Thy Will be done

Thy will be done

Fr. Langford, the cofounder of the Missionary of Charity priests in a radio interview to Sr. Patricia narrated the following story of Mother Teresa.

One day in the mother house in Calcutta there were about three hundred novices and they were all out for the morning. One of the novices working in the kitchen came up to Mother Teresa and said, “We’ve planned poorly; we have no flour to fry chapathis for lunch.” The situation looked bleak—three hundred plus mouths are coming to be fed in about an hour and a half and there’s nothing to cook with. There’ll be no food for lunch.

“What I would expect Mother Teresa to do,” Fr. Langford explained to me, “was that Mother would pick up the telephone and call some of her benefactors and mobilize them to find some way to feed her daughters. Instead, her reaction—her spontaneous reaction—was to say to this little one, ‘Sister, you’re in charge of the kitchen this week? Well then, go into the chapel and tell Jesus we have no food. That’s settled. Now let’s move on. What’s next?’” 

Lo and behold, ten minutes later there was a ring at the door and Mother Teresa was called downstairs. A man she had never seen before was standing there with a clipboard. He addressed her saying “Mother Teresa, we were just informed that the teachers at the city schools are going on strike. Classes have been dismissed and we have 7,000 lunches we don’t know what to do with. Can you help us use them?” 

God had  provided for the needs of his children. 

He always does, in ways we may never expect or fathom. It’s often said – If he brings you to it, He will bring you through it – If you have faith. The power of faith is the essence of Prayer –  in simple words - Thy will be done.

Often we pray as we were taught to pray – first in the womb, then on the lap and then on our knees.  We utter words that have profundity embedded in them, which disappears when we enunciate them, as we rarely apply our mind or more importantly, our heart to them.

For the duration of our prayers, our minds revolve like the earth around the sun and at its culmination, we seek the blessings of the Lord on our lives and loved ones. Sometimes it is akin to public speaking – we make a speech,  and we don’t even care if our audience understands us or not.

We pray – “Thy will be done” – but, as fallible human beings, we often translate this into – My will be done…..through You.  My will includes, His blessings for a good life, a healthy body, a comfortable living,  a loving family, and everything that is good in life.  

Generally we also thank the Lord for the blessings that we have received from him – the ones we consider good.  We don’t mention the bad. The good and bad are relative to the world  in which we live, where we compete for recognition, money, health and love. What we fail to understand is that they are not according to the world in which God lives and reigns.

In the Lord’s book, a prayer is a communication between friends.  Something all of us do from time to time, in good times and in bad – with sincerity, with honesty and with love. When you love someone, you trust them implicitly, you are open to, and with them, and you pour out your heart to them.  We expect nothing in return, but a kind and empathetic ear. In turn our friend gives us all of these and all the help he possibly can in the circumstances,  in the best way he can.  We are helpless, yes, but are trusting and accepting. We have faith that he will help us if he can, when he can. No doubts whatsoever. And what a friend we have in Jesus.

Prayer is a like a mirror. Its response only reflects our faith. It is a communication highway. But to traverse this highway requires humility, faith, righteousness and acceptance of the will of God. Not a very tall order. Prayer is not a mysterious and eloquent ritual for the erudite and knowledgeable.  It is an option to communicate with God from whatever platform we find ourselves on. As our friend, His ears and heart remain open always. It’s ours that we close, the moment the mirror tells us something different from what we want to hear.

Dear Lord,

This then is my prayer to thee. Thy will be done.