20251220 DISCERNING THE WILL OF GOD
20 December 2025, Saturday, 3rd Week of Advent
First reading | Isaiah 7:10-14 |
The maiden is with child
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 23(24):1-6 |
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord
and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Emmanuel,
our king and lawgiver,
come and save us,
Lord our God.
Alleluia!
Or: |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Key of David, who open the gates of the eternal kingdom,
come to liberate from prison
the captive who lives in darkness.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 1:26-38 |
'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
DISCERNING THE WILL OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISAIAH 7:10-14; LUKE 1:26-38]
In the Gospel, we read of the call of Mary to be the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. Many of us read this Gospel text as if everything happened within a few minutes for the Incarnation to take place. Was the process really as simple as it is presented? The angel appeared before Mary, greeted her, and announced that God had chosen her to bear Jesus: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and he will reign over the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!” After some clarification, Mary replied, “I am the Lord’s servant; may it happen to me as you have said.”
In truth, we do not know exactly what transpired between Mary and the angel. The infancy narratives of the Gospel belong to the category of midrash–stories meant to convey the deeper truth of the biblical message. While it remains true that Mary was called by God through the annunciation of an angel, the process would most probably have been summarised in the Gospel in just a few lines. It would have been irresponsible, and indeed presumptuous, for Mary to have made a definitive decision by saying “yes” to the angel within a few minutes. She could have been hallucinating, or a devil might have appeared under the guise of an angel. Indeed, if someone today were to act as Mary did without discernment, we would likely question the maturity of such a decision.
Thus, I would like to think that the process by which Mary decided to accept God’s invitation to be the mother of His Son took more than just a few minutes–not even a day–but perhaps weeks or even months of discerning what the Lord was saying to her. In fact, the Gospel presents Mary as having a contemplative and discerning disposition. She was certainly inclined toward prayer and reflection. It may have been during prayer that she became deeply aware of God’s blessing, articulated by the angel in the words, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!”
Yet Mary wondered why she was so greatly blessed by God. “Mary was deeply troubled by the angel’s message and wondered what his words meant. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and he will reign over the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!'” It was indeed a great honour to be chosen by God for such a task. Through the process of discernment, Mary came to realise that she was blessed not merely for her own sake, but for the salvation of the People of God. As she would later proclaim in the Magnificat, “Henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation” (Lk 1:48-50).
Nevertheless, Mary did not allow herself to be so overwhelmed by such a great grace from God to be His Son’s mother that she threw caution to the wind. She felt the need to discern further whether this was truly an invitation from the Lord or merely her imagination. She questioned how such a conception could be possible, saying to the angel, “I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?” Beyond this question, one can imagine that concerns about conceiving outside of marriage, and about what Joseph, her parents, and her relatives might think, also crossed her mind. She would have spent much time pondering how such a miraculous conception could occur and, if it did, how she would explain herself. What would be the outcome of her decision? What were the implications of being the mother of the Son of God? Would she be able to fulfil such a role faithfully and worthily? Would she be able to face questioning and scrutiny from religious authorities regarding her pregnancy?
Certainly, this phase of her discernment would have taken considerable time. We can presume that she brought it to prayer. At some point in this process, she would have received words of assurance and clarification from the Lord, or through the angel, along with an external sign. The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and God’s power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God. Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even though she is very old. For nothing is impossible with God.”
Thus, through a prolonged process of discernment–through prayer and contemplation, divine revelation, and an external sign in the miraculous conception of John the Baptist by her elderly cousin Elizabeth–Mary became confident of the call, both in its authenticity and in its implications. She realised that it was truly the will of God. Impossible though it seemed, and even ridiculous by human standards, she knew the call was real. Hence she declared, “I am the Lord’s servant; may it happen to me as you have said.” Consequently, the call of Mary and her response were far from simple or instantaneous, as the brief Gospel account might suggest. There was deep thought, reflection, and discernment involved.
In contrast, we have King Ahaz in the first reading, who listened to no one but himself. He was one of the most wicked kings of Judah. As a result of his arrogance and infidelity, the Lord permitted many nations to attack and harass Judah. When Ahaz faced the threat of attack from the king of Aram, who was allied with the king of Israel, he appealed to the king of Assyria for help. Instead of listening to the prophet Isaiah, who warned him not to subject himself and his kingdom to the power of Assyria, Ahaz refused to listen. This was despite Isaiah’s assurance that Israel would not be able to overcome him and seize the kingdom.
King Ahaz made no effort to discern the will of God. His mind was already made up. He listened to his fears and anxieties rather than trusting in God. He relied more on himself than on anyone else. When Isaiah invited him to ask for a sign if he doubted the prophecy, Ahaz, under the pretext of not wanting to test God, refused–because doing so would have forced him to submit to Isaiah’s counsel. He had no intention of changing his mind. Isaiah responded, “Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men without trying the patience of my God too? The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
What about us? Do we follow Mary’s example in discerning the will of God, especially when faced with important decisions in life? While we cannot expect an angel to appear to us, the Lord sends many “angels” to speak to us through loved ones, friends, parishioners, superiors, colleagues, and sometimes through signs as well.
However, we must bring these diverse voices and opinions into prayer. By doing so, we deepen the process of discernment within our inner forum. We speak to God in prayer and seek guidance from a spiritual director. Through prayer, we arrive at a conviction similar to Mary’s, enabling us to respond with humility and conviction: “I am the handmaid of the Lord.” However, this discernment process can happen only when we live a righteous life in God’s eyes, otherwise, like Ahaz, our fears, anxieties, and self-will will colour our judgment. Hence, the psalmist asks, “Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things. He shall receive blessings from the Lord and reward from the God who saves him. Such are the men who seek him, seek the face of the God of Jacob.”
In the final analysis, after all has been said and done, we are called to surrender in faith. This is what Mary did, and what Ahaz failed to do. Having received both the sign of Elizabeth’s pregnancy and the assurance of the Holy Spirit’s power, Mary was able to surrender in trust, knowing that with God nothing is impossible. Likewise, when we have properly discerned God’s will with openness and receptivity, we must step forward in faith–even when the task seems difficult or impossible–because it is God who accomplishes His work through us, not ourselves.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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