“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Luke 11:2)

Sometimes, when I recite this verse while I am going through a rough patch in life, I can’t help but think to myself that God’s will for what I need to be living in life at that particular moment doesn’t seem to be very enjoyable.

Typically, I’ll wrack my brains trying to remember where I read a Bible passage that reminds us to welcome trying times as God testing our hearts and effectively raising the bar on our spirituality and faith. Then, I’ll flip to my notes either on the front or back cover of my Bible and there it is: James 1:2-5

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:2-5)

Pope Benedict XVI, in his book “Jesus of Nazareth”, opens his analysis of Luke 11:2 by stating the following: “Two things are immediately clear from the words of this petition: God has a will with and for us and it must become the measure of our willing and being; and the essence of ‘heaven’ is that it is where God’s will is unswervingly done.”

Although it seems obvious after reading this that Heaven is where God’s will is sovereign in the most absolute and eternal sense but, for some reason, until reading the Pope’s book, I would not have articulated it this way if asked what I imagine Heaven to be.

The Pope adds this statement: “Earth becomes ‘heaven’ when and insofar as God’s will is done there; and it is merely ‘earth,’ the opposite of heaven, when and insofar as it withdraws from the will of God.”

Having read this adds a further level of my understanding of God’s will and plan for the life I’ve been given. There are circumstances I have been handed that, quite frankly, I am not thrilled about. But, as I’ve often said to family and friends, life isn’t so much a question of the cards we’re dealt but how we play them. The Bible, or users’ manual on how to live life according to God’s will, is replete with guidance on how to live life properly. (I particularly like reading Proverbs.)

Of course, life is full of considerations that make it a mine field of grey zones and the Pope has a very helpful comment on this point in his analysis of Luke 11:2.

“But what is ‘God’s will’? How do we recognize it? How can we do it? The Holy Scriptures work on the premise that man has knowledge of God’s will in his inmost heart, that anchored deeply within us there is a participation in God’s knowing, which we call conscience.”

The Pope goes on for two pages exploring this line of reasoning and then comes to the point that Jesus’ whole existence is summed up in the words “Yes, I have come to do thy will” and that the ‘gravitational pull’ of our own will constantly draw us away from God’s will but that Jesus accepts us, draws us to Himself, into Himself, and in communion with Him we learn God’s will.

So, concludes the Pope, what we are praying for in the third petition of the Our Father is to come closer to Him so that God’s will conquers the downward pull of our selfishness.