The Gospel of Yes Daily Reflection for Dec. 12, 2023
DECEMBER 12, 2023
TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
YES TO A GREATER GOOD
OPENING PRAYER:
COME, HOLY SPIRIT. I welcome you into my heart as Mary did. Come with power. Help me to offer my own yes to God the Father, saying with trust: “May it be done unto me according to your word.”
TODAY’S THOUGHT:
“We should abandon ourselves entirely into the hands of God, and believe that His providence disposes everything that He wishes or permits to happen to us for our greater good.” (St. Vincent de Paul).
God loves us so much that in his providence, he makes all things work for our good: "We know that all things work for good for those who love God." (Romans 8:28) This may sound too good to be true, but it isn't! So we don't need to desperately control our lives to make things work for our good. God's got this! Believing this leaves us free to abandon ourselves entirely into God's hands. There is so much more freedom and peace when we aren't desperately trying to control every aspect of our life. So our yes to God is always a yes to some greater good that God has in mind. I may not know what it is, but God has something in mind for me in every situation, even in every cross.
Listen to these words of St. John Henry Newman as he reflects on the strange ways that God's providence often leads us:
"God has created all things for good; all things for their greatest good; everything for its own good. What is the good of one is not the good of another; what makes one man happy would make another unhappy. God has determined, unless I interfere with His plan, that I should reach what is my greatest happiness. He looks on me individually, He calls me by my name, He knows what I can do, what I can best be, what is my greatest happiness, and He means to give it me.
God knows what is my greatest happiness, but I do not. There is no rule about what is happy and good. What suits one would not suit another, and the ways by which perfection is reached vary very much; the medicines necessary for our souls are very different from each other.
Truly, God leads us by strange ways! We know He wills our happiness, but we neither know what our happiness is, nor the way. We are blind, and left to ourselves we should take the wrong way; we must leave it to Him.
Let us put ourselves into His hands, and not be startled though He leads us by a strange way, a mirabilis via (marvelous way), as the Church speaks. Let us be sure He will lead us right, that He will bring us to that which is, not indeed what we think best, nor what is best for another, but what is best for us.
O, my God, I will put myself without reserve into Your hands. Wealth or woe, joy or sorrow, friends or bereavement, honor or humiliation, good report or ill report, comfort or discomfort, Your presence or the hiding of Your countenance, all is good if it comes from You. You are wisdom and You are love—what can I desire more? You have led me in Your counsel, and with glory You received me. What have I in heaven, and apart from You what want I upon earth? My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the God of my heart, and my portion forever.”
TODAY’S PRAYER:
Slowly and repeatedly pray over these words of St. Paul:
"We know that all things work for good for those who love God." (Romans 8:28)
Keep repeating them, allowing them to sink into your heart. Let the Lord stir up greater faith in the truth of these words.
Then, offer the prayer of St. John Henry Newman:
O, my God, I will put myself without reserve into Your hands. Wealth or woe, joy or sorrow, friends or bereavement, honor or humiliation, good report or ill report, comfort or discomfort, Your presence or the hiding of Your countenance, all is good if it comes from You. You are wisdom and You are love—what can I desire more? You have led me in Your counsel, and with glory You received me. What have I in heaven, and apart from You what want I upon earth? My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the God of my heart, and my portion forever.
FOR YOUR REFLECTION:
Philippe de la Champaigne, The Annunciation. Circa 1644.
This is one of several paintings of the Annunciation by Philipe de la Champaigne, each depicting the scene differently. Here, we see Mary kneeling in prayer. The open prayer book or Scriptures is before her, with the cabinet door opened below, revealing additional books. A warm heavenly light is seen throughout the upper right corner of the painting as the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary.
While Mary's face seems peaceful, her right-hand gestures to herself, capturing the moment Mary says, "How can this be?" As St. John Newman said: "Truly, God leads us by strange ways!" God's ways are strange, so much higher than our way of thinking. How can it be that Mary, who does not know man, will conceive and bear a child? Mary's reaction is to give herself over to God's plan, believing as St. Vincent de Paul said: “We should abandon ourselves entirely into the hands of God, and believe that His providence disposes everything that He wishes or permits to happen to us for our greater good.”
Sometimes, our reaction to God's strange ways is to withhold our yes, demanding to know how God will make all things work for our good before we say yes. For your continued prayer, return to the verse above from Romans and then pray again through the prayer of surrender from St. John Newman.