Day 361: The Kingdom and Will of God

By prayer, we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it.108 Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven." CCC 2826

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses the next parts of the Lord's Prayer, that is, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done." For the first part, we pray for the Lord Christ's return in glory and the final victory of His Kingdom. We also pray that while we tarry here on earth, the increase of those who come to know Him and greater sanctification of His own through the spread of the Gospel, as well as commitment to justice, peace, and following the Beatitudes. Marana tha (Rev 22:20)! For the second part, that is the most challenging for us: following the will of the Father. Christ ultimately is our model in doing so, but so are the Blessed Theotokos and the holy saints.

The Catechism Compendium summarizes why we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”:

The will of the Father is that “all men be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). For this, Jesus came: to perfectly fulfill the saving will of his Father. We pray God our Father to unite our will to that of his Son after the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints. We ask that this loving plan be fully realized on earth as it is already in heaven. It is through prayer that we can discern “what is the will of God” (Rom 12:2) and have the “steadfastness to do it” (Heb 10:36). (#591)

The Catechism Companion Vol III has some good commentary on this:

The Eucharist is more than a worship service, praise, or gathering; it is where the Kingdom is particularly present, and God's reign is acknowledged... Our call to live forever in heaven underscores that we must work for righteousness in the world... As humans, we cannot, on our own, completely join our will with God's... There is a distinction between recognizing what God wants and having the perseverance to act on it. Both are needed to live out the Christian life. We should pray for the wisdom to know what God wants, the courage to start doing it. and the perseverance to continue doing it with the help of God's grace. (p. 238)