“Thy will be done” with Saint Teresa, Our Mother

We continue with the Chapter 32th of The Way of Perfection!

In this chapter, Saint Teresa shares with us the petition from the Lord's Prayer:

“Thy will be done!”

When Teresa addresses this petition from the Lord's Prayer, she enters into a decisive depth. We no longer ask for consolations or visible help: we surrender ourselves! These words commit our whole lives.

St. Thérèse first emphasizes the seriousness of this request. Saying “Thy will be done” is not a beautiful, pious phrase: it is truly offering one's will to God. She warns against words spoken without inner commitment.

She states emphatically: "Be careful what you say; for if you say it with all your heart, you are putting yourself entirely in God's hands. " This surrender is concrete, daily, but sometimes crucifying.

For Thérèse, perfection does not consist in ecstasy, but in the union of our will with God's: The soul truly advances when it wants what God wants! She says it clearly: “All perfection consists in conforming our will to God's.”

Prayer is not given to us so that God will do our will, but so that our will may be in accordance with His. And this conformity is verified in trials, in setbacks, in the missions we receive, in our daily relationships with others.

Therese tells us clearly: God takes this offering seriously. He may lead us down paths we would not have chosen, in order to purify our love and make it grow. Yet this is true freedom: to want only what God wants!

Thus, at the beginning of this chapter, Thérèse places us before a decision of love. To say “Thy will be done” is to consent to belong totally to God. It is to sign with our hearts the covenant that He offers us.

«Thy will be done!»