Saying 'yes' to God: Allowing love to triumph
Monday, December 1, 2008
*Sr Silvia Maria,SCTJM
How does one say "yes" to God, when one does not understand what He's asking, when one does not have an attraction to what He's asking, when one does not see where that "yes" is going to lead?
The last time we gathered in cyberspace, I shared on "how one becomes a religious sister." Today I sensed the Lord wanted me to share a few thoughts on just simply saying "yes" to God regardless of what He’s asking.
It seems that our fallen human nature wants to live our lives doing our own thing. We spend our lives living out our own plan before we finally realize one day that our plan is not all that great; actually, it is sterile, and often even hurtful to our person. At best, our plan leaves us empty, for it is not the purpose for which God created us. Once we've hit ourselves in the head often enough doing what we think is best, the Holy Spirit tries to help us realize that there must be something more than what we are experiencing. So what’s missing?
Unlike us, Mary never set out to do "her own thing." Rather, her entire life was a total abandonment to God and His plan for her life. Hers was a receptive heart. From the moment of her conception (which was immaculate), she gratefully received this gift of grace by surrendering to God and to His plan — with her whole person. The Father, who will not be outdone in generosity, responded to her total abandonment by sending His Son from His Bosom, to her womb, and making her the Mother of God.
Even with this lofty plan, Mary still did not fully understand what it would mean to be the mother of the Messiah "of Sorrows." Yet she still said "yes". It is also unlikely that Mary was attracted to Simeon’s word that Her Son would be a sign of contradiction and that a sword would pierce her own soul. And yet, she still said "yes". And as she stood at the foot of the cross watching the Word (her only Son) be silenced, it is unlikely that she knew exactly where all of this violence was leading. And yet, Mary did not allow these human realities to stop her faith in God. She, though not understanding, though not being attracted and though not knowing what was happening — in faith, she still said, "yes," "fiat," "amen," "let it be done to me (and to my Son) according to Thy Word." By her faith-filled, total self abandonment to the Father's will, she allowed Love to triumph.
So what do you think might be missing in us that keeps us from allowing love to be victorious in us? I think we simply do not trust God enough. As we approach Advent, why don’t we ask the Holy Spirit to help us imitate Mary’s audacious trust in God’s goodness, so that we too might abandon ourselves to Love without reserve - and allow Love to triumph in us.
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Sister Silvia María,SCTJM
Religious Sister of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Comments from readers
What a joy to hear from you and to listen to the wisdom you have been abole to receive, and even more so, to apply in your own life. To all you said, I say: "Amen!"
Your first comments about seeking to know more about ourselves also, coincidentally, (of course it is a God coincidence) makes me think of today's readings. For in todays' readings we are encouraged by the Lord himself to ask the Lord to heal us of our blindness. For we do not see ourselves as we really are; we do not see the areas in our lives that hurt the Lord, that hurt others and that hurt ourselves. He needs to hit us with a "bag of bricks" to help us see, as you mention. But often this bag of bricks can come in the constancy of a gently whisper gnawing at us reminding us what it is we need to work on. Yet it does not stop there. We cannot work on this transformation on our own. We need Him, as you so rightly point out- to be able to change anything in ourselves. And that is the reason we should not get discouraged, simply we need to continue going to Him for help to become more like Him. He knows our struggle and died to help us. Are we not immensely blessed to know this???? Let us not give up because we see our nothingness, for He who has begun the good work in us will bring it to fruition; This is His promise!
I thank you Raina for your words of encoruagement, and even more for the life of holiness you struggle to live each day- this is by far, the greatest encouragement.
Let us remain united in HIm and our Blessed Mother- for eternity.
To me, it's coincidential (or should I say God's Will) that you felt Our Lord speaking to your heart to write about this topic. This is something that I have been thinking/praying about frequently.. Saying 'YES' emphatically to the One who has truly never let me down. This is the battle in my heart: Why is it easy to say YES to some things, to be willing to go blindly down the Lord's path.. but more importantly, why it is difficult to follow the Lord's Word down others, listening to His beautiful voice for direction? As always, for Our Lord does say "seek Me with all of your heart and you will be sure to find Me", the Lord put a series of meditations, homilies, and conversations in my life with the theme of asking the HIM to help identify sin and temptation in our lives that we ourselves have not yet identified or have been less-than-vigilant in keeping at bay. (I always know when the Lord is up to something big in my life when he brings a theme up many times in a short period of time; He knows that He needs to hit me with a 'bag of bricks' before something will get through my head!) In other words, it is not enough to know what we already know.. we need to always seek to know MORE about ourselves, our world, our relationships, our vocations, when to say yes, when to say no, when to not say anything at all, etc etc!!
But THEN.. Then I was cleaning out old savd e-mail and I came across an Adent e-mail from you when you were our Campus minister at UM.. And this part is beautiful:
" Last year at this time, as I went for my morning walk and rosary I was thinking about your finals... I was thinking how important it is to do our best....though it is hard and strenous to put so much effort and energy and sleepless nights into doing our duty etc.......If we have done our best we will for a very long time (much longer than was the struggle) feel relieved and happy. If, on the other hand, we did not do our best we will (for a much longer time than the time we wasted away to satisfy ourselves) feel discouraged and dissapointed about ourselves..... As I was walking it occured to me it is the same with our spiritual realities.
