Fearlessness

The Blessed Virgin only asked questions that would enable her to fulfil her mission as an instrument of God’s Holy Will.

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (Fresco in Carmelite Church in Venice)

My second child is often very afraid of things.  He tends to catastrophise things, and this leads him to making assumptions about the worst possible case scenario when there are various options.  He is very rarely right about the catastrophe that he is imagining, but he spends quite a lot of time working on the image in his mind and trying to work out ways that such an image is likely to eventuate.

And I have been thinking about that.  You see, most of the time that I spend as his mother is around showing him that there is nothing to fear.  Usually this involves a mix of conversation and my own example of being brave in the face of challenges and uncertainties.

And I have been reflecting on this.  So many times, in the Bible we are told “be not afraid”.  We hear it in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament.  We are told this by the angels in their apparitions and also by Christ Himself.

And I have been reflecting on this over the last few days.  For it seems that God really is trying to tell me something.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote in “Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives” at page 33, “(Mary) does not remain locked in her initial troubled state at the proximity of God in his angel, but she seeks to understand. So Mary appears as a fearless woman, one who remains composed even in the presence of something utterly unprecedented. At the same time she stands before us as a woman of great interiority, who holds heart and mind in harmony and seeks to understand the context, the overall significance of God’s message. In this way, she becomes an image of the Church as she considers the word of God, tries to understand it in its entirety and guards in her memory the things that have been given to her.”

And it occurs to me, that just as I try – through conversation and example – to show my second son that he has nothing to fear, the Blessed Virgin is showing me the same thing.

Her PERFECT example demonstrates to me that I am being asked to trust in God.  Through prayer through her intercession, I am in conversation with her.

And it seems to me today that this is exactly what I need in my life in order to survive.

For is it not quite a simple thing to reflect on the life of the Blessed Virgin.  She faced the most unprecedented THING in the history of creation.  For she faced the Conception and Birth of God Himself.  And she faced this with a fearlessness that is astounding.

She did not know if she would survive the Conception and Birth of Christ.  And she never asked about it.  She never asked about herself.  All she asked were questions that would enable her to fulfil her mission as an instrument of God’s Holy Will.

And I have been reflecting on that today – for such an example of fearlessness the World has never seen in any creation that ever was or ever will be…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.