just another day of Catholic pondering by Sarah Reinhard
I’m talking blogging, as I do most Wednesdays, over at the Catholic Writers Guild blog. This week: how facebook has changed my blogging.
Tuesdays are for tech talk over at CatholicMom.com, and this week I shared some non-app rosary resources.
In case you missed it on Monday, I have a guest column over at Patheos about the many challenges I face with three little letters which, when joined together, form the word “Yes.”
I’m hangin’ with the cool kids over at Patheos with a guest column, Learning to Say Yes, Today.
And you know, it’s appropriate to be thinking about saying Yes on a day when I was at the mercy of a bunch of yummy redness.
We have Jeff Young, the Catholic Foodie, to thank for this reflection on Mary, Joseph, and the power of our Yes and No in honor of the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord. Thanks, Jeff!
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“Behold, I am the Handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38).
Fiat. Yes. Mary’s yes that resulted in the conception of the Messiah. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most Hight will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk. 1:35).
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the great event that ultimately led to our salvation. This solemnity is positioned exactly nine months before the celebration of Christ’s birth, for obvious reasons. It is traditionally believed that as Mary uttered her fiat – at that very moment – she became the Mother of God. We can imagine all of Heaven and earth waiting in anxious expectation for Mary’s answer to God’s invitation. And she said yes.
Yes is such a positive word. We don’t tend to think of it as a negative. But do you know that every yes contains a no? If we say yes to something, then we necessarily say no to everything else. In saying yes to God’s invitation, Mary said no to every other plan or possibility for her life.
This fact really hit home for me as I prepared to get married. As our wedding day approached, I began to realize that saying yes to Char meant saying no to every other woman in the world. And I said that yes with such joy!
On this Solemnity of the Annunciation, I can’t help but think of St. Joseph. He said yes too. Instead of exposing Mary to the Law, he took the words of the angel who appeared to him to heart. He took Mary as his wife. He said yes and he became the father of Jesus.
I think it’s appropriate to celebrate today’s solemnity so soon after celebrating the Solemnity of Joseph, Husband of Mary, which was just last Friday, March 19. For me this proximity reinforces the fact that the Holy Family was a real family. They understand intimately all the joys and sorrows that my family experiences. That’s encouraging.
On this great Marian solemnity, God is inviting me to renew my total consecration to Mary, the Mother of God. I first made my consecration to Mary when I was 17. It was July 16, 1987, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. That was a long time ago. I think it’s time to renew it! Tomorrow I start the preparation according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort. And I am not alone. My wife Char is joining me as I join Sarah Reinhard and many readers of just another day of Catholic pondering. I am excited to say yes to this invitation!
Is God inviting you to something? Will you give your fiat? He wants only good for us. We can certainly trust in that (see Romans 8:28). “Do not be afraid… for you have found favor with God” (Lk. 1:30).
At His invitations in our lives, let us say yes, “…let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38).
Today is the feast of the Annunciation, a mystery I contemplate frequently.
Today is also Thursday, which means that while I’m thinking about Mary’s Yes, I’m also thinking about the small successes of my week.
So many of my successes involve when to say Yes.
Yes, I will get you some chocolate milk. Yes, I will vacuum. Yes, we can go outside. Yes, I’ll go to work today and be productive (as much as is possible).
Each Yes, though, involves a No. I hadn’t thought of that until I heard Jeff Young talking about it on episode 64 of the Catholic Foodie.
No, I won’t burn away an hour checking email. No, I won’t get this book finished tonight. No, I can’t make it to the XYZ parish/family/friend function.
Sometimes, I say Yes to others and No to myself. I might be pursuing the greater good, the calling of my vocation, the small voice of conscience.
Other times, my No, while not making sense to others, preserves the good of those people most important to me, keeps me sane, reminds me of my priorities.
I’ve been examining my Yes’s and No’s with more consideration in the last few weeks. I used to be very concerned with how my Yes or No would affect people’s opinion of me, especially those people who I most want to love me or admire me. Though I’ve grown past that, to some extent, there is still a seed of worry in me.
Do I need to justify my choice of what I’m saying Yes to to anyone other than God? Should I explain or just let it stand?
What will they think? Will they be angry?
Mary’s Yes was a courageous stand, an acceptance of what God asked from her. To say Yes to God, she had to say No to a host of other things.
It wasn’t easy. She stands before me, a mentor on my journey toward discerning when to say Yes to God and No to others and myself.
As I begin my preparation for Total Consecration tomorrow, I’m reminded that I’m saying Yes to God (and No to some of the other things I’d like to be doing in that quiet morning time).
There are blessings and graces waiting for me with each Yes I give God. He gives them back, arranged in a lovely bouquet of graces, a hug of blessings, a smile of strength.
Lord, help me to say Yes to You. Help me to embrace Your will as Mary did. Today, as I go about my daily work, may she guide me always back to You.
It’s going to be a rough day. I knew that when I woke up, and I am not dreading it, much to my surprise. Maybe it’s because I know I’m in good company; maybe I got enough rest over the weekend to prepare me; maybe I am shielded by prayer.
The word of my day, of my week, of my life is three letters long. It’s not a hard word, until I consider its implications.
Yes.
I used to roll my eyes at the thought that one vote could change the outcome of an election. Yeah right, the cynic in me said.
Now, years later, I see how one Yes has changed the world, and I wonder, with great hope, if one of my Yeses could have an impact. So often, I say Yes to what seem like silly and inconsequential things.
“Mommy, can I have chocolate milk?”
“Honey, could you make my lunch?”
“Sarah, would you mind driving me [to a place]?”
Oh, I say Yes to big things too. I’ve done big things, but I wonder, lately, if the big things are as important as the small things that I do with love.
Sometimes — or is it all too often? — it’s far easier to say Yes to the big things than to the little ones. I can look at a stranger and say Yes without a breath, but do I have the same enthusiasm for that person who’s crawling under my skin and sticking needles on my nerves?
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This week we celebrate my favorite mystery of the rosary, the feast of the Annunciation on Thursday, March 25. (My favorite way to pray it is here.) The day after that feast, on March 26, I’m going to start preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary.
Will you consider joining me? You may not have time to order or purchase a booklet before Friday, but all the prayers are online here, and they’re even available as MP3 downloads (scroll down). If you’ve already done this practice, perhaps this is a time to renew it. It’s no small commitment, but giving a gift like this to Jesus is never without many benefits and opportunities for growth.
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More of my Mary meanderings:
Here at Snoring Scholar, you'll find marriage and motherhood, book talk and rambling remarks, observations and distractions, in the midst of life in rural Ohio on a farm, with kids, critters, and Catholic flair.
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