God will

If one reads today’s first reading too quickly, one might get the idea that God will give Christians whatever they pray for and that God will protect them from all harm.

However, St. John gives an important qualification:
“if we ask anything according to his will.”

Our great example is that of Christ himself:

O my Father,
if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me:
nevertheless not as I will,
but as thou wilt.
Matthew 26:39b

Shortly thereafter, he was tortured to death.

Even so, Christ remained ultimately protected from the Evil One and rose from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father.

Pater noster… fiat voluntas tua.