If during our short stay on earth we do our best (and continue to ask the Lord for His Supernatural strength to do that which we do not have the power to do on our own -to be holy......since we are all so weak and limited - we do not (on our own) have the power to be good), then when we get to the end of our lives we will feel great relief and joy (for a much longer period of time than was our lifetime effort). However, if instead we spend our lives focusing on satisfying ourselves and live selfishly only for our own self gratification now . If we do not struggle and work on our relationship with our Lord and work to put to death those things that separate us from the Lord and from loving others- then when we get to the end of our lives we will have deep regret (and it will also be for a lot longer than would have been our lifetime struggle)- for our decisions now effect our eternity. .... not just this semester or this lifetime... but our endless eternity!!! "
When I think about this, in my heart I feel: "Whoa.. thats asking for a lot!" I have no idea how I'm ever going to do this.. but then this also comes back full-circle, because the answer to how I'm going to do this is to say YES to my Lord, abandon myself to Him, and let Him do it for me.
From the day I met you, (and for some reason I remember that day very well even though I have a terrible memory and cannot even remember what I wore two days ago) you have been such a gift to me, and to our World! Thank you for this commentary and the other commentary on deciding to become a religious sister. Thank you!
United in His Eucharistic Heart,
In the Spirit of Advent,
and Her Mantle of Safety,
Raina
Thank you so very much for this message. It really hit home. This is a beautiful way to start advent. Thank you!!! I miss you'll and many warm prayers,blessing,hugs and kisses to all. God Bless you'll.
Karla Maria +++
Thanks for your encouraement. After years ministering to young adults and in my own persoanl experience, I find what the Servant of God Fulton Sheen said to be true. People do not leave thh Church becaue they reject its teachings. Most people leave the Church because they did not understand or because its beautiful teachings were not explained properly.
Let us go out there and share the gift we've received with all we meet,
so that God could be more Loved.
Thank you for bringing to light the Church's teaching on the Immaculate Conception.
What a beautiful Advent message. Your words touched my heart today with a message I know I need to hear often. When God calls us to do something our only answer must be "Here I am Lord!"
Possibly we are not meant to know the fullness of what we are being asked to do because God knows we would run the other way. When we see His almighty power working through creatures such as we, then we can finally understand that all things are possible with God.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.
God bless you Sister.
Joan Crown
Respect Life Office
Thank you for your thougths. And thank God, as you say, that we are never alone....Your thoughts made me think that it is true that we have to "take up our cross," and yet sometimes I believe it may help us to change the way we see and understand "the cross." We tend to look upon it with dread and as punishment; In reality the cross is a gift from God, given to us out of His goodness, to lead us to our greatest joy and fulfillment: Himself, His very Heart. It is the highway that leads to our destiny. And so if we transform the way we look at it, it makes the ride so much more pleasant, even in the midst of the storm. Because we shift the focus from the storm, to the eternal reality that the Lord loves us beyond measure and is guiding us to become who He created us to be: happy- by being all His.
Thank you for your beautiful letter. I think that what is missing in us that keep us from allowing love to be victorious is the lack of courage to take our cross and follow Jesus. Also, arrogance plays a very important role. It is hard to give up control to the Holy Spirit because, as fools, we think we can do better.
There is something that I have learned to understand, the hard way:
We will never, ever be alone. Mary will always be with us, will always understand, will always forgive and will always love us. It does not matter how many times we try to do our "own thing� and take control, Mary is always there patiently waiting for us to come back to her.
Our Mother Mary's courage and faith are our shield but we must have the courage to say yes like she did and let God take the drivers' seat.
Thank you for this wonderful reflection. I was just working on my blog for next week. Since my contribution will be posted on December 8th, The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I was contemplating writing on that Church teaching. But instead I think I will add a couple of thoughts here today to your blog as you alude to the doctrine.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was made dogmatic in the papal encyclical "Ineffabilis Deus" by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854. The United States Catechism for Adults (published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in July 2006) has one of the clearest explanations of this doctrine that I have ever seen. I would like to quote it here, "In anticipation that she was to bear the Son of God, Mary was preserved from the time of her conception from Original Sin. We call this the Immaculate Conception. No sin would touch her, so that she would be a fitting and worthy vessel of the Son of God. The Immaculate Conception does not refer to the virginal conception and birth of Christ, but rather to Mary's being conceived without inheriting Original Sin." (USCCA, p. 143)
In my conversations with people, I have found this doctrine to be misunderstood by many Catholics. I think back to our days in either Catholic Schools or Religious Education programs where we faithfully memorized the Holy Days of Obligation. It is my guess that we were old enough to memorize the dates but not quite ready to comprehend the doctrine the Church was trying to teach us. It is only when we embrace the concept of life-long faith formation, and revisit some of these teachings as adults, that we can begin to grasp the depth and breadth of what our Tradition has to offer.
Michael Kramer