Thy Will

Seeking God’s will rather than our own

06/04/2019

John 17:1-11A Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

Any Christian worthy of the name desires to do God’s will. After all, every day when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But do we really mean those words? I am convinced that the first great step – and maybe also the last great step – in discovering and doing God’s will consists in catching that God’s will is not synonymous with my will. In other words, when we pray “Thy will be done” do we secretly mean “My will be done” because, of course, God must want the same thing that I want.

I often ask young men who are open to a priestly vocation the question: “Do you think God wants you to be a priest?” I try hard not to ask him: “Do you want to be a priest?” Can you catch the difference between those two questions? But the fact that we often go straight to the question: “Do you want to be a priest, young man?” shows we conflate “Thy will” with “My will” and think the two are one.

Last night I witnessed a wonderful example of Fort Smith Catholics seeking God’s will for our Catholic schools instead of their own wills. 155 people – including both Catholics and non-Catholics – gathered for a convocation to seek creative solutions to specific challenges and develop a strategic growth plan. Fr. Mario Jacobo, pastor of St. Boniface, led us in the Lord’s Prayer at the conclusion of the convocation and that prayer perfectly summed up the purpose of the evening. Each person who attended may have their own ideas of what’s best for our future. Let’s be honest, everyone has an agenda. But collectively, we tried to see that “Thy will” might not be the same as “My will.” The final strategic growth plan will not be the product of any one person’s will, but hopefully the manifestation of God’s will. The first great step of discerning and doing God’s will is to realize it may not be the same as my will.

Our scriptures today also speak about seeking God’s will over personal preferences. St. Paul articulates accurately how God’s will is paramount for him, more precious than life itself. He says in Acts 20: “Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.” You might remember how passionate Paul was on doing his own will before he was knocked off his high horse (literally) and started to seek God’s will instead. Then, Paul could truly pray: “Thy will be done” rather than “My will be done.”

Jesus says in the gospel: “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.” Now you might think that Jesus, of all people, would have no trouble doing God’s will. I think while it was easy for Jesus to discern God’s will, it was not in the least bit easy for him to do God’s will. We only have to read Luke 22:42 where Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still not my will but yours be done.” Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Lord’s Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. In other words, the first great step – and possibly the last great step – to discover and do God’s will is to see it is not synonymous with my own will.

My friends, I believe seeking God’s will requires a healthy suspicion of my own will. That maybe, just maybe, what I want is not exactly what God wants. When the church staff come to me with a conundrum that they cannot solve, I often ask them: ‘What do you think we should do?” I am not saying that to pass the buck or to blame someone else. Rather, I want to hold my own will at bay and be open to God’s will, who may well speak through the staff person. Could seeking God’s will help spouses to communicate better and overcome conflict? Sadly some spousal communication feels like a tug-of-war. They say: “sometimes you get what you want, and sometimes I get what I want.” Do we ever ask what does God want? That maybe something neither spouse wants.

C. S Lewis made this battle of wills blindingly clear in his book called The Great Divorce. The Oxford professor and sincere Christian, wrote: “There are only two kinds of people in the end – those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done’.” And then Lewis draws the terrifying but true conclusion: “All that are in Hell, choose it.” The first great step – and yes, the last great step – in the Christian journey is learning to say “Thy will be done” rather than “My will be done.” Now you know the difference it makes.

Praised be Jesus Christ!