Glory to God for All Things
Thy Will Be Done
In the Our Father, we pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” In the garden of Gethsemane, Our Lord prayed, “nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done.” Even the passion and death of Christ, the greatest crime ever committed, happened only by the “determined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Christ offered Himself as a “ransom for many” to atone for all the sins of the world (Mt. 20:28).
In Isaiah, God says, “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity” (Is. 45:7). Our Almighty God controls all things and wills evils like sickness, natural disasters, and painful tragedies for His glory and our salvation. Even sin cannot be committed without His permitting it. But we know that this “slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).
Joseph, Son of Jacob
The patriarch Joseph was sold by his brothers and ended up as a slave in Egypt. Due to a terrible famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt for food many years later. When Joseph, now second in command, revealed himself to his brothers, they worried that this powerful Egyptian official would take revenge and put them to death. Instead, Joseph saw in the whole ordeal the saving will of God.
“You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that He might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people” (Gen. 50:20).
The evil actions perpetrated by Joseph’s brothers were all a part of God’s saving plan.
The Patience of Job
Job was a righteous man who loved and served God. Nevertheless, God allowed him to go through the most terrible losses. He lost his children and was stricken with the most painful physical maladies. In it all, he saw the will of God.
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away: as it has pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
The Lamb That Was Slain
The mystery of Divine Providence is especially evident in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. His crucifixion was not a mistake or simply a miscarriage of justice. Saint Peter says that Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). The sorrowful passion and death of Our Savior was planned and decreed “from the very foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
The Master Key of Perfection
All the Church Fathers, Doctors of the Church, and saints recognize the mystery of Divine Providence and teach us that resignation to God’s will is one of the “master keys” of the spiritual life. Saint John Chrysostom often preached on resignation to God’s will. He also practiced it. Throughout his unjust exile and death, he repeated, “Glory to God for all things!”
The Teaching of the Saints
Resignation to God’s will is extolled by Saint John Cassian, Saint Dorotheos of Gaza, and Saint Mark the Ascetic.
Saint Francis De Sales taught resignation to the divine will as an essential aspect of Christian discipleship. He would assist the dying by urging them to resign themselves to God’s will.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori said that to die in sentiments of total submission to God’s will was a kind of martyr’s death that guaranteed immediate entrance into heaven, bypassing purgatory.
King Alphonso V (1396–1458) was asked whom he considered the happiest person in the world. He answered,
“He who abandons himself to the will of God and accepts all things, prosperous and adverse, as coming from His hands.”
Saint Teresa of Avila writes,
“Those who give themselves to prayer should concentrate solely on this, the conformity of their wills with the divine will. They should be convinced that this constitutes the highest perfection. The more fully they practice this, the greater the gifts they will receive from God and the greater progress they will make in the interior life.”
What You Must Do
In trial and hardship, pray, “Father, not my will, but Your will be done.” In times of loss, say with righteous Job, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. As it has pleased the Lord, so it is done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” What happens to us is decreed by Him for His honor and glory, for our highest good and eternal salvation. “God works all things together for good” (Rm. 8:28). With Saint John Chrysostom, let us continually say,
“Glory to God for all things!”
