Ave Maria Meditations
After the meeting in the Temple, Jesus returns to Galilee with Mary and Joseph. He went down with them on their journey to Nazareth and lived there in subjection to them. The Holy Spirit wanted to leave this fact clearly stated in the Gospel. Its source can only be Mary who, time and time again, saw the silent obedience of her Son. It is one of the few pieces of information we have from those years of hidden life: that Jesus obeyed them. St Augustine comments that Christ, to whom the universe is subject, was subject to them. To obey His Father, Jesus subjected himself to those who, in his earthly life, were invested with authority; in the first place, his parents.
Our Lady must have reflected very often about Jesus’ obedience, which was extremely refined and, at the same time, very natural. St Luke tells us immediately that His Mother kept in her heart the memory of all this. The whole of Jesus’ life was an act of obedience to the will of the Father. What I do is always what pleases Him, he will tell us later; and on another occasion he said clearly to his disciples: “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me; and to accomplish the task he gave me”. Food is what gives energy for life. And Jesus tells us that obedience to the will of God – manifested in so many different ways – should be what nourishes and gives meaning to our lives. Without obedience there is no growth in the interior life, nor true development of the human person. Obedience, far from lowering the dignity of the human person, leads it to maturity by extending the freedom of the sons of God.
God is not indifferent to any situation in our life. He is waiting for a response from us at each moment; the response which coincides with his glory and our personal happiness. We are happy when we obey, because we are doing what Our Lord wants for us, which is what is best, although at times it costs us effort. God’s will is shown to us through his Commandments, through those of his Church, through things that happen and, also, through those persons to whom we owe obedience.
Fruits of obedience.
In the Gospel we see how our mother Mary obeys: she calls herself the handmaid of the Lord showing that she has no other will than that of her God. St Joseph obeys – and always rapidly – whatever is commanded on the Lord’s behalf. Promptness in doing what is commanded is one of the qualities of true obedience.
The Apostles, in spite of their limitations; know how to obey. Because they trust in Our Lord they cast the net to the right of the boat where Jesus has told them; and they make a great catch of fish, despite its not being the right time, and despite their earlier experience that day of there apparently not being a single fish in the lake. Obedience, and faith in Our Lord’s word, works miracles.
Many graces and fruits accompany obedience. The ten lepers are cured by obeying the words of Our Lord:
Go and show yourselves to the priests and thereupon, as they went, they were made clean. The same happened to that blind man on whose eyes Jesus put clay. He said to him, “Away with thee and wash in the pool of Siloe” (a word which means sent out). So he went and washed there and came back with his sight restored. What an example of firm faith the blind man gives us – a living, operative faith! Do you behave like this when God commands? When so often you can’t see, when your soul is worried and the light gone? What power could the water possibly contain that when the blind man’s eyes were moistened with it they were cured? Surely some mysterious eye salve or precious medicine made up in the laboratory of some wise alchemist would have done better? But the man believed. He acted upon the command of God and he returned with his eyes full of light. How often we too are going to find the light in that person placed there by God to guide and cure us, if we are docile in obeying. In the Acts of the Apostles we read God gives the Holy Spirit to all who obey Him.
The Gospel gives us many examples of persons who knew how to obey: the servants of Cana in Galilee, the shepherds in Bethlehem, the Kings – all received abundant grace from God. Obedience makes our actions and our sufferings meritorious, in such a way that the latter, which could seem futile, can become very fruitful. One of the marvels performed by Our Lord is having made what was useless, like suffering, become so advantageous. He has glorified suffering through obedience and love. Obedience is great and heroic when one is ready to face death and ignominy in order to fulfill it.
Obedience and freedom. Obedience for love.
Christ obeys for love. This is the meaning of Christian obedience: that which we owe God and his Commandments, that which we owe the Church and our parents – their commands and those of the Magisterium of the Church – and that which affects all those very intimate things of our soul. In every case, more or less directly, we are obeying God, through the authorities. And Our Lord does not want unwilling servants, but children who want to do his will. Obedience also brings about a true formation of character and great peace to soul: the fruits of sacrificing and giving up one’s own will for a higher good.
If we come very close to Our Lady we will learn easily how to obey promptly, joyfuly and effectively. Following her example of obedience to God, we can learn how to serve with refinement, without being slavish. In Mary we don’t find the slightest trace of the attitude of the foolish virgins who obey, but thoughtlessly. Our Lady listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she doesn’t fully understand and asks about what she doesn’t know. Then she gives herself completely to doing the divine Will: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word’ (Luke 1:38).
He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. (Phil.2:7-9)
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered. (Heb 5: 8)
Fr. Francis Ferandez
