Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
What Does It Mean To Say “Thy Will Be Done?”

What Does It Mean To Say “Thy Will Be Done?”

Last updated on: April 9, 2022 at 9:46 pm by Mary Pezzulo

What Does It Mean To Say “Thy Will Be Done?” 2022-04-09T21:46:13-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke:

Then going out, he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives,
and the disciples followed him.
When he arrived at the place he said to them,
“Pray that you may not undergo the test.”
After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling,
he prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing,
take this cup away from me;
still, not my will but yours be done.”
And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him.
He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently
that his sweat became like drops of blood
falling on the ground.
When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples,
he found them sleeping from grief.
He said to them, “Why are you sleeping?
Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”

This passage has become my favorite Gospel story, and it contains my least favorite Bible quote.

I am constantly drawn to the image of Christ in Gethsemane: Christ, the all-powerful second Person of the Trinity, overwhelmed with trauma, collapsed in the throes of a panic attack, surrendering all to the love of the Father Whose presence He can know longer feel.

I have often been spiritually abused by the toxic interpretation of that verse, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, still, not my will, but Yours be done.”

The will of God is something ineffable. It’s one of those things you can’t speak about in human language without being wrong. The only question is whether you’re slightly wrong or completely wrong. There are glorious saints who have come close to getting it right. They have fought to remain faithful to God in the face of terrible suffering and injustice, and they have found God present with them in the suffering, so close to them that the whole of their agony is shot through with the most beautiful light. And they’ve tried to write about these experiences of God, and told us that even suffering can become a gift, because that’s the closest they could get to the truth. And then other people have taken their fumbling to express that beautiful truth, and corrupted it by misunderstanding. Still others have taken the misunderstood truth and used it to abuse on purpose.

I grew up in a culture that thought God willed torture. I was told that God will always send you the worst possible suffering, so you can offer it up. I was taught that saints were people God plunged into particularly horrendous suffering, tormenting them with pains equal to hell itself in order to buy back souls He’d cruelly damned from His own self before it was too late. I internalized the lesson that whatever you dread the most is the cross the Father wishes you to bear, so you can be especially useful in your offering it up to Him. I used to panic when I thought of a particularly terrible scenario, because it was the worst thing I could imagine, and I thought that meant the Father willed it for me.

I thought saying “thy will be done” meant accepting that the Father wills torture.

I’ve met so many other people, who thought that saying “thy will be done” meant accepting that the Father wills torture.

The story that haunts me every year is that of a woman I knew, who was sitting in the church alone, bleeding, in the middle of a miscarriage, wishing for a miracle and knowing it was already too late. She was staring at the Crucifix and she wanted to say an Our Father, but she couldn’t, because she was afraid to say “thy will be done.”

I have found a more excellent way.

If the Father isn’t Love, He isn’t worth my time. Blaspheming a god who isn’t love would be an act of justice, and going to hell for that blasphemy would be a martyrdom. But if the Father is Love, I will do anything for that Father. That Father is worthy of my love. And I don’t have to be afraid of that Father. Because if the Father is Love–real, perfect Love– then Love can only will good for the beloved. Love would never intend something as hellish as I was taught growing up.

By some profound mystery, suffering still exists. I can’t explain that. I don’t know that I will hear a sufficient explanation for it in this world or the next. But it’s real. And if the Father is Love, then the Father never wills it. He might will a thing that is good but passes through suffering on the way, but He couldn’t will the suffering.

Still, suffering happens anyway.

And the Father, in His infinite love, wills that when suffering is inevitable, suffering be transformed into grace.

If “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, still, not my will, but Yours be done,” means that the Father willed to torture the Son, then the Father is worse than the devil, and the Passion of Christ is just an abusive father torturing his child.

But if “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, still, not my will, but Yours be done” means “Father, if You can, send a miracle so I don’t have to suffer this, but if somehow you can’t, let Your will be done in the suffering,” then God is Love, and the Passion of Christ means that everything is grace.

If God is Love, then the Father didn’t will for the people to rise up and crucify His Son. He willed that, if it came to that, His Son would rise from the dead, and bring everyone who did not want to stay dead with Him.

If God is Love, then the Father didn’t will for the Son to descend into hell. He willed that, if the Son did descend into hell, that descent would be the harrowing of hell.

If God is Love, then the Father doesn’t will me to suffer the things I am suffering. He wills that, when the suffering He doesn’t want comes anyway, He will be there in it with me, transforming it into grace.

No other god is worthy of our worship: only the God Who is Love.

This is me trying to find words for an ineffable thing, and I’m sure I’ve gotten it a bit wrong. But not as wrong as the version of the Gospel I was raised to believe.

If God is Love, then this passage is the most beautiful in all of the Gospel.

If He isn’t, the Gospel is worthless.

But I think that God is Love.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.
Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Previous Post

April 9, 2022

On Lizelle Herrera, the Woman Charged with Murder in Texas for an Abortion

Next Post

April 13, 2022 An Awkward Mistake and a Moral Panic

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul say in Philemon he would have liked to keep Onesimus to do?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Preach the word Help him while he is in chains for the gospel Serve in the church Care for the poor