Today my sharing will be on Mary, the model of faith.
All of us are very familiar with the word FAITH, that we use
it often in our prayers, in our conversations with our friends, in sharing of our
experiences of life and in many other situations. I am sure we all believe in
the gift of faith.
Faith is one of the most fundamental aspects of our
Christian life. We believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the perfect model of
our faith.
So what is the gift of faith?
Faith involves entrusting oneself, abandoning oneself to God,
the willingness to submit to His will and the obedience in faith. Mary as the
perfect model reflects this very well. She abandoned herself to God with total
trust and in obedience in faith when she responded “Yes” to God.
To better understand what this means in practice, we can
look at the life of Mary, whose acceptance of God’s invitation to be the mother
of His Son is a great witness for us. By examining the dialogue that took place
at the Annunciation, we can gain deeper insight about what it means to have
faith.
Mary’s journey with God was one of deep faith and great
trust. She had a grace-filled openness to the mystery of God in her life.
We are familiar with Luke’s account of the Incarnation when
the angel appeared to Mary and announced, “The Lord is with you.” ( Lk 1:
28) However, before Mary responded to God, the Scriptures remind us that Mary
was confused and frightened, and was deeply disturbed by the angel’s greeting.
As Mary was fully human she too experienced fear and doubts, similar to how anyone
of us would also encounter in our lives.
She struggled to say “Yes” to the Lord! And She
“pondered” these words in her heart. Pondering is not simply a question of “thinking” or of
trying to master the realities of faith or mysteries of life. It is not a
question of trying to control these realities or mysteries or reduce them to
something our minds can handle. Rather, it is a question of letting the
realities of faith be with us, to enter into us and reveal themselves to us. It
is allowing ourselves to be molded by them, to allow God’s will to become our will.
It is fostering both an attitude and atmosphere of trust and openness in our
lives.
It was through her dialogue with the angel, where she asks, ”How
can this be? I have no knowledge of man” (Lk1:34) And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit
shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. And behold, your cousin Elisabeth, she too also
conceived a son in her old age, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.” “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it
unto me according to thy word.” (Lk1:38)With these words Mary was more assured and
her fear transcended and she was able to submit herself to the will of
God.
Mary's fiat (“let it be done, as
you have said” (Lk 1:38)) demonstrates her complete obedience to God and to His
will for her. In fact it was by means of her fiat, her obedient faith, that
“the mystery of the Incarnation was accomplished” in accordance with God's
plan.
Similarly, sometimes in our lives
too, when God comes to invite us to make changes in our lives, to explore the
inner part of our lives which we have been very comfortable with, we too can
feel perplexed or confused just as Mary did. It is in those circumstances that we too can engage
in dialogue with God and with others around us. May we too, walk in faith by
allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us just as he did for Mary.
We may not know what the outcome
will be, however we can take the leap of faith and TRUST that God will take
care of us just as He did for our Blessed Mother.
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