Homily for Lent 2 - February 28, 2021

 

Homily for Lent 2

February 28, 2021

Thy Will Be Done

 

            The most dangerous prayer we can ever pray is, “Thy Will Be Done.”

            Why is this dangerous? Because one of our most prized possessions is our will. We have our plans, our desires, our control of our lives. But to surrender our will to God’s will is the very essence of holiness.

            Abraham had to learn this the hard way! We need to look outside of this short first reading to see Abraham’s struggle. God had promised that Abraham would be the father of many nations and would inherit the Promised Land of Israel – but before that could come to fruition, a famine forced him to travel to Egypt. While in Egypt, he was afraid that Pharaoh would try to kill him and steal his wife Sarah, because she was very beautiful. So Abraham told everyone that Sarah was actually his sister – a lack of trust in God that caused him a great deal of suffering! When he finally returned to the land of Israel, Abraham still hadn’t had any descendants so he tried to figure out a way to solve that problem by his own efforts – by having relations with his wife’s servant Hagar. That, too, ended poorly as it infuriated Sarah. Once again, Abraham tried to force God’s promises to come true by his own efforts, instead of trusting in God’s patient, mysterious will.

            So when we come to this first reading of the sacrifice of Isaac, God is asking Abraham, “Are you ready to stop trying to do this your way, and are you willing to trust Me?” Abraham finally does trust God. Consider this: the journey from where he was living to Mount Moriah took him three days. He must have been in anguish, but he had finally surrendered to God enough to keep walking. When he reaches the foot of the mountain, he tells his servants, “The boy and I will go up the mountain to worship, and then we will come back to you” – he knows that somehow, some way, God is going to rescue his son so that both of them return. Then when Isaac asks him, “Father, where is the sacrifice?” Abraham responds, “God Himself will provide the sacrifice” – he knew that somehow God would intervene. He didn’t know how, or when, or why – but Abraham knew God would come through, so he was willing to surrender to God’s plan.

            That can be a scary thing, to give up control of our life. But surrendering our will to God is a necessary key to holiness. One day, Saint Faustina wrote in her diary the words, “From now on, my own will does not exist” and then drew a giant X across the page. On the next page she wrote, “From today on, I do the will of God everywhere, always, and in everything.” This should be the attitude of every Christian.

            So we know we have to surrender, but why? As it says in Dante’s Paradiso, “In His will is our peace.” His plans are much, much better than ours. His will is not mysterious; He has made clear that His will is our holiness, everlasting happiness, and the salvation of the world. That’s a pretty epic plan that is unfolding – and when we surrender our will to His, we participate in this plan, which is far better than our tiny, mundane plans here on earth!

            So how do we surrender to God’s will? Three suggestions.

            First, pray about major decisions. When I was the chaplain at Trinity, I used to ask kids, “So what do you want to do with your life?” Recently, though, I began asking a different question: “What do you think God wants you to do with your life?” Sometimes those questions get very different answers!

            So ask God what His plans are for your life. Before you make a major purchase, or decide where to go to college, or what job to take, or whether or not to have a new child, ask Him. And then listen. God will speak to us through the teachings of the Catholic Church, through the Scriptures, through other people, spiritual books, or even thoughts and memories and emotions He stirs up within us. We must listen with “holy indifference”, as St. Ignatius calls it – without biases or pre-made answers or plans, so that God can truly reveal His will to us.

            A second way to surrender our will to God’s will is to accept whatever God sends, with peace and tranquility. I think of that line from the famous “Serenity Prayer”: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. That traffic jam, this headache, that boring meeting is God’s will for you at this moment. How is God trying to teach us, lead us, and form us through these things He sends? Patiently accepting everything is key to surrendering our will to His.

            Finally, obey God and His teachings, which He has revealed through the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. Sometimes we think we know better than the Church which Jesus Christ established, and we say, “Well, I know the Church teaches X, but I want to do Y!” To surrender our will to God is also to conform our life to His teachings – whether we understand them or are still wrestling with them. After all, the Psalms say, “Lord, your law is my delight” – my delight, because it leads to deep happiness!

            If you want to be holy…and happy…surrender your will to God’s will. St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote a beautiful prayer of surrender: “Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To You, O Lord, I return it. All is Yours, do with it according to Your will. Give me Your love and Your grace, for this is enough for me.”

            We will not be asked to sacrifice our first-born child, as Abraham was. But we are asked to sacrifice something of equal value – our desires, our wants, our plans – our very will. Jesus Himself always did the will of His Heavenly Father; may we be able to pray with courage that dangerous prayer, “Lord, Your Will be done.”