FREE TO DO GOD’S WILL
IntroductionIf we look closely at what we want to do in life 4
especially those that involve the direction we want to take, or even just
how we do things on a daily basis, we find that there’s often that clash
of wills that confront us, what we know to be God’s call and our own
desires. Very often there’s a conflict between doing things God’s way or
my way. As St. Paul tells us in his Letter to the Romans 7, 15, “I do not
do the good I want to do; instead I do the evil that I do not want to do.”
Body
In our Gospel reading, we saw how Mary, despite her not being
able to understand in terms of human reckoning how she could conceive
without having a human father, she nevertheless submits to the angel
Gabriel’s message to her when he tells her “you will conceive in your
womb and bear son, and you shall name him Jesus” who will be great and
will be called the Son of the Most High”. Against the odd of understanding
the angel’s message to her in human terms she surrenders her own will
when she gave her response, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be
done to me according to your word?”
What made Mary accede to God’s plan for her even if it was
beyond her to comprehend the mystery of God’s plan for the world? It
was her unquestioning trust that whatever God was about to accomplish
through her cooperation was surely for the good of humankind. Her trust
in God’s goodness and wisdom was such that she didn’t for one moment
think of holding on to any human security that her family or relatives
could give her. As a result of her total surrender to the Lord’s bidding and
with her readiness to accept even suffering in the course of her obedience
to God she never doubted even for a moment that God would one day
exult her so that she would later sing in her Canticle, “From this day all
generations will call me blessed; the Almighty has done great things for
me.” (Lk. 1, 47) And as a result of her total surrender to God’s will she
was free from any kind of attachment to human and material desires that
made her to allow God to do as He wished with her to accomplish His
plan.
In our consumerist society we live in today, if there’s one thing
we need to realize it’s our need to constantly strive to be free from our
many worldly attachments so that we will have that inner freedom to allow
God to accomplish in us whatever that He wills for us and make us His
instruments for His purpose. Saying ‘yes’ to God implies letting go of
whatever we hold dear in terms of our ideas, relationships, positions of
influence. This is the most difficult to do especially if we have held on to
them for so long because we considered them as important values in life.
Yet we have to take the first step towards letting go of any attachment,
material or otherwise, that impedes us from saying with Mary “Let it
be done to me according to your word.” For many of us it will take a
lifetime of striving but most importantly what God wants to see in us
is our continuing struggle, no matter how difficult it is in overcoming
our selfishness, to allow Him free reign over our life.
When Paul wrote to his followers in Corinth, “Be imitators of
me as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11, 1) he was inviting his disciples to look
at the way he had been obedient to the Word of God he had received in
Christ. Obedience to God’s word would be the consequence of our total
trust in God’s loving care. Having put her entire being under God’s care
Mary became our model of obedience to God’s Word as she spent her
life following in the footsteps of her Son, Jesus. The same would now
be true with us if we adopt that attitude of total trust and detachment. We
can now be imitators of the life of St. Paul as he gave witness to his faith
in Christ as an apostle. Imitating the life of St. Paul as he was an imitator
of Christ is like a father telling his son about to get married, “Son, love
your wife just I have loved your mother. Follow the example I have set
for you.”
A favorite theme of the Apostle Paul in his letters is his constant
exhortation to love one another in Christ. “Let your love be genuine.”
(Rom. 12,9); “Make love your aim.” (I Cor 14,1); “Walk in love.” (Eph.
5, 2); “The fruit of the Spirit is love.” (Gal. 5,22); “May the Lord make
you increase and abound in love.” (1 Thess, 3,5); “Above all these, put
on love, which binds everything together.” (Col. 3,14). However we can
only make our love genuine as St. Paul exhorts us if we are not chained
by anything which hinders us from loving God as we should and reaching
out to our neighbor in need in genuine love.
Conclusion
This Christmas, may the birth of the Infant Jesus give us the
grace to be reborn in a way that, as Mary gave her Fiat in total trust in
God’s goodness, we are also able to entrust ourselves totally to God so
as to have that inner freedom to do whatever that pleases Him. May we
become His instruments of salvation?
MOST REV. MARLO PERALTA, D.D. Bishop of Alaminos
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