Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven

"The Kingdom of Heaven will belong to the one who has done the will of the Father, not to the one who has piled up word upon word, only to then Revolt Against the will of the Father, thus contradicting the words mentioned above. Here also you unite with the whole Paradise, which does the will of the Father. And if the inhabitants of the Kingdom do this will, will you not do it in turn, to become inhabitants up there? Oh! Joy that has been prepared for you by the unique and love and triune of God! How can you fail to strive, with a persevering will, to conquer it?"

Evolution of the wording :

• Latin: fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra.
• Before 1966: that your will be done on earth as in heaven.
• Current: that thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The petition of the Our Father—"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"—aims at aligning human actions with the divine will. Indeed, the will of God is fundamentally Benevolent: "It is God who works in you to will and to act, according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or questioning" Philippians 2:13-14.

The fulfillment of God’s Will

For Saint Augustine, this petition is a humble submission to the divine will, recognizing that God's will is always good and perfect. It is a prayer that humans accept and conform to God's will, just as angels and saints do in heaven.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his "Summa Theologica" (Volume 1, question 19 - The Will of God), develops three main dimensions of God's will: The will by which God governs all things in Creation according to a perfect order, oriented towards the ultimate Good (Will of ordination). The Will by which God permits certain acts that He does not usually permit. These acts generally escape human understanding (Benevolent Will). The will expressed by God through His commandments, laws, and revealed teachings. It constitutes an explicit indication of what man must accomplish to conform to the divine will (Signified Will). Thus, by praying the Our Father, the believers pray that they might obey God in their daily lives. This implies that God’s justice and mercy are realized in human affairs. By seeking thus to do God’s will, humans become collaborators with God, contributing to the establishment of His reign on earth.

For the Church, as expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the invocation "Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is an invitation to:

• Accept God's will with confidence, modeled after Christ.
• Actively cooperate in His plan of salvation.
• Work towards unity between heaven and earth, so that the divine will reigns in all things.

God has revealed the mystery of His will: to bring all things under one Head, Christ (Ephesians 1:9-11). This is why this prayer asks for the total fulfillment of this Benevolent plan on earth, as perfectly fulfilled in heaven (CCC § 2823).

Jesus is the model of perfect obedience to the Father’s will (CCC § 2824).

The goal of our union with the Father’s Will is that His perfection, as it is in Heaven, becomes reality on earth, in us and around us. This union is made possible by the Holy Spirit who gives us the strength to choose what pleases the Father (CCC § 2825).

Prayer is the path to discern and accomplish God’s will. It is not enough to say words to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but one must do the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21). (CCC §§ 2826-2827)

In Maria Valtorta

In her inspired writings

In EMV 203.9, during the second Passover, Jesus gives the gift of the Our Father to the eleven Apostles, Judas having been absent. On this third petition, Jesus insists on the perfection of the Virtues reigning in Heaven and which must also be found on earth.

""And on earth as it is in Heaven, be done Thy will." The annihilation of one’s own will in favor of that of another can only occur when one has reached perfect love for that creature. The annihilation of one’s own will in favor of God’s will can only happen when one has reached the perfection of the theological Virtues to a heroic degree. In Heaven, where all is without faults, the will of God is fulfilled. Know, you sons of Heaven, to do what is done in Heaven."

In EMV 364.7, during the third Passover, Jesus reaffirms the Benevolent Will of God: that all may be saved..

"May it be done, Most Holy Father, Thy Will in every Heart that exists in the world, that is to say that every Heart be saved and that for none may the Sacrifice of the Great Victim be without fruit, because such is Thy Will: that man be saved and comes to You, Holy Father, after the forgiveness that is about to be given."

In EMV 630.23, the risen Jesus confirms that through His Passion He obtained for us access to Grace which establishes the Kingdom of God in us and that thus we can unite ourselves to God's Will.

"May the Kingdom of God therefore be in you, men, by Grace; may it be on Earth, by the Church, may it be in Heaven for the people of the Blessed who having lived with God in their Heart, united to the Body whose Head is Christ, united to the Vine of which every Christian is a branch, deserve to rest in the Kingdom of Him for whom all things were made: I who speak to you, and who gave Myself up to the 'paternal Will' so that all might be accomplished. Therefore, I can teach you, without hypocrisy, that you must say: 'Thy will be done on Earth as in Heaven.' Just as I did the will of my Father down to the clods of earth, to the plants, to the flowers, to the stones of Palestine, and my wounded flesh, and all a people can say it.

Do as I did to the end, even unto death on the cross, if God wills it. For, remember, I did it and there is no disciple who deserves mercy more than Me. And yet I endured the greatest pain, and even 'I obeyed' through continual renunciations. You know it. You will understand it even more in the Future when you resemble Me by drinking a sip from my chalice...

Keep this constant thought: 'It is by His obedience to the Father that He saved us.' And if you want to be saviors, do what I have done. There will be those who will even know the cross, others the torture of the Tyrians, or the torture of love, of exile from Heaven, tending toward it even into old age before ascending there. Ah God: that in all things may be done what God wants. Consider that death’s torment or life’s torment, when you would like to die to come where I am, are alike in God's eyes if done with joyful obedience. 'They are the Will of God,' and because of that, they are holy."  

