Meditation for the Assumption 

When Mary was asked to become the Mother of God, she was touched by a moment of fear. For a mere mortal, this was an immense notion. How does one comprehend such a thing? But the Angel reassured her. The work would be accomplished by God, and nothing is impossible for Him.

Immediately Mary offered herself totally for the task of bringing Christ and His redemption into the world.

She laid down no conditions. She made no reservations. Joyously, she said “Yes” to God’s plan with a simple sentence: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me ACCORDING to Thy Word.”

She was aware of her lowliness. But she had no inferiority complex about it. She entrusted herself with generosity and faith to God’s loving Providence and power.

Her humility was her strength and the source of her calmness and joy. Her confidence was not in her own abilities but rather in God’s greatness.

We might do well to try to imitate her when we make our Morning Offering. We can offer ourselves to God each day, to be used by Him in His work of bringing love and redemption to the world.

But unfortunately, we do not have Mary’s generosity and faith. Doubts and fears disturb our serenity. As life unfolds itself, we begin to have second thoughts.

If things don’t go according to OUR plan, we imagine God has no plan.

If we are not successful in OUR efforts, we think God is a failure.

If our lives are ordinary and humdrum, we yearn for something spectacular and dramatic.

We forget that God does not work before television cameras, but in the hearts of men. He is a hidden God and often accomplishes His designs even without the cooperation of the mass media.

Mary realized that God chooses the weakest of things, that out of the most ordinary actions He accomplishes extraordinary results.

She was aware that when we can do very little, that God is doing very much. God seems to delight in humanly impossible situations, because nothing is impossible with God.

If we could only offer ourselves totally to God each day and trust Him completely, we would not be so downcast when something seems to go wrong against us or the Church. Instead, we could wait patiently as Mary did for God’s intervention and know that in our sorrows the God of ALL consolation will surprise us with joy.

He always has the last Word!

-Catholic Quote.

Vol. 81, No. 8