By: Fr. Thomas Rosica
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Standing in the middle of the present day city of Nazareth is the mammoth Basilica of the Annunciation, built around what is believed to be the dwelling of Mary. In a grotto-like room at the heart of the basilica is a small inscription on an altar. It reads, "verbum caro hic factum est," here the Word became flesh. There, it is believed, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, and her response changed the world forever.

Imagine yourself in Mary's place, asked to say "yes" to a divine plan so vast, so profound and so seemingly impossible that you cannot comprehend it. "How can this be?" she asks, bewildered. She is rooted in the faith of her ancestors, and yet now an angel has appeared in the midst of everyday life, extending a startling invitation. "You have found favor with God," the angel says, "and you will conceive and bear His Son." Will she accept?

It is Mary above all others who can teach us what it means to live by faith, and how to respond when God's providence disrupts the daily course of our lives, overturning its rhythms and expectations. Despite her fears and uncertainty over how this promise could be fulfilled, she still answered "Yes." Are we able to respond to God this way?

When we reflect on the Annunciation to Mary, and her acceptance of the angel's message, we also reflect on our own vocation -- our own calling from God. In the Lord's Prayer, we pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" -- an echo of Mary's "Be it done unto me according to your word." Each time we commit ourselves to embracing God's call and accepting His will, we mark a new point on the path of our relationship with Him. For the rest of her life, Mary pondered her extraordinary encounter with God, turning the weight of the angel's message over and over again in her heart. From the manger to the cross, Mary's life was radically changed -- her relationship with God profoundly deepened -- the moment she said "Yes."

Mary received and welcomed God's Word in the fullest sense -- becoming impregnated with it, and bearing it to the world. Angels might not appear in our doorsteps, but we do encounter God in each of our daily prayers, and he whispers to us a similar invitation: Will we accept His love and bring it joyously to those around us? Will we trust in His providence, even when we can't see the path ahead? Amid the noise of everyday life, will we listen for and embrace his call?

When making his pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Annunciation, Pope Benedict XVI offered this prayer to the humble Virgin of Nazareth. It speaks for all of us who likewise seek to accept God's will with joy:

Mary, Mother of the "Yes," you listened to Jesus, and know the tone of his voice and the beating of his heart. Morning Star, speak to us of him, and tell us about your journey of following him on the path of faith.

A question for today:
When have I felt that God was calling me to something greater than myself? When have I succeeded, and when have I failed, in accepting His will? What was the outcome of those situations?

Source: http://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=21253&language=en

By Gerald M. Fagin, SJ

Mary at her Annunciation models faith for us. She shows us that faith is more than assent, but is also trust, commitment, obedience, and submission. Mary trusted in God’s promises, was obedient to God’s word of invitation in her life, surrendered to the mystery before her, and committed herself to be part of God’s plan of salvation in Jesus.

At the same time, we can easily romanticize the Gospel scene—Mary is at prayer, an angel appears, and she says a faith-filled yes. The Scripture also tells us that she was deeply troubled and wondered what the angel’s greeting meant. Certainly the angel’s explanation only left her with more questions and concerns. She did not say yes because she fully understood or had all her questions answered. She said yes in faith and trust. We do Mary a disservice to think she had some infused knowledge that dispelled all her doubts. She was a young woman of extraordinary faith. The “yes” at the Annunciation was not the first “yes” in her life nor would it be the last.

The really significant yeses in our lives also demand a great deal of trust and openness. We cannot know all the implications of them. We respond to the gift of God’s call in our lives. We say yes in hope and trust. Like Mary, we say “yes” to something being born in us that must grow and mature and take a shape we cannot predict. We are called to that depth of faith as we contemplate the story of the Annunciation and all the stories of the life of Jesus in the rest of the [Spiritual] Exercises. We are called to trust, obedience, surrender, and commitment in our own lives. We will hear an invitation to share in the work of Jesus and respond and live in faith.

Living in faith demands surrender to the stories of God and Jesus recorded in the Scriptures. Christian faith especially demands that we let the stories of Jesus shape our minds and hearts. Paul Wadell says that to live in faith means that we “appropriate these stories, striving to embody their viewpoints, values, and vision as our own. To assent to the truths of faith portrayed in the Scripture is to allow them to become the interpretative framework for our world.”

