Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, the day when Mary gave her “fiat,” her yes, to becoming the Mother of God. Because of her fiat, she plays a pivotal role in God’s plan for salvation. Can you imagine where we would all be, if she had declined? I shudder to think! Yet, it was because of her fiat, that she conceived, without sin, her Son, Jesus; Our Lord and Redeemer. Her simple, yes, to God, set God’s plan in motion for His Son, Jesus, to be our Messiah; Our Savior. Mary’s Fiat Took Faith and Courage Agreeing to become the Mother of Our Lord was not an easy thing to agree to at this point in human history. You see, women who became pregnant outside of marriage were subject to being stoned to death. In addition, Mary had pledged her virginity to God. Therefore, conceiving a son, albeit the Son of God, would be seen by others as sinning against God and her betrothed, Saint Joseph. Mary’s fiat, placed her in danger. Yet her faith, and trust, in God gave her the cou...

As Catholics, we make a lot of Mary’s fiat. Her “yes” to God. And rightfully so: we get how that “yes” gave us a chance at salvation. Unfortunately, in seeking to imitate Mary, we have almost crushed ourselves with consequences of a life filled with our own “yes” responses and have, ultimately, been saying “no” to God without often realizing it. Somehow we have translated Mary’s “yes” to mean that we ought to say “yes” to everything that comes our way—to every idea that pops into our head and to every opportunity to do something good; we’ve mistakenly believed that our lives are meant to be filled with fiats when, in truth, these fiats have often taken us away from God. They have filled our lives with obligations and busy-ness that may not actually be God’s will for us. I’m at the age where all my friends and acquaintances are caregivers of one sort or another. They are grandparents doing everything they can to help pick up the slack and they are volunteers at a variet...