This morning as I am watching the London New Year’s parade, I was humbled to receive the following email from a Sonshine Friend. “Pray you take time to take care of yourself- remembering we are all human- you’ve had a lot going on in your personal life-the scare you had earlier with your wife, the loss of Ken, tending to his family, of your close friend Father Erick’s daughter being murdered, and checking in on his family, all the loss, crisis, struggles and difficulties you assist with… and especially when feeling a wee bit run down- and it’s one of the busiest times of the year- none of us want anything to happen to you!!! So please do take care of yourself, know others care.”
Let me share this reflection about being “calm.” “Let it be done unto me according to your will,” Mary had said.
A real Archangel had appeared, handing out shocking news. What a jolt the
Annunciation must have been for someone so unassuming, as Mary. Did she flinch?
No. She reacted with calm. She said simply, “I accept. Tell me how this
wonderful birth will happen.”
But the series of events that followed do not seem to warrant calm. Mary became
a betrothed woman found pregnant. Her husband-to-be had been about to divorce
her until an angel explained things in a dream.
And since walking was the usual mode of transportation in those days, sometimes
for astonishing distances, the census call did not make her promise easy. It
was the last part of her pregnancy—the most difficult time of all to travel
from Nazareth in the far north of Israel down to Bethlehem, which is south of
Jerusalem. Not an impossible distance, but in the last month of pregnancy, a
real challenge. This was God’s will and she had accepted it. Joseph in his
kindness got a donkey for Mary to ride.
This Sunday we see Mary just days after the grueling journey and the amazing
birth. She is carrying out the promise she made to Gabriel. All is well. The
child is healthy and cute, and the angels, unable to contain their joy, have
once more danced into Mary’s life. Even the animals understand. It is
breathtaking.
It would seem that Mary’s calm would now seek some quiet and rest after all
that had happened. But no. Unkempt shepherds, straight from the fields, “went
in haste” to the shelter, announcing in their craggy voices that they knew who
this baby is. Angels had told them. Wise men, or as we now say, kings, found
the holy shelter and barged right in, bearing royal gifts.
Does this all impinge on Mary’s peace? No. She is good to her word. The Gospel
says that she quietly "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her
heart.”
How could she do this? Part of it was her personality, but even more, it was
the presence of God deep within her, so deep that she let her life become one
with his, and produced a son. Life on this earth is never free from hazards and
setbacks and stunning difficulties, but as Mary let her heart reflect, and as
she watched each movement of the newborn baby, she breathed in a holiness, a
degree of holiness that even she had not known before.
“May it be done unto me according to your will.” Her acceptance was complete.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends in this New Year that we witness this calm, in ourselves, within a crowded, difficult, surprising stable, as we keep the picture of it within our own hearts, may each of us be able to echo her words, “May it be done unto me according to your will.”
May the intercession of our Blessed Mother bring you closer to her Son and fill your year with grace, hope, and peace.
Wishing you a happy and blessed New Year!
