Throughout this Advent period, Mary has been accompanying us in our way towards Christmas. She is the model of how to be ready for Christ’s coming. Her most perfect response to God’s promise was faith and trust in God. Mary knew that saying “yes” was neither a trap nor a misfortune for her. The life in accord with her vocation was about to enter into a new phase – phase of a conscious submission to God’s will. She is blessed not because of her own greatness but thanks to God’s grace. Let today’s Gospel be an opportunity for us to think about us preparing God the way and allowing Him to act in our lives.
Looking at Mary’s vocation as the Mother of God, one can think that God’s plan for the people is about extraordinary things only. Undoubtedly, all of the more significant vocations in the Church are parts of God’s plan. However, our daily life is also full of God’s presence and can be filled with trust in the Lord and faith in Him. Is it easy? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. One of the most challenging obstacles in following what God planned for us is our pride and thinking of the freedom of our acts and decisions in a self-centred way. An essential factor for us following Christ is to understand and follow what He taught in the Bible and what the Church, speaking with the authority given by God, teaches us in regard to faith and morality. It is so easy to become selective in faith and trust. It is so easy to believe only in the realities we want to believe, trust what we want to trust and follow what pleases us to follow. Mary exemplifies how trusting fully in God is not the way for losers. Instead, this is the way to freedom and happiness. Sometimes it may look like making life more complicated. Yet, in the divine perspective this is the path according to the nature God has given to all of the creation.
Christmas is coming up this week. Faith is necessary for trying to understand the great mystery of God who humbled himself to the point of joining us – His people. He was born in Bethlehem in poverty as a baby. God had planned it for our sake so that Jesus could redeem us from evil and sin. St Paul speaks about Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s will. Jesus is God. Mary was the first and the most perfect follower of God’s will and the exemplar of a believer. Keeping in mind both of them, let us approach our Christmas cribs, thanking God for what he has done for our salvation. May this Christmas time be most blessed, safe and happy for all of us! May the hope of Jesus’ coming to the world bring us hope in our daily difficulties!
Veni, Domine, et noli tardare.
Łukasz Gołąb – Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Sydney, Australia
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