“your kingdom come”
“Our Father is in heaven, and our daily lives should be brought into harmony with God’s eternity. As Christ first pronounced ‘Thy will be done’ in teaching us this prayer, He knew He would one day say the same prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.”[i] Jesus shows us not only what to prayer (the Our Father), but how to pray. When we are in the toughest times of our life, the Garden of Gethsemanes, we imitate our Lord and pray, “thy will be done”.
We pray “thy will be done” not only in the difficult times but daily as we pray the Our Father daily. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton would often say to her sisters, “I propose that we do the will of God, when God wills and how God wills.” The “how God wills” is always answered by “as it is in heaven”. We cannot pretend to do the will of God in a way other than God Himself would will it. The goal of the Christian is to unite our will with God’s will. Saint Gerard and many Saints often spoke, wrote, and all practiced this surrender to the will of God, when God willed, and how God willed. This love and obedience to the will of God is the fruit of prayer. For when we pray the “Our Father” or any prayer for that matter, we must believe what we pray, and then we must live what we believe. Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache”[ii]
If we have to unite our will with God’s will, is our will still “free will”? What makes our will “free” is that we have the freedom to pursue good and avoid evil. Every day we have presented to us “good” and “evil”. What do we freely choose? What or to whom do we serve? What or to whom do we give our “free will” to? If we use our free will for good, we practice virtue. If we use our free will for evil, we sin. If we habitually use our free will for good we are a virtuous person and can even become a Saint by practicing virtue to a heroic degree. If we habitually use our free will for evil, we lose the state of Grace. Obstinacy in sin (habitually continuing to sin without the desire to change) is a sin against the Holy Spirit. When we use our free will for evil we are not living out what we pray in the Our Father, “as it is in Heaven”, for in Heaven evil is not chosen. Falling out of the state of Grace is a loss of Heaven. When we use free will for good we are living out what we pray and already sharing in, or experiencing a piece of Heaven.
What does the Church ask for when she prays “Thy Kingdom come”? [iii] The Church prays for the final coming of the Kingdom of God through Christ’s return in glory. The Church prays also that the Kingdom of God increase from now on through people’s sanctification in the Spirit and through their commitment to the service of justice and peace in keeping with the Beatitudes. This petition is the cry of the Spirit and the Bride: “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). The Kingdom will not be realized until we reach heaven. We pray at Mass that we and all the deceased will stand before Christ along with Mary and all the Saints and Angels. “Help us to work together for the coming of your Kingdom, until the hour when we stand before you, Saints among the Saints in the halls of heaven, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, the blessed Apostles and all the Saints, and with our deceased brothers and sisters, whom we humbly commend to your mercy. Then, freed at last from the wound of corruption and made fully into a new creation, we shall sing to you with gladness the thanksgiving of Christ, who lives for all eternity.”[iv]
How does “the Kingdom of God increase from now on…”? The Kingdom of God is perpetuated specifically through two Sacraments, the Sacraments of vocation or also we could say the Sacraments that perpetuate life. These Sacraments are Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders. “By Holy Matrimony the line of those who receive the divine life is maintained”[v] in other words Holy Matrimony perpetuates the physical life of the Kingdom. What happens when the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is attacked or not entered into? If the pillars of marriage (heterosexual, open to life, exclusiveness, and permanence) are not held and maintained the effect on the Kingdom of God and the world is devastating. If the heterosexual and openness to life are not respected it not only denies life but decreases it significantly. “By Holy Orders the line of those who transmit the divine life is maintained”[vi] in other words Holy Orders perpetuates the spiritual life (divine life) of the Kingdom. What Sacraments do we lose if we don’t have a priest to transmit the Sacrament? If we take away the priesthood, we have eliminated five of the seven Sacraments: Holy Orders, Confirmation, Reconciliation, the Eucharist, and Anointing of the Sick. There is no doubt why Satan, who is anti-life would wish more than anything to end the physical life of the Kingdom by attacking Holy Matrimony and the spiritual life of the Kingdom by attacking Holy Orders.
How does the Kingdom increase “through people’s sanctification in the Spirit”? The sanctification of the people in the Spirit is due to the Sacrament of Confirmation, which “strengthens the divine life within us.”[vii] To practice virtue to a heroic degree and accomplish the duties, which pertain to our vocation, we need the gift of strength, Confirmation. For this reason Confirmation is required prior to receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony.
