MARY, THE HANDMAID OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, TEACHES US TO DO EVERYTHING WITH LOVE
Since the creation of the world and throughout the salvation history, God has communicated his love to humanity through the action of His Spirit and the redemptive participation of His Son. The saving grace granted to us has a worthy representative in Mary; with the generosity of her FIAT, Mary, representing the entire human race, accepted God’s plan in her heart and, through the action of the Spirit, conceived the Saviour in her womb. Meditating on the text of the Annunciation, we find ourselves in the mystery of God’s covenant with humanity; He does not do His works arbitrarily. He does not suddenly burst into history to realise His plans. He is God who respects our freedom; His style is not one of imposition but of love that moves and conquers the human will.
Mary’s ‘fiat’ remains, therefore, totally committed and unconditional. It is spontaneous to compare this ‘fiat’ uttered by Mary with the ‘fiat’ that resounds in other crucial moments of salvation history: with God’s ‘fiat’ at the beginning of Creation and with Jesus’ ‘fiat’ in the Redemption. All three express an act of will, a decision (Cantalamessa, 1990, p.11).
Mary’s ‘Yes’ is the continuity and renewal of the Covenant. Before the miracle of incarnation takes place biologically in her body, Mary freely embraces and adheres to the divine will. Thus, by her obedience in faith, she enters into God’s covenant of love with humanity. “Mary’s ‘yes’ is not only a human act, but also a divine one, because it was prompted by the Holy Spirit Himself in the depths of Mary’s soul” (ibid.). We say that she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit because she allowed herself to be conquered by God’s love and, in this logic of free self-giving, she fully accepts His will.
Contemplating Mary’s example, we learn the style of Christian docility. Whoever accepts to be part of the covenant with God enters into a dynamic of faith that does not exclude the use of human reason. Mary asks the angel how God’s plan will be realized. She is aware that, according to what is announced to her, something will happen in her that is not humanly possible. Mary is a concrete and realistic woman. Her attitude is not that of someone who questions herself in an unbelieving and non-conformist manner but questions herself and reasons in order to better enter into God’s plan; nevertheless, facing the divine mystery, she perhaps does not fully comprehend. She recognises that the Lord, to whom she has offered her life, asks her for profound trust and a faith rooted in love.
Moved by love
The action of the Spirit fills Mary’s heart, clothes her with His grace, making her a dwelling place for the Saviour. In the communion of love that unites her to the Trinity, Mary is moved to reach out to others. The visit to Elizabeth, an icon of service and charity, is interpreted as an expression and continuity of Mary’s generous ‘yes’. The Love that dwells in Mary’s womb is not just an intimate experience but a grace that is given and communicated in deep joy.
When Mary learns that her cousin Elizabeth is expecting a child despite her advanced age, she makes a faith-filled reading of the facts: nothing is really impossible for God; and although God’s power is great, He counts on our adherence to His plan. Mary senses that Elizabeth, like her, has also given a generous response that probably involves some sacrifice. So, she hurries to meet her relative.
The evangelical references are well known: the intimate relationship (not only because in the Lucan text, it comes immediately after) between the experience of the Annunciation and the journey that Mary undertakes ‘in haste’ to visit and serve her relative Elizabeth. What is more: the ‘sign’ that the angel Gabriel gives the Virgin is not so much a convincing theoretical confirmation, capable of tempering her trust in God as it is an invitation to mission, to ‘set out’, to bring Elizabeth and the family (including the unborn John the Baptist) to the One who brings joy, Jesus (Chávez, 2012).
Mary places herself in a single movement of love: towards God and towards her neighbour. She recognises that the Lord asks his/her contribution to salvation history. The charity of the Mother of God is rooted in faith and is projected in concrete gestures of hope.
There is a striking detail in the text of the visitation: ‘Mary went out in haste’. This expression makes us think of the strength and intensity of the love that dwells in Mary’s heart and that it not only moves her inwardly but also urges her to go out to meet others. Hers is the readiness of a woman who loves; her active availability to what the Lord asks of her is understood in this perspective: she loves because she believes and she believes because she loves.
The certainty of God’s love is expressed in the joyful proclamation of the ‘Magnificat’. The gratitude she proclaims in this touching song is in harmony with the generosity of her daily ‘Fiat’. Mary praises God because He looked upon her simplicity, because He saw in her a docile and fruitful soil in which to work His salvation.
Everything by love, nothing by force
We contemplated the example of Mary who, allowing herself to be embraced by God’s grace and love, lived her life in joyful adherence to the divine will.
In order to take the first step into God’s love, it is necessary that He, by manifesting Himself to man as God-Love, attracts him and solicits his freedom. But it must be made clear that God’s role goes even further. He is not content with inviting our heart to choose but also helps it in this choice. Man’s choice of love is an act of the human heart and the heart of God (F. De Sales).
To the extent that we are attracted by God’s love, the desire grows in us to discover what He asks of us and to assume an increasingly evangelical lifestyle. Each person, feeling personally loved, makes his or her free choice of love in the style proper to the vocation to which he or she has been called. Precisely because fidelity is patiently woven into everyday life and because it is not always easy to live in true harmony with God’s will, the response we give to God must be built on the foundation of faith and in a constant renewal of love.
Francis de Sales reminds us that the spirit of freedom, proper to those who love and have placed their trust in God, is the criterion that inspires our obedience and makes us truly docile for a mission: “We must do everything with love and nothing with force. It is better to love obedience than to fear disobedience. I leave you with the spirit of freedom, the spirit that excludes coercion, scruple and agitation”.
The experience of feeling personally loved by God and the constant attention to what He asks of us, introduce us to the dynamic of self-sacrifice and charity. It is from there that the task of human fulfilment begins, a reality in which an authentic spiritual journey has its fulfilment. Love “is the movement, journey and direction of the heart towards good” (F. De Sales). If God loves us, it is through the concrete practice of good, through the constant exercise of charity towards our neighbour that we can best express our love for him. We will be able to serve, educate and live our mission in the world if we open ourselves with docility to His will, inspired by the way God himself loves us.
Following Mary’s example and drawing from the sources of our Salesian spirituality, we are invited to re-read our lives and to confront ourselves with the response of love that we try to give to the Lord every day. Our daily ‘fiat’ is a free choice, the fruit of an experience of love that has overcome our will and becomes a visible sign for a world that seeks the light of the Lord.
For personal prayer and meditation:
1. Do I feel personally loved by GOD?
2. Do I perform concrete acts of charity, following the example of Mary?
3. Do I open myself with docility to God’s will, an expression of understanding how He loves me?
4. Is my daily response to the Lord, the fruit of feeling deeply loved by Him?
Monthly commitment
I will try to give thanks every evening for a small or a big good thing that has happened that day.
