We are always in a state of decay, from the moment of conception forward, we are moving towards death. Our bodies grow, the cells divide, and we go on. Our lives become more complex as we become more or less the complete person we choose to become. All of our choices and responses to others reflect the degree to which we assent to God’s will in our lives, or not.
The feast of the Annunciation, is a perfect day to reflect upon the whole sum purpose of our lives, to learn how to say as Mary did, “Yes,” to a bigger reality than the one we control or know.
When a woman becomes pregnant, if they are trapped in the past, present, or future –afraid and hurt by others’ sins, afraid or injured by their present choices and those of others, or fearful of all the decisions yet to come, they will be overwhelmed by the enormity of what “yes” means. It will tempt many to say, “No.” and shut the door on God and new life. It doesn’t mean God won’t keep offering grace and opportunity, but this singular moment will be lost for all.
Holding a new soul in one’s womb, it is overwhelming in the best of circumstances, because you become deeply aware of time, and of all the future stretched out before you for this person you know but have not yet met. To love a child in the womb, is to love unconditionally with imperfect knowledge, and to live in hope of coming to know that person ever more deeply.
It is an echo of Mary’s yes. She does not know and yet she does. So also does every mother that chooses life, that understands that life is always about more than ourselves. Everyone we encounter, is the result of another person’s “yes” to God, even if they do not recognize it.
When we sin, it is adding to the decay and death in the world, even when it is little sin. When we say “yes” to sacrifice, to love, to courage, to fortitude, to all the graces God offers, it reveals more of Heaven to a world convinced there isn’t such a thing. It is always just behind the veil, just within the tabernacle. The reality is, like an unborn child, present whether acknowledged or not, and offering the opportunity of infinite wonder and mystery and love.
All we are, will eventually decay, but the love we’ve given to the world or withheld, will leave either lasting echos of that encounter with grace, or scars and gaping wounds from the decision to sin. The world needs all the graces we can cling to.
Together, with God, we can help melt away some of what keeps the world seemingly forever trapped in sorrow and pain and death. Each of us, can be part of the joy of Easter for the world, today and in each day to come.
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