Your Will Be Done
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
My dear encountered couples:
There have always been differences of opinion about exactly what the sin of our first parents consisted in. Everyone agrees, though, that disobedience to the will of God was essentially present. Adam and Eve didn’t do the will of God even after he made it quite clear to them what his will was. Jesus came to reverse their disobedience by living obediently to the will of his Father. Mary joined Jesus in that. She was devoted to God and wanted nothing more than that his will be done. She voiced that belief when she gave her answer to the angel Gabriel: “I am the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say.”
During Lent we make sacrifices. We refrain from doing certain things we ordinarily do; we make ourselves do other things we don’t ordinarily do. These sacrifices are worthwhile only in so far as they are God’s will for us. Our reading from the Book of Hebrews tells us that when it puts these Old Testament words into the mouth of Jesus:
“Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings you neither desired nor delighted in. I have come to do your will.” Then by way of comment the author writes, “By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Jesus and Mary showed us how we are to live - obediently to God’s will. And you thought love was more important. Living according to God’s will is the greatest act of love you can perform.
The question at the bottom of the line directed to each of us is simply this: “Are you going to use this Lent to become reconciled and closer to God — or aren’t you?”
