Happy New Year!
It's the New Year of Our Lord, 2023. And it's the first Sunday of 2023. Many of us enjoyed some time off from
our jobs between Christmas and New Year's. Pretty much all of us will be
back on the job tomorrow. Festivities will give way to life in its
"ordinary" mode.
If you're feeling some slight twinge of sadness about the return of the ordinary it might help to
remember that the Christmas Season doesn't end with New Year's Day, nor
with the Twelve Days of Christmas. As we've mentioned in the past, traditionally the Christmas
Season extends for forty days, until February 2nd, the feast of the
Presentation in the Temple. When I return to work tomorrow this recollection will, as always, provide a bit of
consolation.
If any of us need something more to lift our hearts, consider these words from Father A.E.
Breen written in 1908 about Our Lady. They take us back to that moment
when she changed all our lives, indeed all of human history, with her
acceptance of the extraordinary invitation received in the midst of her
ordinary life.
The Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel and Mary's "fiat" have taken their rightful place as a singular pivotal moment in all of human history. When Mary assented to God's Will - as mysterious as it might have seemed to her in the moment - our salvation was assured. Thank you dearest Blessed Mother.
But more than a simple acknowledgment of Mary's role in our salvation, we might consider how we're called everyday to utter our "fiat" to God's will. Are we doing that? It's worth thinking about, no?
With all that in mind, let's accompany Father Breen as he brings us back to Mary's eternal moment in salvation history:
“There is a wondrous naturalness and simplicity in St. Luke’s
account of the Annunciation. We are actually transported to the scene,
and made to witness the event itself. The angel first dispels Mary’s
fears by announcing to her that she is acceptable to God. The phrase
‘thou hast found grace,’ is a pure Hebraism. It is a common expression
in the Old Testament to express the goodwill and favor of one agent
towards another. Of itself it would not manifest any singular
prerogative of Mary over any other one with whom God was pleased; but,
in fact, we know that it does express a degree of the divine love never
given to any other creature. And yet what had Mary done to merit such
love? God’s love for Mary was not mere caprice. To be sure, God’s
preventing grace, and his co-operating grace, had been given in large
measure to her, but she had not been an inert agent, dragged to her
height of perfection, without contributing anything thereto. And yet her
life was uneventful; she had not impressed her age. The great world was
quite oblivious of her. There is one great truth illustrated by Mary’s
life – that one does not need to startle the world by great deeds to
please God. God judges not as man. The things that the world prizes are
set at naught by God. One upward soaring of Mary’s soul to her Creator
availed more in this appreciation than all the great deeds chronicled in
the records of men. There is a practical lesson in Mary’s life for all.
Most lives must be commonplace and uneventful. Sometimes, instead of
making use of present opportunities in the uneventful life that is our
portion, we sigh for a broader sphere of action in which to serve God.
No doubt God sometimes calls chosen souls to a broader field, but these
are isolated cases. The great mass of humanity must labor and strive in
the ordinary, uneventful spheres of human life. Mary’s life teaches us
that the highest sanctity can be achieved in the lowest, meanest walk of
life. The devils can do great deeds; we cannot equal them. God cares
not for such. There is a path to heaven from the lowest, dingiest place
where human life drags out its brief span from eternity to eternity. God
asks not of man brilliant, dazzling achievements; he asks what Mary
gave him, the love of a pure heart; this everyone can give. Sanctity
consists in doing the little deeds well – and in loving God.”
First, thank you Saint Luke for your account of the Annunciation. I can read or hear your story over and over and it never loses either its freshness or its profound impact.
Second, thank you Father Breen for your comments, especially this as we prepare to head back to the ordinary tomorrow: The great mass of humanity must labor and strive in the ordinary,
uneventful spheres of human life. Mary’s life teaches us that the
highest sanctity can be achieved in the lowest, meanest walk of life.
And since we're still within the folds of the Christmas Season...
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