As preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church
Heb.2: 11-18 LK 1:26-38
Today we heard Archangel Gabriel greeting Mary with
these words: “Rejoice, O favored one! The Lord is with you!” Some icons of this event depict Gabriel
landing like a blast of strong wind running toward Mary—a very dynamic
approach. Other depictions are like a quiet still life. Perhaps we can relate
these depictions to our own experiences of God’s visitations to us: Some are an
overwhelming sense of God’s presence, at other times a sense is so subtle that
it is easily unheeded.
The angel’s next words to Mary were “Do not be afraid.”
How often throughout Scripture we are told not to be afraid. What do these words mean to us now? During
the almost 400 days dealing with the effects of the virus on the world and more
specifically our own little worlds, how often have we needed the comfort and
encouragement of these words: “Do not be afraid.”
Mary was indeed puzzled by the angel’s words, but
after initially questioning the angel, she was willing to say “Amen”—So be it
done according to the will of God. Was Mary able to put her fears aside, or did
she continually renew her Yes to God in spite of still facing her fear? What
can we learn from Mary’s response? We have had to say Yes to great efforts to
make our actions and surroundings it safe for others as well as ourselves. Much
suffering and death, as well as constant inconveniences, have been met with
many Yeses in our nation. Also some No’s.
We know from history the heroism that Mary’s Yes
called for, over and over. We too, having made an absolute choice of Yes to
God, must continue saying Yes when we encounter vexatious situations that we
would gladly avoid. Think of life as running a race, a marathon, but not
competing with others. Each of us then can be winners, crowned with the laurel
of eternal life. Or we can lose the race that day when we say No to God. We
must get up and start again.
None of us are utterly stupid or supreme geniuses.
None of us are so poor that we could not be poorer. None are so rich that we would
not like more. No one loves God so much that we could not love God more. No one
is so totally destitute of goodness whose heart could not still long for God.
We are all on a journey, a pilgrimage. We have much work
to do to understand what God is asking of us. Are we counting the successes of
our Lenten practices? We can derive a personal satisfaction, a comfort, that
comes from knowing that we are doing something to make ourselves better.
Athletes do the same thing. These things are good, but they are not all that
the spiritual life is about. The core values of the spiritual life are as much
about the attitudes that underlie the way we go about life as they are about
the regularity of our devotions.
We can use our own practices as a benchmark with which
to judge—and find wanting—the religious disciplines of others. Abba Poemen, who
lived in the third or fourth century, was asked by the other monks if they
should pinch a brother who had fallen asleep during the services. Abba Poemen
answered that he would gently put the sleeping monk’s head on his own lap to
let him sleep more comfortably instead of pinching him awake.
As important as regular religious practices are to
awaken spiritual consciousness, they are not the essence of spiritual life.
Legalism and false asceticism are pale reflections of great virtue. Mercy,
compassion, and forgiveness are the holiness that pious practices are meant to
sow in us. Rigidity for its own sake can never substitute for real virtue. We
are meant to prod ourselves to regular discipline so that thereby our hearts
will be softened to serve those whom Jesus served. Be not afraid, and know that
Jesus wants kind hearts from us, not sacrifice: deep basic commitment, our Yeses,
not blue ribbons for winning the marathons we’ve run to make ourselves “feel
holy.”
A truly holy
person once wrote “Be kind, be kind, be kind!” Let our own Yes be that we act
with kindness each day and are open to receive kindness from others as
well.
Christ is in
our midst.
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