Without question, the hardest petition to make from a sincere heart, is taught to us by Jesus at least twice. He taught it to us in the Lord's prayer:
Thy will be done.
He taught us again in the garden of Gethsemane when He uttered Himself, drenched in a sweat of blood.
This is the petition of saints because it's a petition, not of deliverance from a cross but for the grace of surrender to that cross.
Saint after Saint was called to do the impossible;
Ignatius to face the lions
Joan of Arc to face the flames
Maria Goretti to forgive her rapist and murderer
John Paul II to forgive his attempted assassin.
To love the unlovable, to believe the unbelievable, to forgive the unforgivable, to endure the unendurable and to hope for the hopeless. All are the fruit of this simple but incredibly difficult petition.
Thy will be done.
It is a surrender to the providence of God which is often bewildering and exhausting. It is the ultimate act of faith, to accept the cross.
Let us all pray to receive that special and extraordinary grace. Though it is perfectly fine to ask God to take the cup of bitterness from us, the real test begins when we must say yes to His no.
Comments