FIAT

Do you remember the first time you gave your "yes" to God? Your wholehearted fiat that said you fell in love with Him so deeply that you were willing to leave the world behind and follow Him at any cost? It took blind faith...the moment when you made that commitment not realizing the amount of sacrifice you would choose to accept that came with your humble and obedient reply. The only requirement was complete trust in the Lord. It might have been easy at first because it seemed you, too, were filled with grace...maybe not the same way Mary was...but enough that it surpassed the fear and doubt that threatened to hold you back.

It started becoming difficult when you realized that you now had to make a daily choice...when the pull of the world seemed to entice you again as life before you met Christ seemed easier and less burdensome. You told Him some time ago that you would not take back your "yes". Have you? Because of your woundedness, have you taken a step back from your Love and said it was too much to ask? Your shoulders were not made to carry that much weight, you thought to yourself, so you began to walk away.

But look at her. Look into her eyes...into her heart. When she was faced with that daily choice, what did she answer her Lord? Did she complain that it was too hard? Did she regret the response she gave to the angel Gabriel at the Annuciation? Did she ever say to herself, "If only I had said no..."?

Did she allow sadness to overwhelm her heart and cause her to compare her life to what appeared more attractive in the lives of those around her?

Poverty. Chastity. Obedience. Those vows do not only belong to the religious. They are to be incorporated into our lives as well. Our Blessed Mother was married to St. Joseph. They ran their own household and raised in it a Child of their own. And yet they still depended on God for all their temporal needs. They treated each other with the highest dignity deserving of a human being made in the image and likeness of God. There was no will in their hearts above that of the Father. These vows were never formally made but they were very actively practiced.

And you, little one...what about you? What happened to your "yes"? to your fruits? to your trust?

Lord, I give you my heart
I give you my soul
I live for you alone
Every breath that I take
Every moment I'm awake
Lord, have your way in me.

"I beg you, dearly beloved, by the mercy of God, to give yourselves as a living and holy sacrifice pleasing to God: such is the worship of a rational being. Don't let yourselves be shaped by the world where you live, but rather be transformed by the renewal of your mind. You must discern the will of God: what is good, what pleases, what is perfect." (Rom 12:1-2)