‘Thy will be done’ is a prayer of transformation

Article 185 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series
Paragraphs 2822-2827

Over the years, when praying this third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done,” even as a child, I always felt that due to my own imperfections, I was falling short of performing God’s Holy Will. Although I always sought to accomplish God’s Will through my words and deeds, I generally felt deep within my heart and soul that it was impossible to properly do so.

When praying the words, “Thy Will be done,” isn’t it true that we often hope that “God’s Will” matches our will or, at least, our specific hopes and desires? Isn’t it the case that we hope God’s Will be what we want at the time of our prayer? When we pray the words “Thy Will be done,” do we truly submit to His Will or is our will somehow conditioned by what we currently want?

In addition to day-to-day decisions which involve God’s permissive Will, there is also God’s ordaining Will that refers to our vocation or state in life? Marriage? The Single state? The Priesthood or consecrated Religious Life? When considering our specific vocation, how much is conditioned by our own interests or desires? How much is conditioned by God’s hope for us? Could it be a little of both?

When praying this petition, “Thy Will be done,” my thoughts often jump to the scene in the Gospel involving God’s permissive Will. A man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus and said, “’Lord, if You Will it, You can make me clean.’ He stretched out His hand, touched him, and said, I will do it. Be made clean. His leprosy was cleansed immediately” (Matthew 8:2-3). In this Gospel passage, the leper realized that God was all powerful and that his cure depended upon the Will of God. Jesus heard the leper’s perfect prayer and cured him.

Thirteenth century mystic and theologian, Saint Gertrude the Great, also comes to mind when reflecting on the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer. It was not unusual for her to repeat these words often, “Thy Will be done,” with sincerity and passion. According to Gertrude, each time she prayed these words, her heart seemed to be suddenly aflame with the love of God. On one occasion when praying, the Lord Jesus appeared to her and showed her “health” in one hand and “sickness” in the other. He asked Gertrude: “My daughter, which of these do you want me to give you, health or sickness?” The great Gertrude replied: “Thy Will, not mine, be done.”

Her answer pleased the Lord and He bestowed on her many aspects of His Divine love including her disposition to venerating His most Sacred Heart. Her health began to deteriorate and she died at the age of 45 in 1301. In one of her spiritual writings she wrote: “Until the age of 25, I was a blind and insane woman … but You, Jesus, deigned to grant me the priceless familiarity of Your friendship by opening to me in every way that most noble casket of Your divinity, which is Your Divine Heart, and offering me in great abundance all Your treasures contained in it.”

Discussion of the third petition in the Catechism opens with a reminder that Jesus’ commandment: “‘…that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another’ [John 13:34] be a summary of all the other commandments “and expresses … His entire Will” (CCC 2822). The Catechism continues: “He has made known to us the mystery of His Will, according to His good pleasure that He set forth in Christ” (CCC 2823). As we pray the words, “Thy Will be done,” we are, according to the Catechism, asking “insistently for this loving plan to be fully realized on earth as it is already in Heaven” (CCC 2823).

A third century theologian and writer named Origen remarks: “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.”

The Catechism uses several New Testament passages to emphasize the perspective of Jesus on the theme of God’s Will. For example, the Book of Hebrews states: “Jesus said on entering into this world: ‘Lo, I have come to do Your Will, O God’” (Hebrews 10:7). In St. John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus speaking about His Father: “I always do what is pleasing to Him” (John 8:29). In the prayer of His agony during His crucifixion, Jesus consents totally to His Father’s Will: “…not my Will, but Yours be done” (John 8:29).

Like Jesus and our Blessed Mother Mary, “… all the saints … have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed His Will alone” (CCC 2827). How do we know God’s Will for us? The Catechism explains: “By prayer we can discern ‘what is the Will of God’ and obtain the endurance to do it” (CCC 2826). It further explains: “Jesus teaches us that one enters the Kingdom of Heaven not by speaking words, but by doing ‘the Will of my Father in Heaven’” (CCC 2826).

When discerning God’s Holy Will, I love to reflect on the famous motto of fourth century bishop and theologian Saint Augustine: “Love God and [then] do what you will.” Augustine says it like no one else can. According to Augustine, if you truly love God and His Will, then doing what you will, will in fact, be doing what God wills.

Father Hillier is director, diocesan Office of Pontifical Mission Societies, the Office for Persons with Disabilities and Censor Luborum.