The Sermon on the Mount (Bossuet)/Day 24
Twenty-fourth Day
'Hallowed be Thy Name.' — Matt. vi. 9, 10.
HALLOWED by Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' All this is a continuous act of love. To sanctify the name of God means to glorify Him in all things, and to long for nothing but His glory. To desire His kingdom means to wish with one’s whole heart to be subject to Him in all things, and to have Him reign not only over us, but over all creatures. His kingdom is in heaven; and His supremacy will be declared over the whole earth at the Last Judgment. What we have to do, therefore, is to put ourselves into the right state for desiring that glorious day. Would that we might all be of the number to whom Christ says ' When these things begin to come to pass’ — that is, when the signs that herald the Last Judgment shall appear, and that great day shall approach — whilst the rest of mankind are shuddering with fear, ' look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.’ [1]
But Jesus Christ comes to each of us when our life ends. When that ' Last Day ’ of our own, then, is near, and Our Lord knocks at our door to call us, we must be ready to receive Him with joy and to say 'Thy Kingdom come! for I desire that all there is in me which is mortal may be swallowed up by life.' [2]
But who amongst us really longs for the full reign of God? Which of us says, 'Thy Kingdom come ’ really heartily? And yet it is for this that we are prepared by the petition to Our Father in heaven. That is our habitation and our home, because it is our Father’s.
We are, in fact, not in good faith when we say ‘ Thy kingdom come ’: — or rather, which is the same thing at bottom, 'May Thy kingdom come for us.' And what stifles this desire, which ought to be so natural to every Christian, is our love of this world and its pleasures. We love our life here, full as it is of every kind of evil; and, still worse, full as it is of sin, which is the greatest of all evils.
Let us, then, break these bonds and say, ‘ Thy will be done! ’ Here is the true and perfect act of love: — to conform our will to the will of God. In heaven, where our Father is, they love Him; and therefore it is that they find their happiness in His will. May that which is done in heaven be done on earth! May what is finished up there be begun down here!
St Augustine says that this life ought not to be loved, but endured: non amanda, sed toler anda. It is only a place of pilgrimage — of exile — of sighs and tears. Therefore, O Heavenly Father, let Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done!