Guarding and proclaiming the unchanging truth in a changing world

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

4th December 2019

Cyprian was a wealthy north African pagan, who was converted to Christ at the age of 35.  He then gave his wealth away to the poor and in time became the Bishop of Carthage.  He was publicly beheaded in 258 by order of the Roman governor for refusing to deny Jesus Christ and pledge allegiance to the emperor.

Hallowed be thy name. It is not that we think to make God holy by our prayers; rather we are asking God that his name may be made holy in us. Indeed, how could God be made holy, he who is the source of holiness? Still, because he himself said: Be holy, for I am holy, we pray and beseech him that we who have been hallowed in baptism may persevere in what we have begun. And we pray for this every day, for we have need of daily sanctification; sinning every day, we cleanse our faults again and again by constant sanctification. Thus we offer constant prayers and beg night and day that this sanctification and new life which is ours by God's favor may be preserved by his protection.

Thy kingdom come. We pray that God's kingdom will become present for us in the same way that we ask for his name to be hallowed among us. For when does God not reign, when could there be in him a beginning of what always was and what will never cease to be? What we pray for is that the kingdom promised to us by God will come, the kingdom won by Christ's blood and passion. Then we who formerly were slaves in this world will reign from now on under the dominion of Christ, in accordance with his promise: Come, O blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

After this we add: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; we pray not that God should do his will, but that we may carry out his will. How could anyone prevent the Lord from doing what he wills? But in our prayer we ask that God's will be done in us, because the devil throws up obstacles to prevent our mind and our conduct from obeying God in all things. So if his will is to be done in us we have need of his will, that is, his help and protection. No one can be strong by his own strength or secure save by God's mercy and forgiveness. Even the Lord, to show the weakness of the human nature which he bore, said: Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, and there by way of giving example to his disciples that they should do God's will and not their own, he added: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

All Christ did, all he taught, was the will of God. Humility in our daily lives, an unwavering faith, a moral sense of modesty in conversation, justice in acts, mere in deed, discipline, refusal to harm others, a readiness to suffer harm, peaceableness with our brothers, a wholehearted love of the Lord, loving in him what is of the Father, fearing him because he is God, preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing to us, clinging tenaciously to his love, standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving his honor and his name, manifesting in our speech the constancy of our profession and under torture confidence for the fight, and in dying the endurance for which we will be crowned - this is what it means to wish to be coheir with Christ, to keep God's command; this is what it means to do the will of the Father.

Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258)

Prayer: 

Father, your love reaches out to all mankind,
 and you have commanded us to follow your Son our Saviour:
Give us grace to do your will, and to share in your Church's mission
 to proclaim the gospel of your love to all the world.;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

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Gafcon Secretariat, Christ Church Central, The DQ Centre, Fitzwilliam Street, Sheffield  S1 4JR  United Kingdom

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