THY WILL BE DONE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Thy Will Be Done.”

When I read over the readings for the feast of the Annunciation - which was moved to today - because of Holy Week, - the phrase and prayer that I heard was, “Thy Will Be Done.”

The Psalm response we said was, “Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.”

The first reading from Isaiah is about asking the Lord for a sign - wanting to know what’s what, what does God want?  And Ahaz says stop wearying the Lord with requests - needing signs. Then he gives the great sign, the great quote, from Isaiah 7:14:

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us!”  

Today’s second reading from Hebrews has the person praying saying two times loud and clear: “Behold, I come to do your will.”

And the gospel has Mary saying at the Annunciation that she is willing to be the Lord’s servant - the Lord’s handmaid.

So that’s why the title of my homily is, “Thy Will Be Done.”

WILL

If we listen to each other we use the word “will” all day long.

·        “I will do it?”

·        “Will you do me a favor?”

·        “Well, who do you think will do this?”

·        “I will try to get there by 3 PM.”

So what “will” means is very clear and very basic.

But what “will” means is sometimes not so clear.

Sometimes we don’t know what the other wants.  Don’t we say with some people, “Give me a clue please - just what you want me to do?”

And when it comes to God - what God’s will is - is often very tricky and very unclear.

Yet we pray in every Our Father, “Thy will be done - on earth as it is in heaven.”

I suggest you do some thinking about “will” - and I think it will bring good results.

I suggest you do some good thinking and reflecting on what “God’s will” means - and it will bring good results.

CONCLUSION

There are answers. Here are two: science and scriptures.

Most basic is science. Scientific reasoning teaches the message: do good and good things happen. Do bad things and bad things happen.  Not all the time - but in the long room, obviously yes. Sometimes someone makes it to 97 and they report that they smoked their entire life. However, in general I sense that smokers live 10 years less than non-smokers. If someone disagrees with that, it ain’t worth arguing about. Common sense days if you mess with Mother Nature - expect damaged earth and bodies. Drive while drunk, expect accidents. Don’t exercise - expect weaker health.

Second answer: scriptures. As Christians we read and hear the scriptures and we get good answers to what God’s will is.  So when we say, “Thy will be done!” we can mean it to say: I will try to be like Jesus and Mary. Live a live like theirs and I’ll be doing God’s will. I love the simple text in Mark. It was under a painting of Jesus in a retreat house where I was stationed: “He went around doing good.”