“Se Dio vuole.” “If God wills it.” Some friends from Holy Redeemer have been teaching me Italian, one sentence at a time. This one has stuck with me. It is an unconditional, open-ended
prayer to God with confidence in His will, no matter what. One could also just say “Thy will be done.” This is a prayer my younger brother Andrew found himself praying boldly lately. He is one of the best men I know: selfless, hard-working, loyal, trustworthy and unrelenting in perseverance. He also has chronic bad-luck, if “luck” exists. No matter how many obstacles, he never stops moving forward. He has served and protected all his career: first as a security officer, now as an E.M.T. This kind of work is ministry but takes long, tireless, back-breaking work. Recently he found himself daring to hope for something new from God’s hands, but didn’t know. An employer called him with an amazing position. He was elated at the thought of it but also that they wanted him for it. For a man who has faced countless battles in life, I haven’t seen him this nervous before. Why? Because He was daring to hope for something he didn’t know was real, would happen or that he would measure up to. With every conversation, interview and test, he prayed “Your will be done.” In other words: “I’m daring to hope for this. Lord, if you will this, it will happen, but if it doesn’t, “Your will be done.” If “this” attempt doesn’t work, or the next, I’ll keep trying. You’re will be done, in Your timing. If I hope, try and it doesn’t work out, “I’ll be ok, if Your will be done.”
        It’s easier to want things we know we can do ourselves. What about greater things we can’t have without Him? Things we hope for, that we don’t know how it will work out. Solutions we don’t
know the answer to, but know He does. Graces to handle things that feel impossible to us, without fearing of failure. Things that take an “all-in” approach to take the first step or one step at a time, not questioning how He will guide us. We can trust ourselves to the extent we trust in Him. We don’t know the ways we haven’t grown yet, how He will raise us to the task or how He will make us capable to receive what He gives. We don’t question how “God qualifies the chosen, rather than choosing the qualified.” This is true of work, relationships and our calling, but of our faith is first. Since He knows what we need and desire, we can just tell Him “Your will be done.” If we just want what Jesus wants, we tend to want the same things He does, then what He wills will be done “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”