On the Lord's Prayer 14
Summary: 'Your will be done' asks for God's help to do his will, as Christ did the Father's will.
Latin text · CSEL 3.1:276–277
Addimus quoque et dicimus: fiat uoluntas tua in caelo et in terra, non ut Deus faciat quod uult, sed ut nos facere possimus quod Deus uult. nam Deo quis obsistit quominus quod uelit faciat? sed quia nobis a diabolo obsistitur quominus per omnia noster animus adque actus Deo obsequatur, oramus et petimus ut fiat in nobis uoluntas Dei: quae ut fiat in nobis, opus est Dei uoluntate id est ope eius et protectione, quia nemo suis uiribus fortis est sed Dei indulgentia et misericordia tutus est. denique et Dominus infirmitatem hominis quem portabat ostendens ait: pater, si fieri potest, transeat a me calix iste, et exemplum discipulis suis distribuens, ut non uoluntatem suam sed Dei faciant, addidit dicens: uerumtamen non quod ego uolo sed quod tu uis. et alio loco dicit: non descendi de caelo, ut faciam uoluntatem meam, sed uoluntatem eius qui misit me. quodsi filius obaudiuit ut faceret patris uoluntatem, quanto magis seruus obaudire debet ut faciat domini uoluntatem, sicut in epistula sua Iohannes quoque ad faciendam uoluntatem Dei hortatur et instruit dicens: nolite diligere mundum neque ea quae in mundo sunt. si qui dilexerit mundum, non est caritas patris in illo, quia omne quod in mundo est concupiscentia carnis est et concupiscentia oculorum et ambitio saeculi quae non est a patre sed ex concupiscentia mundi. et mundus transibit et concupiscentia eius: qui autem fecerit Dei uoluntatem manet in aeternum, quomodo et Deus manet in aeternum. qui in aeternum manere uolumus Dei qui aeternus est uoluntatem facere debemus.
English · Claude translation
We add also and say: "Your will be done in heaven and on earth"; not that God may do what he wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills. For who resists God so that he may not do what he wills? But because we are resisted by the devil so that our mind and conduct may not obey God in all things, we pray and ask that God's will be done in us; and that it may be done in us, there is need of God's will, that is, of his help and protection, because no one is strong by his own powers, but he is safe by God's indulgence and mercy. Indeed, the Lord too, showing the weakness of the humanity he bore, said: "Father, if it can be, let this cup pass from me"; and, giving an example to his disciples that they should do not their own will but God's, he added, saying: "Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will." And in another place he says: "I did not come down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." But if the Son obeyed so as to do the Father's will, how much more ought the servant to obey so as to do the master's will! So John too, in his letter, exhorts and instructs us to do the will of God, saying: "Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world is the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the ambition of the world, which is not from the Father but from the desire of the world. And the world will pass away and its desire; but he who does the will of God remains forever, as God also remains forever." We who wish to remain forever ought to do the will of God, who is eternal.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 26:39, John 6:38, and 1 John 2:15–17 (with an addition at the end).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: words run together.): etdicimus → et dicimus.
Cite this passage
Cyprian, Dom. or. 14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-dominica-oratione/14/).
Plain text
Cyprian, Dom. or. 14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-dominica-oratione/14/).
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