It would do my soul great good if I could just BE…
I am a very very active person.
That means that I spend very little time just sitting still and waiting for something to happen. In fact, the worst form of torture for me would be to ask me to sit and wait patiently for something – whether it be good or bad…
When I first experienced the Grace of this conversion when I had been praying for my little niece who was very sick an needed many prayers (some years ago), one of the first things that I thought to myself was that I should have been a cloistered nun and devoted my entire Earthly life to God. The thought lasted a few moments, and then dissipated, because with my temperament, no community would ever accept me to a life of such stillness – as I am never still…
And I have been comparing myself to my Blessed Mother. You see, the Blessed Virgin did not need to do anything. She was not running around filling in all the spaces with activity – however meaningless… Instead she was a person who could just BE…
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.’” (Luke 1:26-38).
There in that response was the example of the Blessed Virgin BEING…
You see, she was troubled and what did she do about it?
Well – nothing. She just waited. An Angel appeared to her, and she listened to the message and was troubled by it and still just waited – passively. And I know that this is what God wants, because this is what Christ did during His Passion and Death. He was led around from one unjust judge to another. And what did He do about it? Well, He just waited, and he just WAS – or rather He is I AM…
And there was that Angel – Gabriel – and there he stood delivering a message and asking a question that all of creation had been waiting for since the moment of Eve’s sin. And as the universe held its breath waiting for that answer, the Blessed Virgin did not jump up and down. She did not move. She did not run out of the room. She did not pick something up with which to write things down. No. She simple was. She chose to BE in that moment and listen to the message and she trusted that she would be guided as required through each stage of her journey…
And it occurs to me today that I should pray for the Grace to be a little more like that – for it would do my soul great good if I could just BE…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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