Best of Both Worlds
One
Rejoice!
Five days before Christmas we are invited to meditate on Mary’s “Yes” at the Annunciation.
The Angel Gabriel comes to Mary with his opening greeting, “Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you.”
The first word of the Angel to Mary is “Chaire.” It can have two meanings. It can be a simple greeting: “Hello,” which was translated as “Hail,” but it can have a stronger meaning, an invitation to “Rejoice.” In fact, the Jerusalem Bible reads “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”
There is an important connection to be made between the greeting of Gabriel and Mary’s response. Unlike Zechariah who didn’t believe and wanted proof, Mary says, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.”
Again, according to the original Greek, when Mary says “be it done to me” there is not a hint of fear, and certainly not any type of resignation, the kind of “grit your teeth and bear it” attitude that might be expected when God asks you to do something that was not part of your plan. According to the original Greek text, the “be it done to me” of Mary is not just a simple acceptance of the will of God and much less an attitude of resignation. Quite the opposite. Her attitude is a joyous desire to collaborate with whatever God foresees for her. It is the joyful total abandonment to the good will of God.
In this way, Mary’s joyful response matches the joy of Gabriel’s greeting!
Two
Mary was the first person in human history to give this unconditional “Yes” to God, a total abandonment to do his will.
Lucifer and one-third of the angels said “No! we will not do your will God, we’re going to do it our way.” Adam and Eve and every person other than Mary have said “No!” to God by our sin. For that is what sin is, a big fat “No!” to the will of God. We shake our fists at God and say “Not your will be, but My will be done.”
Mary was the first. And she said “Yes” for the whole human race. This “Yes” of Mary, this total unconditional “Yes” opens the way for her to receive Jesus in all his fullness. And it opens the way for the whole world to be saved.
Both Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross say the number one thing that prevents us from receiving Jesus fully is that we just won’t give the same “Yes.” We won’t give ourselves unconditionally to God.
What are we afraid of?
Three
We are afraid of losing our fake I.D.
Each of us has determined who we are and what our identity and self-worth are based upon. Some of us base these on achievements, professions, success, financial independence, and security. Others have tried to create their identity or worth based on relationships, marriage, kids, and grandkids. Or maybe we base our identity on a certain way of life we have chosen.
Whatever it is, we are deathly afraid that if we give ourselves unconditionally to God, He will ruin everything we have worked so hard at, he will take it away and then we will be nothing.
So, instead of giving ourselves unconditionally to God, we do all we can to protect our investment in our achievements, kids, health, financial security, and lifestyle.
In themselves these are good things but the problem is, nothing is perfect, it’s not lasting and it will never be enough. We were made for union with God and we will be restless until we possess him fully. Which means we will be restless until we give our total yes to God.
Four
The best of both worlds
I used to think God’s greatest gift to the 1980s was Van Halen. In their song “Best of Both Worlds”
“I don't know what I been livin' on but it's not enough to fill me up. I need more than just words can say I need everything this life can give me…Cause sometimes is not enough. I want the best of both worlds…If we could have the best of both worlds we'd have Heaven right here on Earth”
So I ask the Lord, “Why can’t we have the best of both worlds? Why can’t we have success and relationships and good health continuously and possess you completely, Lord?” And that is when Jesus reminds me of his words, “No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn.” Matthew 6:24
Or as John of Cross tells us, “For how can the heart that belongs to one, belong completely to the other?” Letter 17
The honest truth is, I want success and relationships and continuous good health more than I want God. I love myself more than I love God. Just being honest. And that is what is preventing me from receiving God fully because we receive him in the measure that we want him.
Okay, now let’s get back to Mary because She is the Remedy. The Holy Spirit filled Mary at her Immaculate Conception to give her the power to say Yes to God joyfully and unconditionally. From that moment on the Holy Spirit works through Mary.
So here is the way out of our dilemma, Invite Mary into your life and into your soul to say “Yes” for you. Every time you are faced with something you don’t like that you cannot change and you know God is waiting for you to say yes and you just can’t or don’t even want to, turn to Mary and beg her, “Say Yes for me.”
Five
We actually do get the best of both worlds
At one point Peter said to Jesus “What about us? We have left everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “I tell you solemnly, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, not without persecutions, now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life.”
When we try to find our identity, self-worth, security, and happiness in the things of this world something inevitable and terrible happens. We eventually get bored with them. They can’t do it. They can never satisfy and we will just keep needing more and more like a drug that our brain gets used to so that we have to increase the dose. So, we need more and more and it all satisfies less and less until we are bored or disgusted with everything, unsatisfied with everything.
Yet, something ironic happens when we give the unconditional yes to God, when we seek him above all, and we are filled with God - then we are satisfied – content!
It is only then that we can really delight in and enjoy all the really great things of the world: work and achievements, relationships, kids and grandkids, and all the beauty of the world around us. When we seek our identity and happiness in God, then ironically, we stop trying to find it in the things that can’t give it – and it’s only then that we can really start to enjoy them.
So, maybe Van Halen was right. We can have the best of both worlds, as long as we love the lesser things less and the greatest thing more!
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