Are you finding it hard to trust God? 

As I write this article, I am waiting for God’s answer to one of my prayers because I recently applied to become a seminarian at the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary. 

To be honest, I’m waiting anxiously and always overthink about what might happen. 

So I turn to Mama Mary who inspires me to trust God. I look at the image of Our Lady at the Manila Cathedral who is looking up to the sky to God with a calm and sincere heart. 

If there’s one thing I’m learning in this waiting period, it’s to patiently wait with joy just like her. I’ve done everything I can during the application, so it’s all in God’s hands now. I have done the steps to seek His will, and I trust that He knows His plan for me.

My spiritual director, Fr. Kali Llamado, said to me, “We wait in prayer.” That, I must do, too, as I learn to surrender. Gem Mailum (gemrico.mailum@gmail.com)

Reflect:

Is there something that you are worried about right now? Seek Mary’s heart and she will point you to Jesus.

Mary, our Mother, help us to have complete trust and surrender to God’s will in our life.

St. Juan Diego, pray for us.

First Reading | Genesis 3:9-15, 20

Verse 15 in today's reading is called the proto-evangelium, which is the first mention of the Good News that God will prevail over the powers of darkness and evil. The offspring (Jesus) of the woman (Mary) will crush the head of the serpent (Satan). The rest of the Scriptures detail the preparation and accomplishment of this promise. Then they begin to outline the beginning and foundations of Christian history.

⁹ After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord God then called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” ¹¹ Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” ¹² The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.” ¹³ The Lord God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. ¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.” ²⁰ The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

R: Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.

¹ Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; his right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. (R) ² The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. ³ He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. (R) All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. ⁴ Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. (R) 

Second Reading | Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12

Paul affirms that God is always in control. He gives us free will. However, this does not mean that He is unable to influence our actions through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is always at work and leads us to obey God's will. The degree of control that God has in our lives depends on our willingness to submit to His will.

³ Brothers and sisters: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, ⁴ as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love ⁵ he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, 6 forthe praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. ¹¹ In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, ¹² so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.

Gospel | Luke 1:26-38

Mary's “yes” to God that she be the Mother of His Son is in stark contrast to the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Mary's response should have been given by Adam and Eve in the garden. Mary did not know how things were going to turn out after she obeyed God’s will, yet she has faith enough to say yes anyway. Adam and Eve had every reason to believe that they did not need to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but they chose to defy God. They placed their own will before God's, and this has become the foundation sin.

Gospel Acclamation

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.

²⁶ The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, ³³ and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴ But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” ³⁵ And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; ³⁷ for nothing will be impossible for God.” ³⁸ Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 THESSALONIANS 1 - 3 today.

Our Own Fiat

Once, I accompanied two buses of Filipino pilgrims from London to the Holy Land. In one of our leisure breaks, an elderly pilgrim approached me and said that she could now die in peace after our pilgrimage because she had finally been to the Holy Land. Her comment brings to mind a witty social media meme that may help us understand the significance of today’s solemnity. The meme says, “If the land Jesus walked on is holy, imagine the womb that bore Him.” 

We recall the Gospel episode in Luke 11:27: “While [Jesus] was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.’” Rightly so, shouldn’t the Incarnate Word begin His human existence in an environment untouched by sin? The Gospel affirms with the angel greeting Mary as “full of grace” (Luke 1:28), to say that she is indeed filled with God’s favor and blessings.   

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast teaches us that Mary was conceived without sin in her mother’s womb. This is very much a part of the plan that she mothers the Christ-Child into the world for the salvation of all creation. Mary, according to Saint Paul, is first among the holy ones to have been called by God to share in His love and blessings long before they were even born. “Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ . . . before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him” (Ephesians 1:3). What Saint Paul tells the holy ones of Ephesus is very true of Mary. She was chosen by God from all eternity to be the mother of His Son.   

Like Mary, may we also strive to be filled with God’s graces and favors. May we renew each day our unconditional “yes” to the will of God for us. May we especially work on this fiat in this season of preparation, and may we earnestly commit our hearts to this “Amen” for the rest of our lives. Fr. Rick Montañez, AA

reflection question

As adopted child of God in Christ, do you recognize that you have also been called by God to “the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12)?  

I pray that like our Blessed Mother, I may also offer my life for the coming of the Kingdom of God in our midst. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ____________________________________