“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds” – Psalm 98:1
Who knows what great things God has prepared for us?
Today’s Marian feast day is a lesson for us that our God often works in secret. Did Mary know that she was destined for great things? Was she ever aware that she had been formed in her mother’s womb in a most unique and immaculate way? Yet, when the time came for God to make those plans known through the message of an angel, Mary was open to God’s plan. She said “yes.” She cooperated with God’s strategy to redeem the world.
Who knows what strategy God has for us to help bring about the Kingdom of justice and peace. Pope Francis in his recent encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’ writes that one way we help in bringing about God’s Kingdom is by being imitators of Mary, by being “a Church that serves, that leaves home and goes forth from its places of worship, in order to accompany life, to sustain hope, to be the sign of unity … to build bridges, to break down walls, to sow seeds of reconciliation.”
Are we ready to cooperate with that plan? It seems to me that in a myriad of ways God invites us to fulfill the role created for us in our mother’s womb. St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is also a reminder for us that, “In Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One.” (Ep 1:11-12). In the words of the Brothers’ ‘Fundamental Principles,’ may these days of Advent be a time for us “to make ourselves available for God to become present in our life, and through us to the world.”
Father, help yourself to our lives. We long for and seek your presence this Advent. May we live into the fullness of who we are destined to be in you.
Amen.
Brother Lawrence Harvey
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