In last week’s gospel, John the Baptist was the central figure as he prepared the way for Jesus. In today’s Gospel Mary takes centre stage. She can help us to make decisions keeping always in mind that God is faithful to his promises. Decisions can be made in two ways. The first way is what I call the Frank Siantra way. One of his songs that is still very popular today is “I did it my way”. People still belt it out with gusto and passion when they sing it. Yes we can make decisions our own way because we all like to think that nobody can tell us what to do. The problem is that if we proceed in such a manner, there is no guarantee that what we decide is truly what is the best way forward because our vision is limited, our way of looking at things is conditioned by our selfishness and human condition. Decisions needs to made God’s way, not our way because we believe that God deserves what is best for us and being faithful to his promise he will lead us to what is true what is just and life giving.
Therefore I ask how was Mary capable of making such a momentous difficult decision. She just happened to encounter a strange and unknown person who told her that she was going to be a mother. This is very good. Yet she was promised in marriage to Joseph. What would happen if she falls pregnant without Joseph having nothing to do with it? The custom of the Jewish people of those days was very different from the way we tackle things like this today. According to the law, Joseph could denounce Mary and she would end up in a lot of trouble. She would have spent all her life hounded by shame with the added possibility of being stoned to death.
No wonder that she said to the angel “But excuse me how can this come about?”. “Mary do not be afraid”, the angel replied, “because this has nothing to do with any male human being”. “This will be the work of the Holy Spirit”. This last sentence helps us to understand why Mary was able to go ahead and accept the angel’s invitation. If this is from God, then God will protect her. Mary grew up in a family whose parents took great care of her. She was educated in many practical areas. She would have been made aware of the history of her people. She would have known that God made a promise to be with her people forever and that God had been faithful to that promise. She knew that God would always protect those who remained faithful to him. After all this is what the prophet constantly proclaimed. Therefore she would have concluded that if God has always protected his people; he will also protect her in this particular situation. This enabled her to say “yes” in such a difficult circumstance.
Making decisions according to the way of God is the fruit of a deep reflection coming from a personal relationship with our God. By giving time daily to talk to our God, by trying to live our lives animated by the values and attitude of our faith we are enabled to make the decisions that are willed by God even in confusing and anxious situations. This gift comes to us as a child comes to a mother in the depths of her being literally transforming her personality and her total way of living. By being conscious of the presence of God within us we gradually develop a way of thinking that is like his we become slowly transformed by Jesus. This in turn will help us to make decisions that are in harmony with what we find in the Old and New Testament and in the constant teaching and guidance of the church. This is how we are going to fin the courage to decide to forgive rather than hate, to be a source of life rather than a source of death, to bring hope rather than be prophets of doom, to serve rather than to disempower people and to keep on believing even though it seems that there is no one there for us .
In addition God will give us opportunities to verify whether we have made a decision according to his way or not. God gives us an assurance and powerful signs for this. The angel Gabriel sand to Mary “Well I will give you a sign so that you understand that what is happening here is from God”. Your cousin Elizabeth, she is elderly now. She had always desired a child but she never had one. Now she is pregnant. Go and see for yourself because nothing is impossible for God”. This is the reason why Mary went to see her cousin. I am sure that when she also went to her to help her prepare for the birth of John the Baptist. However the real reason was to ascertain the words of the angel Gabriel. In fact when Elizabeth saw Mary, her first words were, “of all women you are the most bless and blessed is the fruit of your womb”. There we have the confirmation.
It is the same with us. When I am in a situation where I feel that I should follow a particular path rather than another my prayer is as follows: “Lord Jesus here I am at this crossroad. This is what my heart is telling me. If this if from you may this desire in my heart increase. However, if this is not according to your heart take it away. Give me the wisdom what to say and what to do”. It is also important that in such circumstances we talk to someone who is mature, and experienced in the ways of God. Because of his promise to be with us always God will also make us encounter experiences or people who will confirm whether our decision is from Him or not.
Decisions need to be made. We cannot avoid them. Let us be faithful to what we believe as catholic people. Let us get to know more how our God thinks and values things. Let us do what we can do in the best possible manner and God will do the rest. This is his promise and we hold on to that.
God Bless
