submission to the will of his Heavenly Father: " Not my will but thine be done. " [1]
But, such is the degeneracy of our nature, that, even when we have contravened our inordinate desires, and subjected them to the will of God, we cannot avoid sin without his assistance, by which we are protected from evil, and directed in the pursuit of good. To this petition, therefore, we must have recourse, beseeching God to perfect in us those things which his grace has begun; to repress the turbulent emotions of desire; to subject our sensual appetites to the voice of reason; in a word, to render us entirely conformable to his holy will. We pray that the whole world may receive the knowledge of his will; that the mystery of God, hidden from all ages and generations, may be made known to all. We, also, pray for the form and model of this obedience, that our conformity to the will of God be regulated according to the rule observed by the blessed angels and the choirs of other celestial spirits; that, as they spontaneously and with ecstatic pleasure, obey God, we too may yield a cheerful obedience to his will in the manner most acceptable to him.
God also requires, that in serving him we be actuated by the greatest love, and by the most exalted charity: that, whilst we devote ourselves entirely to him, with the hope of receiving heaven as the reward of our fidelity, we look forward to that reward, because it has pleased the Divine Majesty that we should cherish that hope. Let all our hopes, therefore, be based on the love of that God, who proposes as its reward the happiness of" heaven. There are some who love to serve another, but who do so, however, solely with a view to some recompense, which is the end and aim of their love; whilst others, influenced by love alone, and by generous devotedness, look to nothing else in the services which they render, than the goodness and worth of him whom they serve; and in being able to render him these services deem themselves happy. This is the meaning of the Note. terms appended to the petition, and of the apposition between the words, "On earth as it is in Heaven"
It is, then, our duty to endeavour, as much as possible, to be obedient to God, as we have said the blessed spirits are, whose praises in the performance of this exercise of profound obedience are celebrated by David in the psalm in which occur the words " Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his will." Should any one, however, adopting the interpretation of St. Cyprian, understand the words, " in heaven," to mean in the good and the pious, and the words " on earth," the wicked and the impious, we do not disapprove of the interpretation; by the word " heaven" understanding " the spirit," and by the word " earth" " the flesh," that all creatures may in all things obey the will of God. [2]
