521 "THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN"

AVE MARIA

YOUCAT Lesson 521

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

521  What does it mean to say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

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 is already is in heaven.  [2822-2827, 2860]

My mother, Irma (Jenkins) Bragg (about 1950)at our home in the old farm house on the bank of the Flambeau River southwest of Ladysmith, Wisconsin. …..521

As long as we continue to set our hearts on our own plans, our will, 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.  49-50, 52

“Father in heaven, I pray neither for health nor for sickness, neither for life nor for death, but rather that you may dispose of my health and my sickness, my life and my death for your honor and for my salvation.  You alone know what is useful to me.  Amen.”   Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

[2822-2827, 2860]

"THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN"

2822 Our Father "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."( 1 Timothy 2:3-4.)⁹⁵ He "is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish."( 2 Peter 3:9; compare Matthew 18:14.)⁹⁶ His commandment is "that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."( John 13:34; compare 1 Jn 3; 4; Luke 10:25-37.)⁹⁷ This commandment summarizes all the others and expresses his entire will. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2823 "He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ . . . to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will."( Ephesians 1:9-11.)⁹⁸ We ask insistently for this loving plan to be fully realized on earth as it is already in heaven. --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."( Hebrews 10:7; Psalm 40:7.)⁹⁹ Only Jesus can say: "I always do what is pleasing to him."( John 8:29.)¹⁰⁰ In the prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will: "not my will, but yours be done."( Luke 22:42; compare John 4:34; Jn 5:30; Jn 6:38)¹⁰¹ 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."( Galatians 1:4.)¹⁰² "And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."( Hebrews 10:10.)¹⁰³ –CCC

2825 "Although he was a Son, [Jesus] learned obedience through what he suffered."( Hebrews 5:8.)¹⁰⁴ 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.( Compare John 8:29.)¹⁰⁵ –CCC

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:Patrologia Graeca 11,501B.)¹⁰⁶ –CCC

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.(  St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Mat 19,59:Patrologia Graeca 57,280.)¹⁰⁷ –CCC

2826 By prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it.( Romans 12:2; compare Ephesians 5:17; compare Hebrews 10:36.)¹⁰⁸ Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven."( Matthew 7:21.)¹⁰⁹ –CCC

2827 "If any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him."( John 9:31; compare 1 Jn 5:14.)¹¹⁰ 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(Compare Luke 1:38,49.)¹¹¹ and all the saints who have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed his will alone:  --CCC

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:Patrologia Latina 34,1279.)¹¹² --CCC