P. Salvador Villota, O.Carm.
Mary clarifies that this greatness pertains to holiness. “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Greatness and holiness. God's works, however, are not ostentatious or pompous. He does not display them like we humans sometimes do. We do something and immediately want everyone to know. We want others to see how great we are. “I did all this!” It happens that a brother who was a provincial will then say, “When I was provincial, I accomplished this, this, and this!” And others will discreetly inform us, “When he was provincial, nothing happened.” And so you ask yourself how it really was... We often try to be seen; we are not humble. But God's work is characterized by holiness. Who knew that the angel Gabriel came to Nazareth to address a girl? No one—only God. Who heard the Magnificat when Mary spoke these words to her relative Elizabeth? No one.
God acts in His work always with holiness because God engages, reveals, and gives... When I engage in some work, I do not need to say, “I did this,” because the work itself tells the story. Does God need to explain, “I created this?” Creation speaks of Him! God could rightly tell us: “Creation speaks of me. Look at it, and you will know who I am. By my work.” God’s work and God’s being are interconnected. God is action and being in one. We are divided, and so we speak of what we have done, separately from our being: “I did this and that.”
Mary was inwardly connected with the Holy Spirit. (This is important for the soul, as the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, inspires our soul.) Therefore, she was able to perceive God's holiness. And she says, “His name is holy.” The name signifies what God reveals about Himself. Mary says, “What God reveals about Himself is holy.” Thus, Mary directs us to an authentic experience with God. This is a prerequisite for every spiritual life. And it is, of course, also a condition for our response to a personal calling. A personal calling always refers back to our personal relationship with God. If we do not live in Him, it has serious consequences.
If we are not connected with God, we will spend our days lamenting and complaining. “No one works as hard as I do. I always have so much to do. I don't have time to stop, and others don't lift a finger. Without me, everything here would fall apart.” And you do not realize that it existed before you came, and it will exist after you leave!
Similarly, because I do not understand God's holiness, I want everyone to be like me. This is something to be well aware of: If I use the analogy of the body: if I am a foot (in the body of the church), then everyone must be a foot according to me. But imagine such a body in which everyone would be a foot! It would not function. When I look at others through what I do, it seems to me that they do nothing or that they do not do what they should. Because I do not comprehend the greatness and holiness of God present in every person.
Or I wrongly want to be someone else. So, a hand would like to be a foot, a foot would want to be a head—yet that would make the body a monstrosity.
On the contrary: Mary did not want anyone else to become the mother of the Messiah because (she accepted that) it was to be her. The archangel Gabriel told her: “The Lord wants you to become the mother of the Messiah.” And Mary does not respond: “Go to the neighbor, she is just lazy all day; she surely needs to do something…”—This is how we sometimes are, unfortunately. The Lord comes to you and says, “You should do this and that because you have the abilities for it.” And we say, “No, let the neighbor or someone else do it.” Because we do not understand the greatness and holiness of God.
And we also do not perceive what the mission of becoming a mother means for Mary. That mission evokes awe. Mary lives in the presence of God and understands how much evil, how much disdain for good is around her. And she will have to bear and endure this within herself when she is to become the Mother of God. And despite that, she says, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
The spiritual life is therefore a life in relation to God. In an authentic relationship with the great and holy God. However, we must also be prepared for the fact that sometimes God will throw a wrench in our plans. Sometimes we do something and act as if it were our child that we cannot abandon. For example, when I am tasked to be a superior, a prior, or an economist. And I think: “Just hope they don’t take this function from me!” At first, we do not want to accept the function and then we do not want to leave it… But what matters is our authentic relationship with God; everything else is secondary. This library in which we sit exists today and may not exist tomorrow. What is and what we have depends on what God wants—in every moment. Only He is important. Our relationship with God must not be hypocritical. It must not be fearful. I am a little child before God. I must tell Him everything.
Without hardening my heart. You know how children can sometimes blackmail: “You must give me this; and this and this!” Sometimes we behave this way toward God. Often we even want things that are not good. (If I stick to the analogy once used by Jesus:) we are convinced that we are asking for eggs, but often we want a snake. And God does not want to give it to us. Because He loves us. And we insist again: “I want that egg! And it’s an egg, an egg!” And God sometimes says: “Alright, take that snake.” And what happens then? We painfully see the truth, and we no longer want it. We know what the truth is.
So: we must not have a hardened heart. The opposite of a hardened heart is a gentle heart. Hardheartedness is “stubbornness.” Whereas a gentle heart means to be stubborn in a good sense, saying: “I will overcome evil with good. The more I encounter evil, the more I will respond with good.” This is how Jesus behaved—stubbornly. In response to everything evil that came to him, he responded with goodness very persistently. In the Holy Spirit, we are transformed into a new way of behaving. St. Paul was initially zealously passionate for observing the Law. But when he met Jesus, he became zealously enthusiastic for faithfulness to Christ. At first, he wanted to be the first—and then he wanted to be the first as well, but according to Christ. Everything (including the wrongs we endure) is good, provided we are in the presence of the Lord. If we are not, then we have no chance, because then we exploit what happens to us wrongly and let ourselves be deceived by the demon. It is about a relationship without doubting whether to give ourselves or to hold back. Not to say to the Lord: “Yes, I will do everything you want!” and a minute later exactly the opposite: “No, I won’t do what you say.” Such wavering slows down, hinders our relationship with God, and obstructs it.
(To be continued in the next issue.)
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