20160404 SEARCHING FOR GOD’S WILL AND OUR VOCATION IN LIFE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Isaiah
7:10-14,8:10 ©
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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 he
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.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 39:7-11 ©
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Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
You do not ask for
sacrifice and offerings,
but an
open ear.
You do not ask for
holocaust and victim.
Instead,
here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
In the scroll of the
book it stands written
that I
should do your will.
My God, I delight in
your law
in the
depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
Your justice I have
proclaimed
in the
great assembly.
My lips I have not
sealed;
you know
it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
I have not hidden
your justice in my heart
but
declared your faithful help.
I have not hidden
your love and your truth
from the
great assembly.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
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Second reading
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Hebrews 10:4-10 ©
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Bulls’ blood and
goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what Christ said, on
coming into the world:
You who wanted no
sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body
for me.
You took no
pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was
commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I
am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says
first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be
offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the
sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here
I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to
replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by
the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn1:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Word became
flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 1:26-38 ©
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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.
SEARCHING
FOR GOD’S WILL AND OUR VOCATION IN LIFE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ ISA 7:10-14,
8-10; PS 39:7-11; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38 ]
Today’s
feast is an appropriate occasion to reflect on our vocation. All of us, like Mary, have a
vocation in life. Nothing is by chance. God has created each one of
us here for a purpose, to manifest His glory and share His love so that at the
end of our journey, we can share the fullness of life with Him. And so
like Mary, we must make time to discern our vocation in life, what God is
calling us to do. Whilst each of us has a primary vocation according to
our state of life, we also have secondary vocations, or vocation within a
vocation. The way the Lord wants us to serve Him might change according
to circumstances in life. Therefore, we need always to be sensitive, like
Mary, to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in how we should respond to God’s
call. When she asked the angel, “But how can this come about, since I am
a virgin?”, it was not like Zechariah who asked in doubt. For Mary, she
wanted to know how the Lord would make use of her for the work of redemption.
So
it is important right from the outset to remind ourselves constantly that we
need to ask what the Lord is asking of us. Many people, unfortunately, instead of seeking a
vocation, seek to do their own will, choose their own career. When we do
not consult God and are simply willful in doing our will, we will bring
disaster not just to ourselves but to those under our care. This was the
situation of King Ahaz in today’s first reading. He was undecided whether
to join Syria and Israel to fight against the Assyrians or, against the advice
of Isaiah, to submit to Assyria as a vassal state. In today’s first
reading, obviously his mind was already made up, even though God offered him a
sign to confirm Isaiah’s prophecy. Instead, disguising his lack of faith
in God, Ahaz answered, “No, I will not put the Lord to the test.” Indeed,
many of us, instead of discerning the will of God for us in whatever we do,
turn to worldly advisers. And this is what the Lord will say to us,
“Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience
with men without trying the patience of my God, too?”
Today,
we are grateful to Jesus and Mary for taking up their vocation in life.
Today’s feast celebrates a double vocation. Originally, this feast was celebrated
as the Annunciation of Mary but it has now been changed to the Annunciation of
the Lord. This is because both Jesus and Mary’s vocations are
intertwined. Mary’s response to the call to be the Mother of God paves
the way for Jesus to be incarnated and the work of redemption of humanity.
Mary in saying “Yes” to God, considered herself as “the handmaid of the Lord.”
The
decision to be the mother of the Saviour is not as simple as we think. We
must consider the implications of her decision to be Christ’s mother. As it is said, it is not so difficult
to give birth to a baby but to look after a baby for the rest of your life,
that is a different matter altogether. It is just like marriage.
Getting married is very easy but to be faithful and loving to your spouse every
day of your life requires tremendous sacrifices and sufferings. So when
Mary gave her consent, she too consented to all that would follow after that
big and fundamental “Yes.” So, too, for anyone who chooses a certain
vocation in life. Making our decision is only the beginning of a lifelong
commitment. It is like keeping a dog as a pet as well. It means
that we have to look after the animal till it dies. So we should not
complain and regret when we choose to be a priest, religious, a spouse or a
church worker, because the vocation comes together with all its joys and
sorrows. Quite often, when people face trials in their vocation, be it in their
priestly or religious life, or in marriage and family life, they regret and
complain. In choosing that vocation, it entails all the obligations and demands
that flow from that commitment.
