Mary’s Fiat

Such a simple word that changed the world for all of us. Fiat, yes, I will. It was surrender and trust. Surrender to the world and absolute trust in God. It’s what we all say we want; the idea of total surrender; “thy will be done.” But we are afraid. What will people think? What if I suffer? Or maybe, I’ll suffer, Lord, this way not that.

Mary’s yes was to bring Jesus into the world in an ordinary way after a most extraordinary encounter. She lived an ordinary life, daughter, mother, cousin, wife – in the most radical of ways. In total surrender to God which gave her strength. We may view surrender as weakness, but when we surrender to the One who made us, it is not weakness. We are afraid to surrender because we are locked in our own weakness. We are afraid. “There is only one cure for fear – trust in God.”

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

I’m reflecting on the chapter, Fiat. This chapter is full of observations on what Mary said yes to and how she surrendered. It also gives insight into why we struggle with doing the same.

A few quotes:

• There is only one cure for fear – trust in God.
• We are afraid for ourselves, but a thousand times more afraid for those we love.
• God asks for extreme courage in love; the Bride of the Spirit must respond with strength like Hos own strength. Our Lady did this.

Find a container of some sort, a box, an envelope, something you can open and close; then some small pieces of paper – now, write down your worries, concerns, struggles, fold them and pout them in the box. Give them to God. Trust and surrender to what he wants the outcome to be, let him deal with it all.

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