The Good Will

And so, when he entered the world, Christ said, “Behold, I come to do your will, O God” (Heb 10:5-7). “Obedience” is the new name of “love”!

Over the course of his life, the Gospels portray Jesus as always intent on performing the will of the Father. To Mary and Joseph who searched for him in desperation for three days, the twelve-year-old Jesus responded, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49). His whole life was dominated by this “I must,” which guided his choices and directed his activity. He told the disciples one day: “My good is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work” (Jn 4:34); and he taught them to pray with these words: “Our Father … your will be done, on earth as in heaven” (Mt 6:10).

Pope John Paul II
Angelus
July 23, 1989

More on the Fifth Joyful Mystery.