Indeed,
both Jesus and Mary understood the cost of saying “Yes” to the Heavenly Father. It is not the grandeur that most
people are interested in. Many people want to be great and enjoy the
privileges of the office and the honour but are not willing to work for the
service of those who entrust them with the responsibilities of the
office. Both Jesus and Mary however, recognized that answering God’s call
requires total self-emptying. It is a sacrifice of oneself, giving one’s
mind, heart and body to God completely for His service. That is what the
prophet said, “Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins,
and that is what Christ said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice
or obligation, prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or
sacrifices for sin; then you said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the
book, ‘God here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’”
In
doing God’s will, we please God more than anything else. That is why Blessed Mother
Teresa reminded us that we are called to be faithful, not successful.
Doing His will means that we give ourselves totally; which is more than mere
external sacrifices of holocausts. That was what Mary said to the angel,
“Let what you have said be done to me.” She was totally disposed to the
will of God. To do God’s will is to submit our lives to Him in
obedience. It is to give oneself for the service of God and to empty our
lives for humanity like Jesus did. We are called to serve justice and
truth. This explains why this feast is always celebrated within the
season of Lent and Easter because we are celebrating His passion, death and
resurrection.
To
do His will presupposes that we keep an ear open to the Lord. The psalmist says, “Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will. You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear. You do not ask for holocaust and victim. Instead, here
am I. In the scroll of the book it stands written that I should do your
will. My God, I delight in your law in the depth of my heart.” Many
of us can hardly hear Him, because we hardly enter into contemplation like
Mary. We use human reasoning alone, instead of spending time praying the
Word of God and seeking His divine counsel and wisdom. If we want
to do the will of God, let us be careful not to act like Ahaz whose mind was
already made up. Instead, we need to come with open hands and open heart
and mind to the Lord, seeking only do to His holy will, not ours.
Even
when we know His will, it does not mean that we can do it. What is the
basis for this self-emptying if not one’s love for God, or rather, His love for
us and abiding presence in us? Christ emptied Himself for us because of His love for His
Father. So did Mary. If they were able to do God’s will, it
was because their hearts and minds were one with the Heavenly Father.
They knew the Father’s love. Mary lived her life always in close union
and intimacy with the Lord. This was why the angel greeted her, “Rejoice,
so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” She was with the Lord as much
as the Lord was with her. It was therefore appropriate that Mary, who was
filled with God’s grace and presence, should also be the one to give birth to
the “Immanuel, a name which means “God-is-with-us”.
With
God in our heart, we can do anything, or rather, the Lord will be able to work
in and through us.
We need not be fearful of what is ahead of us, whether we can do it or
not. When the Lord chooses us, He qualifies us. This was what He
said to Mary, “Do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour.” All we need
to say is “Let it be done according to your word.” We must be like Mary, not to
block His grace from flowing in and through us. As the angel said, “Know
this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a
son, and she whom people call barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is
impossible to God.” Indeed, nothing is impossible to those who believe and
those who make themselves available to His grace and seek only to do His will.
To
sustain our vocation, therefore, prayer and contemplation on the Word of God
and the Eucharist must be at the heart of our vocation. We need to be in love with
God. When a person stops praying, he will soon rely only on his own
strength. He will suffer burn-out and become disillusioned, especially in
failures and disappointments. This is because he is no longer available
to do the will of God but his own will. He wants things to happen his
way, for his glory and honour, not the way of God and for His glory. He becomes
agitated, anxious and worried. But if we are always at prayer and
contemplation like Mary, we can surrender everything to the Lord in faith and
trust, accepting all that happens to us as His divine wisdom and
plan. We will not be afraid of failure and setbacks because it is
the Lord’s work, not ours. So let us be faithful to our prayer life and
the Divine Office, the Eucharist and, most of all, spending an hour of prayer
before the Blessed Sacrament every day to find strength, consolation,
understanding and direction from the Lord.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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