Wadell feels we need these narratives “to mold and shape us, especially in the attitudes and virtues of Jesus.” Ignatian imaginative prayer on the Gospel stories is a powerful way to grow in faith by putting on the heart of Christ. As Jesus trusted, obeyed, surrendered, and committed his life to the Father, we are to respond in the same way. All the contemplations on the Gospels throughout the Exercises foster growth in the virtue of faith that empowers us to trust God and commit ourselves to service.
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Excerpt from Putting on the Heart of Christ: How the Spiritual Exercises Invite Us to a Virtuous Life by Gerald M. Fagin, SJ.

Source: http://ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/21st-century-ignatian-voices/mary-at-her-annunciation-as-a-model-for-growing-in-the-virtue-of-faith/

 

First, may Our Most Risen Christ be upon all of you my Brothers and Sisters in Christ in reading this: 

Let's reflect a second..............  Suffering is "A lot" like this..........Let's say a mother takes her young child to the doctors office and then the nurse escorts the mother and her young child to the exam room. As the young child sits on the exam table she starts to cry and panic. The child's fear is confirmed when the mother tells her that she must get a "Shot!" This "Shot" is going to prevent any illness that may be around later in life and will make you stronger.  The mother goes onto say to her young child

 "Whom she Loves with her whole heart and soul", that  "Yes, the shot is going to hurt and there will be some pain,  but my child, I Love you! You must understand that by getting this shot, it is only going to make you stronger.  So, please my child, know that I LOVE YOU and once you get through the pain, you will be a much stronger person." 

Holy Scripture (The Word of GOD), is very clear and it is through out the Bible that suffering is a "Grace" and it will make us STRONGER!! 
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"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am Strong."  -2 Corinthians 12:10  

Then Jesus said to them "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."  -Matthew 16:24 

I have said for years and I do mean I HAVE SAID THIS for years, that satan "Is" going to get at you to make you suffer in your marriage, job, finances, your children, the health of a loved one or your health, trying to pay the bills and the list goes on. There are so many ways we ALL suffer and carry our Crosses in this life.  But these ARE our Crosses and through them, Our Most Risen Christ has PROMISED us that the eternal reward that awaits us is "Unfathomable" to us to even try to understand the: PEACE, JOY, LOVE THAT AWAITS US!!!  AND "Yes" the pain of our Cross is like getting the shot but it "Will" make us Stronger and the suffering is only "Temporary." BUT the PEACE, JOY, LOVE IS FOREVER!!!

~Arrow your brother in Christ

A friend emailed this out to our prayer group, it is perfectly said. I had to share.

BE ENCOURAGED The LORD himself goes before you!

Fear sometimes keeps us from doing what we ought to do. I hope these verses will give you some food to chew on and thoughts to dwell upon today and to keep them in your heart. As Christians, we need to be bold in proclaiming the kingdom of God, and we need to be prepared for those times, when we will not be welcomed with open arms with God's message. This morning a lady came to me asking for prayer because she feels she's being persecuted by some, and I gave her the scripture 

"The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged," 

and also I gave her the prayer from today's One Bread One Body; Prayer: Lord, may I let You fight my battles, even if I seem to be a casualty. I really love this scripture from Duet 31:8, because me being visual, I can see the Lord walking ahead and making everything to kneel or bow down because the anointed (us) are coming to spread his message. Can you see it? 


"The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,"  

The Lord's will be done in our lives!

Thank you Linda for sharing!!

 In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. “The clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness.

It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. Is our relationship with God becoming more simple than it has ever been?

There is a connection between the strange providential circumstances allowed by God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Until we can come face to face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God’s character, we do not yet know Him.

“…they were fearful as they entered the cloud” (Luke 9:34). Is there anyone except Jesus in your cloud? If so, it will only get darker until you get to the place where there is “no one anymore, but only Jesus …” (Mark 9:8; also see Mark 2:7).



WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R


Source: http://utmost.org/