Will of God...

 Good morning.

Let me share again some of my convictions which makes my life and ministry happy, possibly bringing the same to the people i serve. *'யான் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெறுக இவ்வையகம் '*:

*Will of God...*

This is what Jesus was seeking and it was indeed his mission and prayer even in the most distressful and dreaded times of his life, foreseeing his ignominious death preceded by the indescribable passion like the one at Gethsemane, making him to pray, "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; *yet not what I will, but what thou wilt*" (Mk 14: 36) and at the Cross, "he cried with a loud voice, "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mk 15: 34). However, at last he entrusted his spirit with the same father whom he just had complained of having forsaken him, 'crying with a loud voice, "*Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!*". (Lk 23: 46)

Even at the age of twelve when he became the cause of his parents worries by not bothering to return with them and being found on the third day in the temple, to his parents' pain and anxiety, he said, "How is it that you sought me? *Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?*" (Lk 2: 49).

Also he considered those who hear the word of God and follow it more than his mother, brothers and sisters as when a woman in the crowd raised her voice saying, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!" But he said, "*Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!*" (Lk 11:27- 28) and when his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him for the crowd. And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you." But he said to them, "*My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it*." (Lk 8: 19-21)

His mother, Mary herself was his model as she accepted the humiliating pregnancy before marriage as God's will. "And the angel said to her, "... behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son... (Lk 1: 30, 31). And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" (1: 34). However, she finally surrendered to the will of God, saying, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; *let it be to me according to your word*." (Lk 1: 38)

In his only prayer, 'Our Father...' he taught us to pray for the 'coming of His Kingdom' as well as the realization of His will. "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. *Thy will be done*, On earth as it is in heaven. (Mt 6: 9-10).

This will is nothing other than the primordial order, figuratively presented as the 'paradise', the garden of Eden in Genesis. That would be the status of 'God's Kingdom'... In our days it is the struggle for ecology, equilibrium of nature and this is what pope Francis advocated in his well-known encyclical *'Laudate si'*.

This primordial order, paradise was lost for humanity alone as the rest of the creation is seemingly enjoying it still, in spite of man's atrocious and avaricious plundering of nature to his own destruction and unfortunately of the helpless other creatures.

This was said to be caused by his attempt at eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, to justify his selfish interest to the detriment of others, both his fellow beings and other lives... Thereafter fratricide and other sins/disorders begun to grow to make a hell out of the paradise...

That's why the call to go back to the sources, original blessedness, in Jesus' words *the Kingdom of God*. For this conversion is the sine qua non which Jesus demanded for making us worthy of the 'Kingdom of God' which is at hand and amidst us, saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mk 1: 15).

Let's pray Jesus' prayer that *Thy Kingdom come and thy will be done as in heaven.*

Thanks.