Risking It All For God

For nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.-Luke 1:37-38

Every day I take some sort of risk.  I get up in the morning and risk the walk down the stairs to get on with the start of my day.  My house has a lot of construction projects going on so there is a piece here and piece there.  One false step and I will stub my toe on something.  Or I get in my car to go to work or to Mass and risk the drive.  I have to be careful of what I do and what others do around me to avoid an accident.  Risk is everywhere. 

On some level, trusting in God is a risk.  I risk my freedom to believe whatever I want and risk my choice to either follow God or to turn away.  I know that faith in God is my natural response to a loving creator who wants me to risk it all for him.  God is my hope and shelter in this world and I find my hope and comfort in the Lord, who in the Gospel reading for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, tells us that nothing is impossible for him.  The perfect example of faith, our Holy mother Mary, shows us that the best response is that we become the servants of the Lord and that we should let God show us according to his word. 

The reading from Zechariah offers a great opportunity for reflection.  “Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day, and they shall be his people.”  I believe that God will make us his holy people if we accept the Gospel call to let it be as His word dictates for us.  God has assured us salvation through the action of Christ in his death and resurrection.  He only asks us to follow him.  So what makes this so difficult?  I know for me personally, I find it so difficult to reconcile my own past which is painfully loaded with sin. 

Each day, I must repent and take up my cross.  This cross should make me remember that I must make a significant internal conversion each day to pray and act in a manner that would befit a man of God.  Remembering that God chose me for this life and that I should not fall into complacency, I have to re-commit myself to giving my entire day and life to Christ.  I must pray for the people around me and to pray for myself.  Often I get wrapped up in selfish things that are not of God and this is mostly pride.  I should remember that I should be selfless and do for others more than I do for myself.  Charity is not a number assigned to my bank account but rather an action, an outward action where I call to mind service for others.  The service I give should be a gift and not a line item I check off for some reward or accolade.  God calls me to give more because he has given me the ability to give more of myself. 

Just because I have been given much does not excuse me from the obligation and responsibility to what I have been given.  I have been charged in my baptism with living a holy life in service to the Lord.  And my life is called upon by the Lord to be willing to perfected so as to achieve salvation when the Lord comes to judge the living and the dead.  And my meditation today on the readings for December 12, 2012 is see where I have fallen short of my Lord’s expectations and to seek his love and mercy so that I can offer more faithful and more perfect service.  This I should do for the Glory of God and not for the glory of Brandon Nye. 

This meditation comes to find fruit in the gift of humility.  I find it very difficult to live in a humble way so as not to alienate the people around me with arrogance and pride.  To me, much has been given so I should reasonably expect that much should accounted for.  So for today, I pray most earnestly for an embrace to truth and re-dedication to my baptismal promise to seek the Lord in my life and hear the call he has given me.  To do this, I must silence my heart and listen when he calls my name.  I must be a servant of the Lord, may it be done to me according to His word.