Our Father 6: Thy Will Be Done
Fiat!
Sr. Tamsin Geach o.p
earth given to Him by His heavenly Father – as He says in the High Priestly prayer during the Last Supper discourse in John: ‘I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made’ (Jn. 17:3-5)
He preaches that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt4.17), and the conditions for entering that Kingdom given in the Beatitudes: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt 5.3, 10). As I quoted from St Cyprian last time, from his commentary on the Our Father, perhaps ‘the Kingdom of God means Christ himself …as he is our resurrection, since in him we rise, so he can also be understood as the Kingdom of God, for in him we shall reign.’[1]
Christ pre-eminently fulfils the Father’s will, the mystery of which the Father " has made known to us … according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ . . . to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.’(Eph. 1.9ff). He says of Himself ‘I came down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me (John 6:38)
We are given His Body under the appearance of Bread at the Last Supper, Christ having declared beforehand that He Himself is ‘The Bread of Life’ at the feeding of the Five Thousand. He suffers for us our temptations, both in the desert, throughout His life and in His Passion and Death, and so delivers us from evil.
So in this course of talks on the Our Father we have covered the first three petitions, exploring the Fatherhood of God, what it means to say ‘Who art in Heaven’, and we have looked at the significance of the Name of God, which we pray to be hallowed. Last time we met we talked about what we mean when we pray ‘Thy Kingdom come.’
Tonight I want to focus in upon the petition, ‘fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra,’ in particular on the word ‘fiat’ – let it be, become, be made. People who have been taught Latin by me(some of whom might have been tempted to feel I should get out more!) will know that I get excited about this word Fiat. But it is exciting! The word means ‘Be, Become, Be Made. Why is this word so important? Firstly because in a way it is a reflection of the Divine name.
As Sr Magdalene discussed in her talk on ‘Hallowed be thy name’, when God revealed His name to Moses in the book of Exodus He says He is “I am who I am” [’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh; אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה] (Exodus 3:13-14.) Later God repeats this name, telling Moses again, “Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘I Am [אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה] YHWH has sent me to you.’
This Divine name is cognate with the first word spoken by God in the Bible: יְהִ֣י (yehi). This is often translated with what grammar teachers call a jussive subjunctive ‘Let there be light’ but it is also sometimes rendered as a simple imperative ‘Be Light made’. Whichever it should be, the point is still there – the first Word God speaks into our world is like His Name, and is this command: ‘Be, become, be made.’ In all creation, ‘Being’ is a reflection of the Being of God, a participation by likeness with His own nature. God spoke the universe into being, Himself being absolute Being.
In another tense of the verb, Fiat is the word used in the prologue to St John’s Gospel ' et Verbum caro factum est’ - and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ This is why in the new translation of the Creed ‘and was made Man’ was changed to ‘and became Man.’ Both are possible translations of the Latin, but only the second contains the allusion to John Chapter 1.
At the Annunciation, on 25th March we celebrate that most celebrated ‘fiat’ of all time, Our Lady’s ‘yes’ to the plan for our redemption. The moment of the New Creation, of our Redemption thus also begins with this word ‘Let it be, become, happen, be made, according to thy word.’ ‘Fiat’ is our Lady’s response to the angel’s salutation and message: ‘fiat mecum secundum Verbum tuum, let it be with me according to thy word.’ The response of the creature echoes and recapitulates the beginning of creation in the New life of grace. This was made possible through Christ becoming man, this equally was made possible through Mary’s uncompromising ‘Yes’ to the angel’s message.
St Bernard preaches upon this in his sermon on the Annunciation:
You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.
The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.
Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.
Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.
Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.’
Fiat is also the word spoken by Our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane ‘Father, if it is your will, let this cup pass from Me, but ‘Fiat’ Let your will be, become, be made not Mine’.
It is this word that is used in the Our Father, ‘Fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra’ Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here we echo the beginning of God’s creative work, the beginning of the New work of creation in grace, the acceptance by the Divine Word of the Father’s will, ushering in our salvation
St Thomas Aquinas sees this petition as related to the infused gift of knowledge. Knowledge, he says, is that ‘whereby man lives justly.’ Such knowledge pre-eminently implies a dependence upon God rather than upon our own opinion. In the first place, humility demands that we not trust ourselves too much even in dealing with other humans, since ‘where humility is there is also wisdom’ (Prov. 11.2); but through the gift of Wisdom the Holy Spirit ‘teaches us to do not our own will but the will of God.’ So Wisdom causes us to pray of God that His will be done, in which is ‘seen the gift of knowledge.’ It is only in being in accord with the will of God that our hearts are right. This ‘rightness’ is typified for us in Christ, Who in His divine nature simply has the same will as God the Father, but in His human nature, having a distinct and human will, says ‘I came down from Heaven not to do My own Will but the Will of Him Who sent Me (Jn. 6.38).
What is being asked? As I said last time, this is a prayer that on the face of it seems a bit pointless, in that God’s Will will be done whether we ask for it or not: ‘Whatsoever the Lord has willed, He has done (Ps. 115.3). St Thomas answers that we need to understand that God wills for us three things: eternal life, that we be saved, and have life everlasting ‘This is the will of my Father that sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have life everlasting (John 6:40). This has already been fulfilled in the saints, but we are praying that ‘it likewise be done for us who are on earth’ It is for this that we pray ‘ thy will be done for us who are on earth, as it is for the saints who are in heaven.’
