My Blessed Purpose

"Why am I so favored, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me. . . . Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled". [Luke 1: 45].

In these words, Elizabeth spoke to Mary. Elizabeth understood, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that Mary would bear a Son ---who would be the Son of God.

Elizabeth, the mother of John The Baptist, was also pregnant, and at the sight of Mary, her own baby leapt in her womb. Not only was Elizabeth joyful at seeing Mary, but her baby even "recognized" the power of this moment.

I suppose we take this moment sort of for granted. This story has been told and retold so many times, especially during this Advent Season.

This moment is so very remarkable, because of how unworldly it is. For, it is both a sacred moment, one of the first recognitions of Mary's pregnancy after the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel. But it is also, literally, unearthly.

Unearthly, because, who today believes that God is in all of us, and that we have the power to say 'Yes' to Him, as Mary did?

We are a largely secular society today. Our beliefs mirror those I was taught when growing up:

The first such belief is the deep doubt that there IS a God. I was taught to distrust those who believe in God. I was taught that church is a "waste of time and money". I was taught not to put any stock in that "faith stuff".

So, what if there IS no God? Then, it is entirely rational to wonder, why was I made anyway? What use am I? What is life even for?

For those who do not believe in God, is life merely a series of random, unconnected events, signifying nothing? Is our purpose as humans only to eat, sleep, make as much money as we can for ourselves, and have as much fun as we can?

I don't want to accept that world view. I see in so many a longing to find a higher purpose in life, to discern one's essential calling.

A second belief in this secular world is that we are "Self-Made". My family believed that a child was like a piece of clay, to be formed and molded by her parents. Any desire to follow one path over the other-- and any success at that path-- came only from how the parents prompted and educated and prodded the child. Any human success was due entirely to human achievement. God had nothing to do with it. This is a sure path to anxiety. With no Higher Power to turn to, that would make ME in charge of everything, all by myself?! Terrifying thought.

This is also a dangerous world view. It means that nothing about me-- not my emotions, my gifts, my personality-- was my own. All these belonged to someone else and were controlled by someone else-- my parents. It was as if I was occupied by a foreign army.

It did not take long for me to figure out that my parents were playing God with me. How horrifying, for a handful of people to spend all of their energy trying to bend me to their will? My parents believed that they could "make me or break me". They DID try to break my spirit, and to force me to become them. This is a sure path to trauma.

And what if I failed at what my parents told me I was to become?

If I could not be who my parents wanted me to be, according to their purpose; and if I could not become what I felt would be my own purpose, then who was I? In short order, I shut down. I became Nothing. This is a sure path to depression.

In order to be truly human, we need to be able to ask: 'Who am I? Where did I come from? And what is my purpose?' All of the great civilizations have asked this. All great literature is a meditation upon these themes.

Any free human being has the privilege of asking these questions. And in asking these questions, we are, in reality, seeking God.

Where did I come from? In the sacred world, we come from God.

Who am I? In the sacred world, we have our gifts, emotions. personalities, and our faith, that all come from God. These comprise our essence. Another human can try to force upon us their own ideas of our gifts, emotions and personalities. But they cannot steal our essence, our soul. Our soul is ours to keep. It is eternal. When I discovered this on my own, as a young adult, I cried. What a miraculous gift!

We, as humans, can try to be our own greatest promoters, to be the sole arbiters of our fates. We can push ourselves onto the world scene, with business cards, with social or professional media. We can put ourselves out on You Tube and Facebook and LinkedIn. But in the end, it is God who leads us to our greatest calling.

After I ceased believing that my existence and my purpose came solely from my parents, I used to worry endlessly about how to find my purpose. If my purpose did not come from any human being, where would I find my calling?

I was basically worrying about how to find God!

Years later, my pastor told me, 'Don't worry, God will find you!'

God found Mary. Mary believed that the purpose announced about her would be fulfilled, through God. She had the Grace to say, Yes!', to God. She was not alone, God was with her.

St. Paul, in Philippians 1:6, talks about "being confident that He, who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion."  Put another way, "For it is God who works in you, to will and to act according to His good purpose."

Like Mary, I believe in God. I believe that, through my own free will, using my own gifts, I can find my life's calling. I believe that if I have the Grace and the strength to say 'Yes' to God, He will carry me far, according to His own good purpose. Like Mary, I believe that what is spoken to me by God, about my Blessed purpose, will be fulfilled by my belief in Him.

And so, in intimate relationship with God, we are able to fulfill our Divine Self, and to become truly as God intended us to be.

[Related Postings, "Solemnity of Mary", January 2, 2102; " Blessed Mother", August 19, 2011].

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