Why pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?[viii] The will of the Father is that “all men…be saved” (1 Timothy 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 the 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” (Romans 12:2) and have the “steadfastness to do it” (Hebrews 10:36). The gifts of the Holy Spirit are important in knowing and doing the will of God. The gift of counsel “helps us to judge promptly, correctly, and according to the will of God.”[ix] Once we know God’s will be are obligated to do the will of God. The gift of fortitude “makes us steadfast in the Faith, constant in struggle and faithful in perseverance.”[x]
Will we ever have “heaven” on “earth”? No. Heaven is the “state of supreme and definitive happiness”[xi] Another name for happiness is beatitude. The beatitudes contain promises that occur now, but reach their full actuality later. The beatitudes “teach man the final end to which God calls us: the Kingdom, the vision of God, participation in the divine nature, eternal life, filiation, rest in God.”[xii]Although we can have a small glimpse of the beatific vision on earth it is only a glimpse of what we will come see face to face in heaven. There is not a “definite” state of happiness on earth. The happiness we experience on earth is many times fleeting and interrupted. There is not a “supreme” state of happiness on earth. The happiness we experience on earth is good, but not as good as the source of all goodness, God Himself, Whom we will see face to face in Heaven. Even the Mass, which is a “taste of heaven”, is still in a sense under a veil due to human weakness and imperfections. We should work and pray to make earth as it is in heaven, but we can never fall into the falsehood that we could have heaven on earth.
What sort of things does a kingdom have? To have a kingdom there must be a king, and if there is a king there are those who are loyal to the service of the king. These people serve the king, yet the king also serves them through protection, land, etc. A king has a thrown, a crown, a queen, knights, and a castle. Jesus Christ is the King of Kings. His Kingdom is not of this world, although it makes an impact in this world, it is not headquartered here. For this reason we say, “as it is in heaven”.
The Kingdom of God is rooted in heaven. Jesus has a throne; He sits upon the throne of the tabernacle in every Church throughout the world. Saint Therese tells us that Jesus does not only desire to sit upon the throne of all the tabernacles in the world, but that He wishes to sit upon the throne of each individual soul. We pray that His Kingdom will come because Christ does not yet sit upon the thrones of all hearts. Although there are many Churches around the world, there are many countries that still desperately need Jesus to sit upon the throne of the tabernacle so that they may draw to the font of the liturgy and Sacraments. The crown that Jesus wears is the crown of thorns, this is the crown of the suffering servants who is willing lay down His life and indeed does lay down His life for us. The queen of Christ the King is the Queen Mother Mary, who is the Queen of Heaven and Queen of Angels. She is the loving mother that not only loves her Son, but also loves all those that her Son has given her when He said from the Cross, “Behold, your mother.”[xiii] The castle is the Church; the fortified city of God which the “gate of hell shall not prevail,”[xiv]. All of the faithful enter its’ walls not only for protect, but for a banquet in the royal court. Christ the King has knights; these are primarily the bishops, priests, and deacons. They are also all those who teach, hold, and defend the Catholic faith. This is why in the Eucharistic prayer at each Mass we pray for “all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith.”[xv]
What does the Kingdom of God consist of? The Kingdom of God is one ruled by Christ the King and its characteristics are eternal, universal, true, life giving, holy, full of grace, justice, charity, and peace. On the solemnity of Christ the King the Church prays in the preface of the Mass, “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God. For you anointed your Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the oil of gladness as eternal Priest and King of all creation, so that, by offering himself on the altar of the Cross as a spotless sacrifice to bring us peace, he might accomplish the mysteries of human redemption and, making all created things subject to his rule, he might present to the immensity of your majesty an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”[xvi]
[i] Roman Catholic Daily Missal (1962); The Pater Noster
[ii] Sheen, Seven Words of Jesus and Mary
[iii] Compendium – Catechism of the Catholic Church - 590
[iv] The Order of the Mass; Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation I
[v] Roman Catholic Daily Missal (1962); The Sacraments
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Compendium – Catechism of the Catholic Church - 591
[ix] Daily Roman Missal; Midwest Theological Forum; Gifts of the Holy Spirit
[x] Ibid.
[xi] Compendium – Catechism of the Catholic Church - 209
[xii] Daily Roman Missal; Midwest Theological Forum; Beatitudes
[xiii] John 19:27
[xiv] Matthew 16:18
[xv] The Order of the Mass; Eucharistic Prayer I
[xvi] The Order of the Mass; Preface; Solemnity of Christ the King