Secondly God wills that we keep the commandments. His will that we be saved is contingent upon this: ‘If you will to enter into life, keep the commandments’, (Matt 19.17) the ‘good, acceptable and perfect will of God’(Rom 12:2): His will is good, St Thomas says, because it brings us good, is profitable. It is ‘acceptable’ because as lovers of God we should love His will and find it delightful: ‘light shines forth for the just; and joy for the upright of heart (Ps 97 [96]:11), and it is ‘perfect, because noble: be you therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48).’ Saying ‘thy will be done’ is a prayer that we may keep the commandments, ‘that the will of God may be done on earth, that is, by sinners, as it is in heaven, that is, by the just.’ St Thomas here notes that the wording of the petition – not ‘do’ or ‘let us do’, but ‘let thy will be done’, implies the interaction of grace and free will, since, as Augustine says, ‘He who created you without yourself, will not justify you without yourself.’ The word ‘Fiat’ holds this tension in balance
‘Do not, therefore, presume on your own strength, but trust in God’s grace; and be not negligent, but use the zeal you have. It does not say, therefore, “let us do,” lest it would seem that the grace of God were left out; nor does it say, “do,” lest it would appear that our will and our zeal do not matter. He does say, let it be done through the grace of God at the same time using our desire and our own efforts.’
Thirdly St Thomas says, God wills our restoration to the original ‘state and dignity’ in which we were created, where spirit, soul and flesh were integrated and ‘no resistance from sensuality and the flesh’ impeded. God wills the end of the ‘endless strife between flesh and spirit’ by which we are ‘continually being brought lower by sin.’ This will of God ‘cannot be fulfilled in this life’ but will be in the general resurrection when ‘glorified bodies shall rise incorrupt and most perfect,’ and the spirit will abide in ‘justice and knowledge and perfect life.’ Here St Thomas interprets the ‘on earth’ as applying to what is to be done for our flesh and ‘as in heaven’ as applying to our spirit. The prayer is for the strife of flesh and spirit to end in glory.
Let it be done. Let it happen. Let it become. Let it be made. We pray daily for God’s will to be done, and often that prayer has the subtext of a certain grimness. ‘God’s will be done’ we say as we face some inevitable seeming tragedy. We focus more, often, in our praying of this prayer on the Gethsemane aspect, the resignation of Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, living out in bitterest sorrow and, to the fullest extent, the consequences of her earlier fiat. In a way it is right that we do so, following the pattern of Our Lady, suffering at the Crucifixion in her soul the agony she was spared In childbirth in her body. following the pattern of our Saviour who prayed that He might be spared this cup, but also prayed ‘Let not my will but thine be done’, and lived that word right up to the point of death and beyond, through the brutalities and humiliations of His Passion and death, commending His soul into the hands of His Father. Christ in His humanity has fulfilled the Father’s Will perfectly. It is only Jesus Who can say ‘I do always what is pleasing to Him’ (Jn 8:29), a fulfilling of the Will of the Father that led directly to the Cross. As an evangelical writer, Elizabeth Elliot put this thus, ‘To pray ‘Thy will be done’ I must be willing, if the answer requires it, that my will be undone’
The petition is thus that the Father should unite our will to his Son's, and so fulfil ‘His will, His plan of salvation for the life of the world.’
This, the Catechism reminds us, we are radically incapable of, but ‘united with Jesus and with the power of his Holy Spirit, we can surrender our will to him and decide to choose what his Son has always chosen: to do what is pleasing to the Father.’(CCC2825) .Yet we should notice that in the Our Father, the prayer is not simply ‘thy Will be done’ or ‘thy will be done in Heaven, but ‘thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’! How is God’s will done in heaven?
Firstly, in Heaven in the state of Glory, the angels and saints work the will of God in perfect freedom, and this freedom, imperfectly belongs to us now. In Gaudium et Spes we read ‘God willed that man… might of his own accord seek his creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him" (GS 17 # 1). We have the freedom to act, or not to do so, which constitutes what it is to act as a human being; and this freedom is perfectly fulfilled when we direct our will towards God ‘our sovereign Good’(CCC 1744). It is "For freedom[that] Christ has set us free" (Gal 5:1). In committing ourselves to Christ, ‘we can become one spirit with him, and thereby accomplish his will, in such wise that it will be perfect on earth as it is in heaven.’ Origen on Prayer 26.
Secondly, in Heaven the angels and saints act freely from an infused knowledge of the truth, not blinded by ignorance or sin. Even here and now Christ has ‘made known to us the mystery of His will’ There is no question there of what the will of God is: God here and now ‘desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.(1 Tim2.3-4)
Thirdly, in heaven this truth and freedom to do God’s will is exercised in perfect love: The will of God for us is that we ‘love one another’ as He has loved us. This is a commandment only attainable through grace, but which ‘summarizes all the others and expresses his entire will.(CCC2822) St John Chrysostom points out that there is a universality about this petition: ‘For he did not say "thy will be done in me or in us," but "on earth," the whole earth, so that error may be banished from it, truth take root in it, all vice be destroyed on it, virtue flourish on it, and earth no longer differ from heaven.’ St John Chrysostom Hom in Mat. 19). In this petition we unite ourselves with the mystical Body od Christ, such that, as Augustine muses ‘It would not be inconsistent with the truth to understand the words, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," to mean: "in the Church as in our Lord Jesus Christ himself"; or "in the Bride who has been betrothed, just as in the Bridegroom who has accomplished the will of the Father." (St Augustine De Serm Dom. 2.6, 24)
In Christ “we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will.” (Eph 1.9-11) We pray constantly for the realisation of this loving plan on earth as it is already in heaven. Not then finally in agony and pain, not in desolation, but in joy, in freedom and in love, in resurrection, in being, becoming and being made into the image and likeness of God.