Answering Angels
Fr. George Smiga
December 20, 2008
Luke 1: 26 – 38
God never forces us to do anything. Although God is all powerful, God never chooses to take away our freedom. Therefore, when God wants us to do something, God has to ask. This is why today’s gospel is so important. Because God’s plan to send his son into the world depended upon the answer of a woman. In order for the savior to be born, Mary had to say yes. Now I suppose, if Mary had said no, God could have asked someone else. But it would have made things different. Jesus would have grown up with another mother and in another home. It is clear that God wanted Mary, so God sent the angel Gabriel to lay out the plan. Mary listened, asked questions, and finally accepted God’s offer. Mary said yes.
Now it is at this point that the most important thing of the gospel becomes clear. What is crucial is the way in which Mary said yes. Normally when we think about agreeing to something or saying that we are willing to participate in someone else’s plan we say, “Yes, I’ll do it. I’ll participate.” But that is not what Mary said. The text is very clear on this, Mary does not say, “I’ll do what God wants.” She says, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” Mary doesn’t say, “I’ll do it.” She says, “I’ll let God do it to me.” Now this is a tremendously important description of faith. Faith is not us doing things for God. It is God doing things for us.
This gospel, then, shows us how to act when God sends an angel to us. Does God send angels to us? All the time. On a regular basis. Now the angel need not have wings or display a heavenly glow. An angel is anytime God asks us to do anything. God can ask us by placing a thought in our minds, by attracting us through someone or something that we love, or by directing the circumstances of our life to lead us in a particular direction. Here are some examples in which God could be asking us to do something: when you think that you are ready to make a commitment to a particular person, when you think it might be good for you to volunteer some time at the hospital, when you realize that you like chemistry and you might get a degree to work in medical research, or when you think that you are going to take off from work a few hours early and spend some time with your children. Any one of those decisions can be God asking you to participate in God’s plan.
I know that such decisions look like things which we are doing, decisions we are making. But on a deeper level it is actually allowing God to do something to us. When we choose to share our life with another person, it is a choice that we make. But on a deeper level it is opening ourselves to a lifetime of joys and sorrows, many of which we can never anticipate. Choosing someone in marriage is saying to God, “I love this person. You do something to us according to your plan.” When we decide we are going to spend our life in medical research, it is our choice of a career. But on a deeper level it is us allowing God to use our time and talent over the years and perhaps help a great many people. When we choose to give time at the hospital or with our children, we are making a choice. But on a deeper level we will never know the ways in which God can use that time we give to change us and to bless us, to bring us into God’s larger plan.
This understanding of faith is particularly important when we have to face tragedy or pain in our life, when we face sickness, loss, or grief. In so many of those situations we do not even know what to choose. But whenever there are circumstances that we must face and cannot change, we believe God is somehow asking us to go through those circumstances. Even though we do not understand what is happening, we like Mary say, “I trust you. Lead me through this. Show me the way.”
God comes to us in many ways. God has a plan for the world and for our lives. God is asking you to participate in that plan. So keep on the watch for angels that God will send. They will not be long in coming. I cannot describe to you how they will come, but I know you will recognize their arrival. When God’s request comes, it will be as clear as it was to Mary. And when the angel comes and says, “This is what God would like you to do,” I suggest that you say yes. Do not be afraid, because whatever you do, God will do more. Whenever you fail, God will compensate. So say yes. Don’t be afraid. Look right at the angel and say “Let it be done to me according to your word.”
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