The Gospel of Yes Daily Reflection for Dec. 4, 2023
DECEMBER 4, 2023
MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
WHY A "YES"?
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:
God’s plan doesn’t steamroll through human history. It waits for the door to be opened through the yes of the human heart. Why a yes? Because God made me free, this is my great dignity. And freedom is essential to the act of loving. We can’t do what we were made to do (to love) without being free.
Often, in our struggles with sin and various trials, we ask God to take away our freedom, to overrule us, and simply do what he needs to do. While it is a great thing to want God to do whatever he wants, he will never take away our freedom to accomplish it. But he will give us grace to make us capable of choosing him, saying yes to him, in our struggles and trials. That is what we are praying for this Advent.
Just as the Lord waited on Mary’s yes, so he waits on ours.
A beautiful homily from St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153 AD) captures the moment as all creation waits upon Mary’s yes to the Lord:
You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.
The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response, we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.
Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.
Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.
Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word. (1)
TODAY'S PRAYER:
Spend time with Mary praying through the verses from Psalm 40 below. Notice the focus is first on the Lord and the wonders and designs he has worked for us. Remember, this is where our “yes” begins: when we focus on him, when we direct the eyes of our hearts to him. With the focus on the Lord, David declares: “You do not delight in sacrifice and offerings, but in an open ear.” What pleases God most is when the ears of our hearts are open to him, ready to do his will. And then David offers his yes to the Lord: “See, I have come.”
Psalm 40:6-9
How many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders and designs
that you have worked for us;
you have no equal.
Should I wish to proclaim or speak of them,
they would be more than I can tell!
You delight not in sacrifice and offerings,
but in an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Then I said, “See, I have come.”
In the scroll of the book, it stands written of me:
“I delight to do your will, O my God.”
FOR YOUR REFLECTION:
Domenico Beccafumi, The Annunciation (1545)
Returning to Beccafumi’s painting, notice how the angel Gabriel approaches Mary with arms crossed. He does not come to force God’s yes upon her. The crossed arms signify a certain humility, a gentleness, that will wait upon her answer. (The lily he carries is a symbol of Mary’s purity and virginity.) Gabriel’s eyes are cast down, another sign of his humility and gentleness as he comes to her. The Lord also approaches us in this way. He never forces himself on us but waits for us to use our freedom in the greatest way: to say yes to a relationship with him, to say yes to his plan, to say yes even to the crosses we bear with Jesus.
Return to Psalm 40 during the day. As we move through these days of Advent, pray for the grace to make David’s words your own: “I delight to do your will, O my God.” Gradually, during this holy season, you will notice something stirring and growing in your heart as you look upon the Lord. Marveling at his wonders and designs, your heart will become more open to saying yes to him, to doing his will.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Hom. 4, 8-9: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 4 (1966), 53-54.