Luke 1:26‑38
I am the Handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.
St. Gaspar
Think no longer about the past. Do not be the cause of your own crosses. Live joyfully with the Center of every good gift ... the will of God. May this be our mystical food, our comfort, our every good. Let us live in God, for God and with God.[1]
So, let us leave everything in the hands of God and, in this regard, we will be doing everything to fulfill the divine will.[2]
Let us remember that the most holy Virgin is the aqueduct of divine mercy, our advocate and, after Jesus, our hope and our protection.[3]
I have entrusted our congregation and its members to Mary most holy. From heaven, she will see to its protection and will bless it lovingly.[4]
The love of Jesus Christ that I nourish for you urges me to have you participate in the delightful consolations that the Lord has given to me during the missions in Umbria which I completed today. I attribute everything to the efficacy of the Blood of Jesus Christ, the prayers of most holy Mary and St. Francis Xavier, my most beloved protector.[5]
The Reflection
We celebrate the day that God turns the world up side down. It is in Mary and through Mary that the situation of humanity and of the world has been reversed, and we have in some way re-entered into the splendor of the first creation. Mary is the instrument that links Jesus to the human race. God visits earth, comes to us where we are, and raises our humanity now to an incomparable dignity.
The greatest events, human or divine, takes place in absolute silence. The world does not notice or pay attention. The invitation comes from a messenger of God and God's Word takes flesh in the assent of a young girl.
There is nothing to prevent us from doing the will of God. No human deficiency can ever prevent us from doing God's will. Here I am, she says, I come to do your will. We gather in wonder and awe, also like St. Gaspar to fall in love with God's will. For him, her "yes" becomes the aqueduct, the font of all the graces of living water flowing to us in the sacraments.
- How does the world avoid noticing God's will?
- How do I show love for the will of God?
- When was the last time I said, “I am the servant of the Lord?”
[1] Letter 2752, to Mother Maria Nazzarena De Castris, July 18, 1834
[2] Letter 2961, to Ignazio Lesinelli, August 28, 1835
[3] from Letter No. 65 to Countess Lucrezia Ginnasi, May 10, 1813
[4] from Letter No. 122 to Msgr. Bellisario Cristaldi, August 27, 1815
[5] Letter No. 293 to Msgr. Bellisario Christaldi, June 5, 1820