We are creatures of habit and it ain't pretty when things don't go the way they are "supposed" to go. You know what life is like when your spouse gets up on the wrong side of the bed or when you just miss the 6:11 train or when the coffee cart isn’t there on the corner like it normally is!
There is something good about routines and habits. They help us make some sense of the chaotic, keep us moving in a good and orderly way, meet expectations and responsibilities and in our own little corners of the world way, give us a sense of control. Yet because we are fallen, even the good stuff can get, well, messed up. This can happen in extreme ways, such as obsessive-compulsive disorders in which the sufferer is compelled to wash her hands 20 times a day or must wear the color red at all times or someone must go to the gym every day and exercise for 3 hours, without fail. My own mother, out of fear of living alone with her small children, would patrol the house nightly to ensure that all of the windows and doors were locked and secured, not once, or twice, or even three times. She would do so all night long. The operative word here is “fear.”
Let’s face it: this isn’t a safe world. We need not read the terrible headlines screaming on the front pages to know that. Most accidents happen at home, which is considered by most to be the safest place on earth, a refuge from the cold, cruel world. Even Paradise wasn’t safe. How could that be? After all, it was Paradise. Yet, trouble walked in (or slithered in) and life hasn't been the same since. Despite the most orderly 6-days of Creation, each element Creation coming into existence through the Word step by step, day by day, chaos and disaster were right around the corner and at the feet of Adam and Eve. No, this world has never been a safe place. And when our primordial parents made the choice to take that bite, we became all too familiar with fear.
Did you know that in The Bible. we are told don't not fear over 360+ times. That's quite a bit! In fact, we are given this direction even more than we are told to love!
How can this be? Are we not told that God is Love and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves? Isn't the life of the Christian one of sacrificial love? Well, of course. John tells us that: "In this is love: not that we have loved, but that God has loved us." We are also reminded by Jeremiah, "even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you." Yet, the Bible speaks more to us about relinquishing fear than of loving!
Let us consider the moment of the Anunciation, when the angel Gabriel comes to Mary: "Hail, full of grace...." She is then told to "have no fear" for the Lord had found favor with Her and he then spoke the words of what God had intended for Her: the conception and Virgin Birth of Emmanuel - God is With Us! In such a case, fear would be absolutely valid, indeed. Angels are beings from a higher spiritual plane and are brilliant and mighty. Yet, it was not the angel or its presence, but the words spoken which troubled her. We are told The Lord had His Eye on Her and He wanted Her to do something. I don't know about you, but I would have some anxiety about this. Yet, had She remained in that fear, would She have been able to say the most amazing words ever uttered by a creature, "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word?" Mary heard the message that the Lord was with Her and She believed, She trusted, She wholeheartedly gave Herself to the Will of God. She looked not to Herself, but to the Lord through the words of His messenger and as a result, She conceived the Word Incarnate; Her body was literally inhabited by Love Himself. Profundity and fecundity sublime!
Fear, particularly in the form of worry and anxiety, is fostered when we look to ourselves for the answers, when we think we are in control of our world. As in the case of Adam and Eve, fear arose in them after they had eaten the fruit for they had looked to themselves rather than God for the answers. This emotion (and many other terrible things) entered into the world as a direct result of doing just that. And then what did they do? They hid from Love Itself and then started pointing fingers at each other. They could not love for they had not first turned to God Who is Love.
Our Lord experienced this fear on our behalf during His Passion for He took on our sins and all of its awful wages. Yet, He did not look to Himself, but rather the Father to Whom He was obedient, even unto death, trusting at the moment of His death that He would be received into the Father's Hands. Even though His life looked like a complete failure to the world, He knew that life in the Father's Hands would bear much fruit. In this case, the salvation of all those who accept Him. It is through this Trust that salvation was won.
In this world filled with wars, rumors of wars, stress, debt, betrayal, illness and all other kind of human suffering, the question we must ask ourselves is, Whose hands are we going to put ourselves into? Will we look to ourselves for the answers? Will we handle it on our own and make our own choices? We are doing an awful lot of that and yet nothing is getting any better. Rather, we find ourselves following our first parents in our choices and habits, even though they are a recipe for sorrow.
Instead, we must cast ourselves at the feet of Our Lord on the Cross and in the arms of Our Lady of Sorrows Who, through obedience, love and trust, brought about the salvation of all those who will follow.
Such is a habit worth forming.
Consider how you might place your life in God's Hands and weave reliance on the Father into the fabric of your everyday life. For those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose, even if you miss the 6:11!
No comments:
Post a Comment