Weekly THIS AND THAT for March 25, 2007: Say Yes to God, But Look Out!

This and That:
Say Yes to God, But Look Out!

For the past four weeks we have been looking at how what we believe can make a difference in the quality of our living. Personal belief is a powerful force. If we believe strongly in something, other’s opinions may not matter much and that belief about life or people or our jobs keeps us fired up, energized, and moving forward. Imagine what belief in Jesus could do for the way we treat others, seek reconciliation, or attend worship regularly?

Fondly,
Father Nick Amato


This week’s presentation was entitled “Say Yes to God – but Look Out!” While the objective of saying yes to God may be a noble one, an individual must “look before he leaps.” That is, we need to realize the full implications of what a “yes” to God or anyone else for that matter might imply. As with any big decision such as purchasing a house, buying a car, getting married, having a child, we need to consider the implications, effects, or consequences of our initial action and we need to know them before we perform the act in order to own both act and consequences. Science tells us that the frontal lobe of the brain is the last part of the brain to develop in children and it does so around the age of 19 or 20. It’s for this reason that parents’ favorite phrase to their teenage offspring is “What in God’s name were you thinking!” when they do certain things. They may not know that the frontal lobe is responsible for thinking through the implications of what we do and their children simply do not have the mental ability to do so.

Thus we need to be careful of what we pray for. Most of those items are for our wellbeing or the wellbeing of others. So we pray for a team to win, for a positive financial impact, for someone to recover from a serious illness, for life, not death. But when we look at what we pray for we can see a hierarchy in our prayers, e.g. it’s nobler to pray for someone who is sick than to win a Lacrosse game. What then, is the most perfect form of prayer? Given this stream of logic, then, you might say the most perfect form of prayer would be that God’s will, whatever it is, be done in my life, as in, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The reasoning here is that God knows better what I need, than I might, a fact perhaps borne out in what we’ve prayed for and has come to pass only to make the situation worse than it was before.

Rather than looking at prayer as a means of securing “goodies” for ourselves or even for others, let’s look at prayer as a means of maintaining a relationship, as a way of being with a loved one. Who in your life do you rest with, savor relating to, or enjoy spending time with? Those bonds that tie you together emotionally are what prayer is to do in our relationship with God, tie us together. And as in a relationship, being one with the friend or spouse is about a common life that flowers in doing good for each other. In the best of relationships, the loved one often knows better what we need and is always there to provide it. You get the picture. The same is true of our relationship with God. God knows us better than we know ourselves; he loves us more than we love ourselves. Thus the most perfect form of bonding – or for that matter asking for something – is “Thy will be done!”

Without good models of relationships-with-God-bonded-in-prayer we only have our human analogies to rely upon. However, a great model to consider would be Mary of Nazareth, Mary the Mother of Jesus. What were her “secrets” to this deep communion with God? For starters she listened to the stirrings in her heart and responded with complete openness and love. While she may have been frightened or unclear about her call to become the mother of the Savior, she nevertheless allowed his life to be born within her and nurtured that life. Mary’s “yes” was a complete obedience to God’s will. She remained open to God, trusting of God, and with an openness and trust that were based on a prior relationship she had with him.

As a result of her stance with God, Mary became a woman “full of grace” in whom God’s grace was operative and out of that strengthening, she was able to challenge some basic beliefs of our society. So united was she with the Lord that she saw her place in God’s plan clearly. The Annunciation, the fruit of her bonding with God, not only reveals to the world that Jesus would be born, but it also reveals precisely who Jesus would be to our world.

As if Mary were not enough in her modeling, she goes beyond that to actually becoming the “Mother of the Church,” in the same way that a mother becomes the mother of another human being. How does this “birth” come about? Let’s look. The first thing she did after the Annunciation was to visit Elizabeth for whom she was a mentor and Elizabeth helps her understand her gift of complete faith in God’s will. They both recognize God working within them, Elizabeth carrying John the Baptist, and Mary, Jesus. Her dignity of “Mother of the Church” comes in her willingness and complete adherence to the Father’s will by participating in the redemptive work of Jesus and by listening to every prompting of the Holy Spirit. She is “Mother of the Church” because she cooperates by her obedience, faith, hope, and charity in the work of salvation and thus becomes the mother of us all. It is for this reason the Church rightly honors her.

Thus because of her “fiat,” her giving birth to Jesus, her relationship in raising him, her being the first to hear the Word of God and keep it, her relationship to our own mothers, and her own claim that “All generations will call me blessed,” Mary becomes important for us in two respects, as a model for our living and as “Mother of the Church.”

Next week will mark our final presentation in the six-week series and is entitled “A Fountain of youth for you.” As always, all are welcome, whether you signed up or not. Mass on Friday is at 6:30pm, supper at 7:00pm and the presentation at 7:30pm with activities for children of all ages, as well as a nursery.