The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary invite us
to be transformed into believers who are open to living the Will of God in our
lives. The prophet Isaiah provides an illustration of the difficulty we have in
giving up our plan as he tells of the decision of Ahaz of Judah to refuse to
seek the Will of God in the situation facing Judah as political threats of domination
from foreign people in Syria and Israel threaten his power. His decision,
without considering the Will of God is to seek protection from Assyria in
favour over seeking Divine Providence. Our patterns of decision making and
social action can be too wrapped up in our traditions. Friar Jude Winkler comments
that the letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were too Jewish.
The blood sacrifices to infuse life (blood) where there was death or sin are
not appropriate when Jesus as high priest, is the perfect sacrifice of Love of
God for humanity. Embracing the salvation Will of God to Love humanity through
our brotherhood with Jesus and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is to move in
holiness toward the fullness of grace which is present in Mary as she says “yes”
to the Will of God in the text today from the Gospel of Luke. Mary is, to be
sure, our model for acceptance and invitation to faithfully respond to the word
of God in our lives. Mary’s discerning response to Gabriel’s announcement
models for us our acceptance of God’s invitations in our own unique
circumstances comments Tom Shanahan, S.J of Creighton University.
The natural fear of stepping into the unknown requires us hear the assurance of
angel Gabriel that the Lord is with us. We are what we become, that is the Body
of Christ, when we encounter His Presence and let the Holy Spirit overshadow our
self serving motives to transform us in love and service to being “yes” men and
woman in the mode of Mother Mary.
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