In his dictation of July 7, 1943, Jesus stresses the importance of this third petition of the Our Father as it leads to life "in" God.

"Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." The Kingdom of Heaven will belong to the one who has done the will of the Father, not to the one who has piled up word upon word, only to then Revolt Against the will of the Father, thus contradicting the above-mentioned words. Here also you unite with the whole Paradise, which does the will of the Father. And if the inhabitants of the Kingdom do this will, will you not do it in turn, to become inhabitants up there? Oh! Joy which has been prepared for you by the unique and triune love of God! How can you fail to devote yourself, with a persevering will, to conquer it?

He who does the will of the Father lives in God. Living in God, he cannot err, he cannot sin, he cannot lose his home in Heaven, for the Father only has you do what is Good and which, being Good, saves from sin and leads to Heaven. He who makes the Father’s will his own, nullifying his own will, knows and tastes on earth the Peace that is reserved for the Blessed. He who does the will of the Father, killing his own perverse and perverted will, is no longer a man: he is already a spirit moved by love and living in love.

You must, with good will, tear out of your Heart your will and put in its place the Will of the Father. After you have taken care of petitions for the spirit, since you are poor beings, living with the needs of the flesh, ask for bread from the one who provides food for the birds of the air and clothes for the lilies of the field.

In her spirituality

In her Autobiography, Maria Valtorta makes this pertinent remark:

Ninety percent of Catholics — and I speak of practicing Catholics — follow their Religion up to the frequent practice of the Sacraments, mass, the rosary, observance of abstinence and fasting (but already much less), and then... that’s all. The prayer par excellence, which turns into action, they do not know. They stop at 'Thy kingdom come,' then it resumes with: 'Give us our daily bread' (with the implied idea, which is not explicitly said but well sensed by most more than what is said, namely, 'give us much to eat!'), forgive our debts and 'lead us not into temptation.' As for the Will of the Father, it is only named in passing. One never knows! It is not good to make certain petitions! And what if it actually came to the Father’s mind a will that would be painful for us?"

Maria Valtorta had to confront God's Will in its difficulty, the "narrow gate": at the time she wrote these lines, she had experienced affective dryness, the death of her beloved father, jealousy and misunderstanding in her commitments. She was permanently bedridden and would soon become an orphan. Despite all this, she could say with a sincere Heart: "Thy Will be done," which is the Fiat of the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation. We now know all the treasures and Consolations she obtained thereafter, but she did not know them at the time when she wrote these lines and those that follow. She had only trust. A little further on, towards the end of her Autobiography, which takes on more of a testamentary aspect because she believed her death near, she expresses this act of trust in God’s Will in which she was united.

I have realized, for years now, that it is God who acts in me. For years, that is since I have eradicated my human self and have been rebuilt by God, forgetting myself and aiming only at Him. Even my own perceptions, so keen of what happens in the Heart of others, come from nothing of myself. For by myself, I would be more deaf than a mole to all sound waves emanating from my sister Souls. But a power, far superior to mine, makes me able to guess the needs of creatures.

Sometimes I remain speechless realizing that by speaking this way, almost at the suggestion of a third party, I really touch a wound. And I admit to myself: ‘It is really God who acts for us when we have totally surrendered to Him.’

But I must also clarify to the little Souls my sisters, whose greatest fault is to want to consider God according to our human measures, that while on one hand one must have full and total trust in Him, one must not pretend that He does everything. That would be foolishness. It is we who must help God’s work by putting all our good will, and a tenacious good will, to respond to God’s inspirations and work. If we resist, or want to act only by ourselves, or even do nothing at all, then we will achieve nothing good.

We must help the good God by our good will. Then, in turn, God will help us and from this exchange of reciprocal help comes spiritual perfection. To want to act by ourselves would be Pride. And Pride destroys. That is why our work would bear no fruit, but a desolate void, even a tree with poisoned fruits.

We must not be discouraged if we sometimes stumble. That also would be Pride again. We are eternally children at the school of the spirit. And children fall often. But they do not hurt themselves much. It is adults who hurt themselves because they have bones too hard and are not flexible enough. Moreover, if by misfortune, we hurt ourselves greatly, that is one more reason to take refuge in the bosom of God who will heal all our wounds. But if we lock these wounds within us out of Pride, or stupid and useless shame, it will happen that what was only a scratch turns into tetanus or gangrene.

I would say to all the little Souls: ‘Have confidence in God, my brothers, for He is the only one not disgusted by anyone. Man withdraws by criticizing and despising the guilty. God presses them onto His Heart. Christians do not progress in perfection because they still do not know who God is, what His qualities and tastes are. They judge God as one of their own, limited, petty, vindictive, inflexible, stubborn in His positions. Whereas God is love! Whereas God desires us at all costs. Whereas God died to Save us, and knew our sins before we even were!’"

Further reading

• Our Father
• Our Father who art in Heaven
• Hallowed be Thy Name
• Thy Kingdom come
• Give us this day our daily bread
• Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
• Lead us not into temptation
• But deliver us from evil

Voluntary acceptance by man of the will of God. Ex: The fiat of Mary at the Annunciation and the mystery of the Incarnation. (From Latin fiat "let it be done")

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