Sixth Sermon for Lent: On the Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven. —matt. Vi. 10

The will of God, my brethren, which first created the angels, by making them out of nothing, beatified them afterwards by being in a manner made in them. For just as the Word Who was in the beginning (John i. 1) is said and said truly to have been made flesh on assuming flesh: so that eternal will can be described as made in the angels, when it absorbed into itself completely the angelic will. What impropriety can there be in saying that the will of God was made in the angels when it was made the will of the angels ? Indeed this very thing is for the angels the consummation of their happiness, this is the torrent of their heavenly delight (Ps. xxxv. 9), the fact, namely, that the divine will is made their own will, so that as God is pleased with His whole administration, they in like manner rejoice and take pleasure in every act, in every creature of His. Here, then, is what we pray for: that God’s will should be made the will of man upon earth, as it is made the will of the holy angels in heaven. Thus would man also, being joined to the Lord, become with Him one spirit (1 Cor. vi. 17). But woe is me! How many obstacles lie in the way of so happy a consummation! How many impediments hold us back ! We encounter opposition from our natural malice, from our weakness, from our concupiscence, from our ignorance. For we have within us, not from nature,

PETITIONS OF THE LORD'S PRAYER 103 but rather from the corruption of nature, a most wicked affection and passion for injustice, so that our miserable souls take an inevitable delight in malice. Now could there be anything farther removed from the will of God than such a disposition? Assuredly, between us and that divine will “there is fixed a great chaos” (Luke xvi. 26) in this matter : since it is always a delight for God to confer His benefits upon us, whilst we, on the contrary, wretched ingrates that we are, discover within our own hearts a most cruel inclination to inflict injury on even the innocent. Hence sprouts forth every “root of bitterness’ (Heb. xii. 15) ; hence proceed jealousies, detractions, and enmities innumerable. But these poisonous shoots must be constantly cut away with the pruning-hook of justice. For justice it is which prevents us from doing to another the evil we do not wish should be done to us by another ; and which prompts us to render to all the good we desire should be rendered to us by all. Nevertheless, we cannot hope to root out malice completely from our hearts so long as we live in this world, which “is wholly seated in wickedness ” (x John v. 19). The head of the old serpent may indeed becrushed, but spite of that, he shall often be found lying in wait for our heel (Gen. iii. 15).

The second obstacle to the perfect conformity of the human will with the divine, comes from the weakness of this corruptible body. For we cannot help feeling a repugnance to what is painful; and because of this, our wills are often at variance with the will of God: yea, they would revolt altogether from the divine will unless prevented by fortitude, which is the second of the moral virtues,

To the impediment thus constituted by our bodily miseries must be added that of concupiscence, which torments us with a throng of insatiable desires. How is it possible to establish harmony between a will that is full of twists and angles and one that is absolutely righteous and undeviating? Alas for me! O Lord my God, alas for me! because wars beset me on every side; because on every side I am exposed to the enemy’s darts, confronted with dangers, embarrassed with obstacles. Whithersoever I turn my gaze, I can nowhere find any security. I have equal cause to fear what gratifies and what displeases me. Fasting and refection, sleep and watching, labour and repose, all militate against me. Hence the Wise Man prayed to the Lord, ‘‘Give me neither beggary nor riches” (Prov. xxx. 8), because in both he perceived danger, in both a snare. But if concupiscence is held in check by the virtue of temperance—which is in truth the only remedy against that evil—there shall now be conformity between God’s will and ours, although not perfect. This is what the Apostle confesses of himself, where he says, “I myself with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin that is in my members ” (Rom. vii. 25). That is to say, his will was partly in conformity and partly at variance with the divine will. “ But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away ” (x Cor. xiii. 10).

Our ignorance is the fourth obstacle in the way of a harmony between the human will and the divine; and you, my brethren, do not need to be told how serious an obstacle this is. For how can I take the will of God for my guide if I do not know what it is?

PETITIONS OF THE LORD’S PRAYER 105

“ Now I know in part” only, and not yet ‘‘ even as I am known ” (r Cor. xiii. 12). This is the reason why we have to seek with all ardour of desire for the assistance of prudence, in order that God may make His will more and more manifest to us, that we may know what is‘acceptable with Him at all times (Wisdom ix. 10). Thus, my brethren, the perfection of the virtues, of justice, fortitude, temperance, and prudence, will perfect that union, so blissful and so desirable, causing us to have one and the same will with God, and rendering everything that pleases Him, pleasing to us also. And this shall be for us—as I have declared it to be for the angels—the very consummation of our happiness.

We pray also that the kingdom of the Lord may come, so that through the power of His empire we may enjoy perfect security. But when we ask that His name may behallowed, we express a desire to mount above ourselves altogether unto the knowledge of Him.* For when we shall find ourselves possessed of secure happiness and happy security from the accomplishment of His will and the establishment of His kingdom in us, we shall then be carried up to Him Who is above us with all the impetuous energy of our souls. “Hallowed be Thy name.” The name of God is His glory. But when is that glory not hallowed? Nevertheless we can say with propriety that when God is glorified by us in sanctity, His glory is hallowed or made holy. It is in the same sense we ask that His will, which is eternal, knowledge of His glory and sanctity. Cf, A Lapide, Comment. in Matt. v. 9.—(Translator.)

may be made in us so as to become ours. Therefore, this petition, which is the greatest, is the first we make in the Lord’s Prayer, namely, that the spotless sanctity of His glory may be made manifest to us so that He may be glorified by us in sanctity. We next ask for what regards ourselves, that His kingdom may be firmly established in us for our security and that His will may be made perfect in us as a means to our happiness. But because we do not as yet rejoice in this perfection of the divine will, we are unable to obey its commands without much difficulty. Hence we are in want of food, lest we should faint, we stand in need, Isay, of daily bread. Moreover, we frequently wander away from the guidance of God’s holy will, abandoning it by our transgressions, and so are under the necessity of pleading for pardon. Hence we say, “ Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.” And then, lest perhaps we should fall back into the same faults after obtaining forgiveness, we must ask the same Lord not to lead us into temptation, but rather to draw us forth, and to deliver us from evil. Amen,