Surrendering to God's Will

To surrender is to give over to another’s demands or in warfare to become the captive entity of an enemy.  It isn’t easy to give up one’s achievements or ideals to success when in a moment of defeat all appears to be lost.

As any of us struggles to become a hero to those we live with, especially our children, the pride of gaining prosperous attitudes that our children can carry into adulthood means a lot.  They need a positive response to what life may hand them and their hero will set the pattern for them.  

However, life is filled with many obstacles that all of us must surrender to in order to survive.  In the business world there are challenges that must be circumvented and without an ability to hold your head high you can become a victim of failure; where many fail.  

Looking at the heroes of the bible St Paul was one whose tenacity kept him going after prison, shipwrecks, and his final beheading.  His legacy was not to give up, and the surrender for him was to accept all his many roadblocks for the promotion of Jesus Christ and his Church that we live with today.

Perhaps the greatest example of surrender was found in the Garden of Gerhseminee when Jesus was at his lowest strength before his Passion.  After Withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.”  And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him.  He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.  When he arose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief.  He said to them, “Why are you sleeping?  Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”  (Lk 22: 41 - 46).  Surrender to his Father?  Without any doubt there is not one person who may emulate this manner of giving oneself over to accomplish a worldwide compassion for the world’s inhabitants. 

Who among us has been willing to surrender to another’s will and give his life for a stranger?  St. Maximilian Kolbe took the place of a fellow prisoner at Auschwitz since this man had a family.  A surrender of life for another person he didn't know.  Another Christ in the very flesh of someone who follows the faith God gives us when we become an heir with Christ. 

There is a very complex existence when any of us is diagnosed with a terminal disease and must face the ultimate outcome.  The Church uses this opportunity to pray for that person with the Sacrament of Anointing.  It is one grace-filled sacrament that brings Sacramental healing and prepares one for their final journey if the disease becomes the victor.  This in itself becomes a surrender into the arms of Christ.  

Kay, a member of our Charismatic group, contracted breast cancer.  Her outlook was a complete acceptance and she saw the anointing service we held as a blessing she was ready to accept.  After she died, I had a dream that she was down the street in the evening and entering a building along with other souls.  She looked at me, waved and smiled as she entered this structure.  She too surrendered her soul to God, at peace with him at last.

Ralph B. Hathaway