In our two previous reflections we contemplated the Annunciation
to Mary from a two-fold perspective. First we saw her as a model
both for openness and the capacity to listen, and the last time
we took her as an example of genuine healthy piety, or, in other
words, as a person “tuned into” God’s language
and knowledgeable about the grammar of Faith. In this third reflection
we shall centre in on another basic attitude found in the Annunciation:
the freedom, or liberty, with which Mary gave her answer to the
project God had in store for her.
Up to a certain point, every call and mission vocation supposes
the leaving of ourselves behind and setting out on the road.
The grand Old Testament figures, like Abraham and Moses, felt
this call of God and threw themselves into the adventure He proposed
to them, thus positioning them before a rather uncertain future.
But starting on a trip demands “going out”, leaving
behind certain security, and breaking ties. Except for a few
instances of very special vocations, this does not imply giving
up our job, city or family. Rather it is more the question of
an interior attitude that is not less deep or demanding: giving
up our security blankets, our little or great forms of egoism,
our dogmatic utterances, our prejudices.
To get started on our journey we must first have the freedom
to answer “yes” to God’s call. We tend to take
this for granted in our democratic societies. We think, and to
a certain extent we are right, that we live in a free world.
We have gained much in liberty, spontaneity, and in the natural
way we do things. People are now free to believe that liberty
constitutes an inalienable human right, almost a sacred one,
as the Church has pointed out on many an occasion. This has been
a great step forward for the human race and we must work hard
in order not to go backwards. On the other hand, in our spiritual
life, in the most intimate point of our being, we have to admit
that there abound conditioning factors, those little things that
tie us down, make slaves of us and keep us from living God’s
project in our lives. They are the small impediments that keep
us from being free. In his The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Saint
John of the Cross recalls that a baby bird can be hindered from
taking flight tied to a thread of many strands, or only one.
In this vein, what stands out in the story of the Annunciation
is how God scrupulously respects Mary’s liberty. With delicacy,
without impositions, without violence, God makes Salvation History
hang on the “yes” of that young girl. When we meditate
on this passage, or give it a thoughtful reading, we almost are
inclined to underscore the silences, those moments when the angel
is waiting for Mary’s free answer. Some theologians have
insisted on this freedom of Mary. Through the angel’s mediation
God was not looking on Mary in terms of Old Testament titles
and images such as “fertile earth”, or “ark”,
or “tabernacle” or “remnant of Israel”.
Rather the Lord, these theologians say, saw Mary as a person,
that is, with her own liberty and free will. God runs the risk
of leaving Salvation History in the hands of a creature. And,
with surprising personal liberty Mary gives her answer to this
risk taken by the Lord. Instead of worrying about the looming
problems of what the local gossip might be, she shows her free
will to be at God’s service, and does so with a courageous,
genuine and generous liberty.
The famous Austrian psychologist, Victor Frankl, who had been
interned in concentration camps, criticised a certain narrow
and egoistic idea of liberty. He said that, in order to have
a complete picture of freedom, just as there is a Statue of Liberty
on the East Coast of the United States, on the West Coast there
ought to be a Statue of Responsibility. Mary is seen in the Annunciation
as not only being “free from”, but also as “free
to”. Mary’s liberty is responsible liberty.
But even more so, in this way Mary appears a model or metaphor
of what Salvation is. The Lord gives us his grace. His is the
initiative and all proceeds from Him. But human beings, in the
ultimate analysis, have the possibility of opening or closing
themselves to the grace offered. This is the dynamics of salvation.
Saint Augustine said, “He who created you without your
intervention, will not save you without it.” God is not
going to impose salvation on us, even though He gives us all
the means we need for salvation, and everything comes from Him.
Let us take another look at Mary. In our newly inaugurated twenty-first
century we also need testimonies of a generous and courageous
liberty. At times we are the slaves of comfort, of routine, of
prejudices, of what is “politically correct”, of
our public image, of our personal projects and criteria. And
this keeps us from opening up to God’s plans for us and
His way of doing things.
May Mary, a free woman, help us to be free. May Mary, Mother
of Carmel, help us to free the men and women of our times from
so many forms of slavery.
Fernando Millán Romeral, O Carm, Spanish Province of
Baetica
In our two previous reflections we contemplated the Annunciation
to Mary from a two-fold perspective. First we saw her as a model
both for openness and the capacity to listen, and the last time
we took her as an example of genuine healthy piety, or, in other
words, as a person “tuned into” God’s language
and knowledgeable about the grammar of Faith. In this third reflection
we shall centre in on another basic attitude found in the Annunciation:
the freedom, or liberty, with which Mary gave her answer to the
project God had in store for her.
To get started on our journey we must first have the freedom
to answer “yes” to God’s call. We tend to take
this for granted in our democratic societies. We think, and to
a certain extent we are right, that we live in a free world.
We have gained much in liberty, spontaneity, and in the natural
way we do things. People are now free to believe that liberty
constitutes an inalienable human right, almost a sacred one,
as the Church has pointed out on many an occasion. This has been
a great step forward for the human race and we must work hard
in order not to go backwards. On the other hand, in our spiritual
life, in the most intimate point of our being, we have to admit
that there abound conditioning factors, those little things that
tie us down, make slaves of us and keep us from living God’s
project in our lives. They are the small impediments that keep
us from being free. In his The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Saint
John of the Cross recalls that a baby bird can be hindered from
taking flight tied to a thread of many strands, or only one.
In this vein, what stands out in the story of the Annunciation
is how God scrupulously respects Mary’s liberty. With delicacy,
without impositions, without violence, God makes Salvation History
hang on the “yes” of that young girl. When we meditate
on this passage, or give it a thoughtful reading, we almost are
inclined to underscore the silences, those moments when the angel
is waiting for Mary’s free answer. Some theologians have
insisted on this freedom of Mary. Through the angel’s mediation
God was not looking on Mary in terms of Old Testament titles
and images such as “fertile earth”, or “ark”,
or “tabernacle” or “remnant of Israel”.
Rather the Lord, these theologians say, saw Mary as a person,
that is, with her own liberty and free will. God runs the risk
of leaving Salvation History in the hands of a creature. And,
with surprising personal liberty Mary gives her answer to this
risk taken by the Lord. Instead of worrying about the looming
problems of what the local gossip might be, she shows her free
will to be at God’s service, and does so with a courageous,
genuine and generous liberty.
The famous Austrian psychologist, Victor Frankl, who had been
interned in concentration camps, criticised a certain narrow
and egoistic idea of liberty. He said that, in order to have
a complete picture of freedom, just as there is a Statue of Liberty
on the East Coast of the United States, on the West Coast there
ought to be a Statue of Responsibility. Mary is seen in the Annunciation
as not only being “free from”, but also as “free
to”. Mary’s liberty is responsible liberty.