"I am the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say."
Lectionary Readings for 4th Sunday of Advent, Year B
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/4th-advent-b.html
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, one of the saints who had a great devotion to Mary, had this for his spiritual intuition: "God depended on a virgin for the salvation of the world" [paraphrased quote]. Mary had found so much favor in God's eyes that God depended on her fiat, her "yes", so that His Son, the Saviour of the world, may be incarnated in her. Although God depended on Mary, this does not make Mary on the level of the divine. It only means that there is a greater context for this dependence of God on her. And this context is that it was all part of the plan of God. God created her sinless [the Immaculate Conception] so that when the time comes when she will be asked by God, she will, by the gift of free will, will say "yes" to God. This is how God depended on Mary. It was because Mary had the gift of free will that God depended on her. And this gift of free will is also given to all of us who are created in the image and likeness of God.
Now, we who are called to be humble and to obedient like Mary are also called to follow her obedience to God's will. We too have been given the gift of free will to say "yes" everyday to the calls for service, to a call for greater generosity or charity, to the call for more self-surrender or more courage and gallantry, or to any other call to practice in greater and more intensity the Christian virtues. In the course of our Christian life, there will eventually and inevitably come a time when we will need to say "yes" to greater responsibilities. Usually, through the routines of what we are doing now, God is preparing us for something even greater than what we are doing. Like Mary, when the time comes for the Lord to ask us to do something great for Him, let us not be afraid, but have the faith and courage of Mary to say "yes" to the Lord and do His will. This certainly is not a matter of just saying "yes" suddenly but involves a lot of personal discernment with regard to our present life situation and seeing how it can fit with the plans or orders of those who have authority over us - those want us to accept bigger tasks and responsibilities. Eventually, let us realize that our "yes" is a "yes" to God through the established authorities He has instituted in the world.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
"There is one among you whom you do not recognize - the one who is to come after me"
Lectionary Readings for Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/3rd-advent-b.html
Although the gospel places John the Baptist in the center stage, we are called to discover that he represents Someone who is to come and whom John's duty is to prepare the way of the people. That is why when he was baptizing the people with water, and they asked him who he was, he said, "I am not the Christ, the Messiah". Rather, he states that "he is a voice in the desert, crying out: Make straight the way of the Lord!' " He was aware that his role is to decrease while Christ is to increase when Christ comes to be baptized by him in the river Jordan.
In the preparations for our Advent season, we are called to be like John the Baptist to our fellow Christians. By word and deed, we are called to point out the importance of Christ in our times today. Especially when people have forgotten to live a life in the spirit of Christ, this is the time when we are indeed called to live out the spirit of Christ through our simple and daily witness of family and work routines. Most often we make ourselves the point of reference of others for their source of information and knowledge, that we forget to point them to Christ as the Wisdom of God - the One whom John was leading the people to. Thus, the call for us this Advent season is to imitate the example of John by making ourselves always secondary in role to Christ and leading others to the Spirit of Christ, as He is revealed in many ways in peoples' daily family living and professional lives.
Lectionary Readings for Third Sunday of Advent, Year B
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/3rd-advent-b.html
Although the gospel places John the Baptist in the center stage, we are called to discover that he represents Someone who is to come and whom John's duty is to prepare the way of the people. That is why when he was baptizing the people with water, and they asked him who he was, he said, "I am not the Christ, the Messiah". Rather, he states that "he is a voice in the desert, crying out: Make straight the way of the Lord!' " He was aware that his role is to decrease while Christ is to increase when Christ comes to be baptized by him in the river Jordan.
In the preparations for our Advent season, we are called to be like John the Baptist to our fellow Christians. By word and deed, we are called to point out the importance of Christ in our times today. Especially when people have forgotten to live a life in the spirit of Christ, this is the time when we are indeed called to live out the spirit of Christ through our simple and daily witness of family and work routines. Most often we make ourselves the point of reference of others for their source of information and knowledge, that we forget to point them to Christ as the Wisdom of God - the One whom John was leading the people to. Thus, the call for us this Advent season is to imitate the example of John by making ourselves always secondary in role to Christ and leading others to the Spirit of Christ, as He is revealed in many ways in peoples' daily family living and professional lives.
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