The Lord’s Prayer, Fourth Petition: Conformity of Earth and Heaven

This petition follows rightly after “Thy Kingdom come,” for the kingdom of God is fully present where His will is perfectly done. To pray for His will to be done is to desire that all rebellion may cease, and that our hearts may be brought into obedience and peace.

“Earth” and “heaven” here are not to be taken merely as elements of the world, but as figures of the human person. Heaven signifies the spirit; earth, the flesh. When the flesh obeys the spirit as the spirit obeys God, the will of God is done on earth as in heaven. Thus the soul is restored to the order intended by the Creator.

In heaven, the holy angels serve God without resistance; on earth, our nature is frail and often turns aside. We therefore pray that our earthly life may be ruled by the same obedience that reigns above — that as His will is perfectly fulfilled by the heavenly hosts, so it may be fulfilled in us by faith and love.

The prayer is not that God’s will may be accomplished by Him — for who can resist it? — but that it may be accomplished in us. His will is always good; our conversion consists in becoming aligned with it. To will what God wills is the beginning of true peace.

This petition therefore draws the soul into deeper surrender. Having desired His kingdom, we now seek to live wholly under His direction, that heaven and earth — spirit and flesh — may be united in harmony through obedience.

Source: St. Augustine, On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Book II, Chapter 6.