The Handmaid of the Lord 

   “Mary, who was empty of all egotism, free from all sin, was as pure as the glass of a very clean window that has no other function than to admit the light of the sun.” (Thomas Merton, “New Seeds of Contemplation”) 

   When Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her of the great gift God had in mind for her, she did not hesitate, she agreed.  The only question in her mind was the purely logical one of how she could become pregnant since she was a virgin.  She never questioned God’s will for her, she simply didn’t understand how it could come to be.

   Her whole life was one of humility and obedience to the will of God.  Only once, at the wedding in Cana, do we find Mary asking Jesus for anything, and the request was not for her but for the wedding couple who had run out of wine.  The changing of the water into wine was the first of Christ’s miracles, setting in motion the mission He would carry all the way to Calvary.

   I love Thomas Merton’s vision of Mary as a perfectly clear window allowing the light of the Son to shine through without adding to or detracting from His will in any way.  That is the response I must have to the Lord’s will in my life.  Never to question, never to doubt, simply to allow Him to shine through me.  I must listen to what Mary told the servers at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2: 5).  That is the life Mary lived, that is the life I am to live.

   Like my Blessed Mother, I am to be a servant of the Lord.  I am to die to self and live for Him.

 

Lord, in our Blessed Mother, you gave me the example of how to live my life.  Give me the grace to live as she did, totally committed to Your will.  Amen