THY WILL BE DONE

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328) wrote, “We deafen God day and night with our words, “Lord, thy will be done.” But then when God’s will does happen, we are furious and don’t like it a bit. When our will becomes God’s will, that is certainly good; but how much better it would be if God’s will were to become our will.”

It is rather simple and habitual to pray for ‘God’s will to be done” while not so simple to pray for our will not to be done. It is like praying for, “your kingdom come” without praying “my kingdom go.” As with so many theological and philosophical ideas… we really want the Lord to fit into our plans more than we want our plans to fit into his. I think this is why I often assume my prayers ‘are not being answered’ when in act they most likely are clearly being realized in the scope of divine plans. That certainly doesn’t mean I like it very much… but I do believe this is what often happens.

‘Thy will be done’ is a heavy prayer for a soft, white, American protestant.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus