20181220
DISCERNING THE WILL OF
GOD
20 DECEMBER,
2018, Thursday, 3rd Week, Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
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First reading
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Isaiah 7:10-14 ©
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The maiden is with child
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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
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.”’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 23(24):1-6 ©
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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.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Emmanuel,
our king and lawgiver,
come and save us,
Lord our God.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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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!
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Gospel
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Luke 1:26-38 ©
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'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
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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.
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 text of the gospel as
if everything happened within a few minutes for the Incarnation to take
place. Was the process as simple as presented in the gospel? The
angel out of nowhere appeared before Mary, congratulated her and then announced
to her 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 be king of the descendants of Jacob
forever; his kingdom will never end!” With some clarification, Mary said,
“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 narrative of the gospel in
scripture comes under the category of midrash. These are stories to
convey the truth of the biblical message. Whilst the truth remains that
Mary was called by God through the annunciation of an angel, the process would
most probably have been summarized in the gospel to just a few lines. It
would have been irresponsible and indeed presumptuous for Mary to make a
definite decision in saying “yes” to the angel in a few minutes. She
could have been hallucinating, or a devil might have come under the guise of an
angel. Indeed, if someone were to do what Mary did, we would have
questioned the maturity of the decision.
So I would like to think that the
process for Mary to make a decision to accept the invitation of God to be the
mother of the Son of God took more than just a few minutes, not even a day,
maybe weeks and months discerning what the Lord was saying to her. In
fact, the gospel text presented Mary in a contemplative and discerning
disposition. Mary was certainly disposed to prayer and
contemplation. It could be at prayer that she felt strongly the blessings
of God, which was articulated by the angel, “Peace be with you! The Lord is
with you and has greatly blessed you!”
However, she was
wondering why she felt so blessed by God. “Mary was deeply troubled by the
angel’s message, and she wondered what his words meant. The angel said to
her, ‘Don’t 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 be king of the
descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!'” It was
certainly a great honour to be considered by God for such a task. Through
the process of discernment, Mary came to realize that she was blessed, not just
for the sake of herself but also for the salvation of the People of God.
As Mary would later sing 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)
However, she 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 a real invitation of our Lord or whether she was
imagining. She raised doubts about how this conception could be
possible. Mary said to the angel, “I am a virgin. How, then, can
this be?” Indeed, I would imagine that beyond this question of
conceiving Jesus outside of marriage and what Joseph and her parents and
relatives might think crossed her mind. She would have spent much time
wondering how such a miraculous conception was possible and it if did, how
would she be able to 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 fulfill that role well and worthily?
Would she be able to face the questions and interrogation from the religious
authority on her pregnancy?
Certainly, this part of
her discernment process would have taken some time. We can presume that
she would have brought it to prayer.
At some point in her discernment process, she would have heard from the Lord or
through the angel the words of assurance and clarification, besides being given
an external sign. The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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 there is nothing that God cannot do.”
So through a long
process of discernment, in prayer and contemplation, through divine revelation
and through an external sign in
the conception of John the Baptist by her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, she felt
confident of the call, with regard to both its authenticity and its
implications. Realizing that it was indeed the will of God, impossible it
might be, and ridiculous to the mind of man, yet she knew that the call was
real. So she said, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it happen to me as you
have said.” Consequently, I think the call of Mary and her response was
not such a simple and easy process as presented briefly in the gospel.
There was much thinking, reflection and discerning done by Mary.
In contrast, we have
King Ahaz in the first reading who listened to no one but himself. He was the most wicked king in
Judah. As a consequence, the Lord permitted many nations to attack and
harass Judah because of Ahaz’ arrogance and infidelity to God. When he
was faced with the possibility of being attacked by the King of Aram who was in
league with the King of Israel, he cried out to the King of Assyria for
help. Instead of listening to the prophet Isaiah who told him not to sell
himself and the kingdom to the power of Assyria, he refused to listen.
This was in spite of the assurance of the prophet that Israel would not be able
to overcome him and seize the kingdom.
King Ahaz did not do any
discernment of the will of God for him. His mind was already made up. He listened
to his fears and anxieties instead of trusting in God. He trusted more in
himself than anyone else. When Isaiah told him that if he did not believe
in his words, he should ask for a sign. But under the pretext of not
wanting to test God, he refused to ask for a sign because this would have
forced him to submit to Isaiah’s counsel even more. He had no intention
of changing his mind. 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
Emmanuel, a name which means “God-is-with-us”.
What about us? Do we
go through the same process like Mary in clarifying the will of God, especially
when we have to make important decisions and options in life? We cannot expect an angel to
appear to us but in reality, the Lord sends many angels to speak to us about
His calling and His will. Often, this comes through our loved ones,
friends, parishioners, our bosses and colleagues, and sometimes, God gives us
some signs as well.
However, we need to
bring the diverse opinions of what we have heard to prayer. By so doing, we bring the process
of discernment into a deeper level of internal forum. We speak to God in
prayer and we speak to our spiritual director. It is through prayer that
we will arrive at a conviction as Mary did, so that we can respond with humility
and conviction, “I am the handmaid of the Lord.” However, this
discernment process can happen when we live a righteous life in God’s eyes,
otherwise we allow our fears, anxieties and self-will to colour our judgement,
as with Ahaz. Hence, the psalmist says, “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 that is said and done, we need to surrender in faith. This was
what Mary did, which Ahaz did not.
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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 there is nothing that God cannot do.” Having
given her the sign of Elizabeth’s pregnancy and the power of the Holy Spirit,
Mary could surrender in faith, knowing that with God nothing is
impossible. We too, having made a proper discernment in total openness
and receptivity to His divine will, must go ahead and do His will even if it
seems difficult and impossible because it will be God who makes things happen
through and in us, not ourselves.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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