as we ought, without His grace; and as every blessing comes from Him, we begin with the prayer which obtains them all for us.

- from The Christian Sanctified by the Lord's Prayer, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou