Dissecting the Lord’s Prayer
Thy Will be Done on Earth as It is in Heaven
I’ve seen athletes, contestants and other people attribute their victories to God, saying that it is God’s will. I’ve also heard people gracious in defeat saying, “It is God’s will”. I’ve heard people talk about the future using the term god willing. We refer to the will of God in various ways and in various occasions. But what is really God’s will? St. John the Evangelist wrote these words of Jesus:
And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him [on] the last day.
(John 6:39–40 NABRE)
The apostle St. Paul, in his letter to his beloved disciple, St. Timothy, expands this further even to those who had not known the Son firsthand:
This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
(1 Timothy 2:3–4 NABRE)
Since we know that the will of God is, first and foremost, the salvation of the world, then praying “Thy will be done” is praying for the salvation of the peoples of the world. We pray for our own salvation, and we pray for the salvation of the people around us and the peoples of the world. We pray that all may believe and be saved.
Praying “Thy will be done” also means partaking in the saving mission of Christ our head and of the Church, his body, of which we are all part of.
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
(Matthew 7:21 NABRE)
And we know that Jesus is the greatest example of this. He was not unafraid of death and suffering. He was afraid. In His agony in the Garden, He prayed,
Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.
(Luke 22:42 NABRE)
Yet, he embraced God’s will in his earthly life because he knew God would not let him suffer forever.
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.
(Hebrews 10:7 NABRE)
Here, we see Jesus’ humble submission to the will of the Father. And we see this too in the lives of the saints — the apostles who were martyred and the early Christians who were persecuted and the missionaries who died. I also see this in the life of the patron saint of my University, St. John Baptist de La Salle, who, on his deathbed, was asked if he accepted the sufferings he had to bear. To which he replied peacefully, “Yes, I adore in all things the will of God in my regard!” with humility, knowing that God knows best. They have let God use them as instruments of his love.
Beyond the long term will of God, we also have confidence in the will of God for our short term requests. When we pray “Thy will be done”, we acknowledge God’s omnipotence.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
(Matthew 6:8 NABRE)
And we also acknowledge God’s Fatherhood and goodness.
What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?
(Luke 11:11–13 NABRE)
In saying “Thy will be done”, we recognize God knows best, and willingly surrender our troubles and worries to him.
And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
(1 John 5:14 NABRE)
We let go, and we let God because we have come to know and to believe that God is in control.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:7 NABRE)
The next time we pray the Lord’s prayer, may our hearts find peace knowing that the Father knows and will provide for our needs — both in this world and in the life that is to come.
This is the fourth in a series of articles dissecting the Lord’s Prayer beginning with Our Father which was followed by Who Are in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name and Thy Kingdom Come.
