Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/60

 coming, when  "The  kingdoms  of  the  world  shall  become the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  and  of  His  Christ,  and  He  shall reign  forever  and  ever;  "  when  all  wrongs  shall  be  righted, and all  justice  done,  and  the  proud  shall  be  cast  down, and the  meek  shall  inherit  the  kingdom,  and  Satan  and his ministers  shall  be  chained  in  everlasting  darkness; "when God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  our  eyes; and  death  shall  be  no  more,  nor  mourning,  nor  crying, nor  any  more  sorrow,  for  the  former  things  are  passed away." (Apoc. xxi.  4.)  Behold  all  the  matter  of  prayer contained in  this  one  petition. Well might  we  spend upon it  the  whole  time  of  our  prayer.

Next follows  the  petition,  "Thy  will  be  done  on  earth, as  it  is  in  heaven." And here  we  speak  to  Our  Lord  as to  a  spouse:  for  while  respect  and  veneration  are  owed to the  name  of  Father,  and  between  a  king  and  his  subjects there  is  the  interchange  of  commands  and  obedience, so,  between  two  who  are  so  closely  united  as  two spouses, there  is  an  interchange  of  wills,  each  being desirous to  do  the  will  of  the  other. For all  that  one has is  the  other's,  and  their  affairs  are  in  common. So Our Lord  makes  all  He  has  ours — and  all  He  desires  is that  we  should  make  all  that  is  ours  His;  and  when  there are common  interests,  there  should  be  one  will. He desires us  to  give  Him  our  will;  and  when  we  have  done so, and  sincerely  desire  and  do  His  will,  He,  in  return, does our  will,  and  all  that  we  ask  of  Him  He  grants  us; so that,  as  St.  Teresa  says,  Our  Lord  is  pleased  that  thus He and  the  faithful  soul  should  command  by  turns,  as  it were — the  soul  doing  His  will,  and  He  doing  hers. In His kingdom  in  heaven  His  will  is  perfectly  done;  so  it is  no  more  than  right,  if  we  desire  His  kingdom  to  be  on earth  (as  we  have  asked  in  the  former  petition),  that  His will should  be  done  in  this  kingdom  as  in  the  other. Here, then,  you  can  earnestly  pray  for  this  perfect  conformity of  your  will  with  His  will;  in  this  conformity consists all  perfection.