Advent Meditation: Fr. Philippe, O.P.

Gospel: Lk 1:26 - 38

When the angel speaks to Mary, she is "greatly troubled", anxious, but this is so she may receive these words with a totally new heart ... to be as little as possible before the Father, before the Will of the Father for her. She doesn't argue, Mary must teach us this littleness.

To perfectly observe all the rules is fine, but we want to have the heart of a child, instead of seeking and measuring our perfection. Our perfection is not so much! We must be like little children, always starting afresh, and live by the Word of God. God's Word allows us to be truly children of God totally docile to what He is expecting from us. Let us consider the docility of the Virgin Mary: she does not look at her perfection. It is very beautiful to see the Holy Virgin as a very little child before the Father, with only one desire: to fulfill perfectly what the Father requires from her and not her own project. Mary has no project: she is too poor, too little, she is too much in the hands of God to have a project for her own life. Let us ask Mary for a faith that will allow us to be very little before the Father's Will for us, that we may respond fully and totally to His Will.

~ From the Daily Gospel with Fr. Philippe, OP (Priest, Philosophy Professor, Founder of the Community of St. John) compiled by the Sisters of of St. John, 2007
Posted by Jean M.
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