Acceptance: Surrender to the Unexpected

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher, a Holy Cross sister, asked the class a question: "What would you do if God told you that you were going to die tomorrow?" I had an idea and raised my hand.

"I would tell God that if that's what He wanted, I would do it."

Sister replied, "What good would that do? It's going to happen whether you like it or not."

Embarrassed, I slunk down in my chair as another classmate eagerly raised his hand. "I would try to go to Confession and then receive Holy Communion," he said. That was correct, of course, but now as I think about salvation history, I wonder about the place and the value of acceptance.

Our Holy Mother Mary is told by the archangel Gabriel that she is to be mother of the Messiah. At first, she's "greatly troubled" and "ponders" his greeting. She also asks a question, but not one of doubt. Then she accepts, saying, "Let it be done to me as you say "(Lk 1:38). She gives her entire self to God and surrenders all of the plans she had for herself, without asking or knowing about all the details of the future. (Imagine if she had tried to run away, as Jonah did when God wanted him to go into Nineveh.)

Mary accepted. I imagine that during her period of expecting the Divine Child, she had to deal with the unexpected: Joseph initially turning away; a long journey due to a census; birth in a place that was not only cold and dark, but dirty, smelly and filled with animals; Simeon rejoicing over Jesus, and then prophesying that a broadsword would pierce her heart; and then having to flee at night toward a foreign land in order to escape death. Mary had to accept all of these things, and they must have been bewildering, which is why she "pondered them in her heart." But, I can't imagine her complaining -- as I often do -- about God's will, which brought about or allowed these events.

When things are happening that I don't understand and it looks like God's permissive will is at work, I need to accept without complaint, and to completely surrender to His will, trusting in Him. Meditating on Jesus' Passion and Death, which He endured for me personally and would have endured for me even if I was the only one who had needed redemption, often helps. He definitely made His love for me manifest. Even so, my weak, sinful human nature often gets in the way. I may be frightened. I need to remind myself: If God is infinite Love Wisdom and Mercy (and He is), then all of His plans for me are also infinite Love, Wisdom and Mercy. He will bring good out of evil, even though I may not see it. I can abandon myself to Him as my Loving Father, because He will (and does) take care of everything.

That doesn't mean passivity. For instance, if I suddenly become ill, I still need to take steps to restore and maintain my health, if I'm able to do so. Or, if there's a wrong or an evil, I must try to address it with right actions if I can, and with prayer, goodness, truth and love.

I must remember that, like Mary, I was born for these times, and for the events unfolding in God's plan for my life. As St. John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote: "I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created...God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another... Somehow I am necessary for His purposes... Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away... I ask not to see--I ask not to know--I ask simply to be used" (from newmanreader.org).

Mary was (is) sinless, and God's most perfect creation. I, on the other hand, will need a lot of grace, mercy and perseverence to respond to God's will with trust, acceptance, complete surrender and pondering, and without complaint. Holy Mother Mary and St. John Henry Newman, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.