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Greetings...and being that I am a
temporary American citizen, I feel it is only appropriate to wish each of you a
Happy Thanksgiving!
For the next two months, I would like to take some time, especially now that we
are in the season of Advent, to ponder the beauty of Mary's fiat. It is
an incredible point in history when Mary said yes to the plan of God: “Behold I
am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word”. (Luke
1:38) Advent, like Mary's fiat, ushers us into the mystery of God, a
time of preparation, hope, faith and trust. Just as Mary uttered her fiat to
the Lord, enabling Christ to become incarnate in her womb, so too are we called
to constantly utter our own fiat -our yes- to God, so that He may
continually take up His home in each one of us. I hope that through this reflection,
and others like it, that each of us may open our hearts a bit more to the love
of Christ and continue to turn to Mary for the most perfect example of what it
means to actively and with much anticipation, surrender to God.
I should let you know that, as of last week, I completed a term paper for my
Theology of Mary class - the focus of my paper was that of Mary's fiat. In
my paper I outlined two views as regards the fiat of Mary. The first view is
that of the liberal feminist tradition; these women theologians see Mary's fiat
as an act of emancipation from male domination and thus view her assent to
God's will as something purely autonomous (without the help of another),
emphasizing her power as woman. The second view, the view which I, along with
the Church, espouse is the view that regards Mary's fiat as the most
perfect example of human freedom and liberation due to Mary's ability to
recognize her relationship to God, creature to Creator, as a relationship of
gift and gratitude. It is this last point which I would like to develop a bit
further in my reflection for this month: Mary's fiat as the recognition of the
gifted structure of reality.
Within these last few months of study at the John Paul II Institute, here in Washington,
DC, I have become more familiar with the reality of the gift/gratitude
structure of existence. This has been due to the study of a prominent Swiss
theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (to read a bit more about him go to: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0486.html#).
One of the many hallmarks of Balthasar's theology is the recognition of all
life, as that of a gift. More specifically this realization takes on a
very important meaning when accounting for the life of each and every human
person. In other words, as human beings, we must recognize that despite what
our culture tells us, that we are not creators of ourselves or the world; thus
we are not purely self-deterministic. Instead, in order to become more fully ourselves
we need to recognize that we have been given life and in turn our life
needs to be a reflection of gratitude for this gift - a life lived for the
other. In truth, we need only look as far as our birth to recognize that I
came from another, that I was and am dependent on others and thus I
am also made for another. It is in pondering the wonder of these mysteries
that we come to see the relationship of gift and gratitude within
the very structure of being alive ultimately as regards our being created by
and for God.
It is in turning to the fiat of Mary that we are given a profound
example of what it means to live in the proper disposition of a creation of
God, the disposition of gratitude. Thus, the fiat reveals in all of its
profundity what it means to be a creature. The fiat expresses the
dependent relation on God and discloses one toward service. All that I am and
have been given by God in Jesus Christ; and what has been given is to be
shared.1 In this regard Mary, in and
through her fiat, shows us the very depths of self-giving, receptivity
and gratitude to which we are called as Christians. In the season of Advent,
let us take time to reflect upon Mary's “yes” to God and, in so doing, utter
with Mary: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior...for
the Mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name...”(Luke
1:46-49).
May the Peace of Christ be with you!
Jen
1 Schindler, D.L, Heart of the World, Center of
the Church: Communio Ecclesiology, Liberalism, and Liberation.
Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996, pg 93.
Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply
step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall
you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence. Pope
John Paul II
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