all serve God's purpose - bday of Mary 2014

Today on the birthday of our Blessed Mother we reflect on a passage in scriptures which to my mind explains the miracle of every birth.  We focus our reflection on our first reading, from the letter of Paul to the Romans.

Paul, after giving the Romans a litany of instructions in the kind of life that they must live as followers of Jesus, ends these with words of encouragement.  He writes, we know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 

In both adversity and prosperity, in our triumphs and in defeat, in our successes and failures, even in our sins and weaknesses, God makes everything work for the good.  We only have to look at our vocation stories and see the truth of this statement of Paul, how everything in our lives were set in place, how all those events were so arranged by some powerful hand as to finally make sense at least now as we looked at things that happened in our lives in hindsight or in retrospect.  Things that truly matter did not always start in an orderly fashion.  Many times it all started as a teenage rebellion, an accident, a chance encounter, an unplanned turn.  And then things began to unfold on their own.  It is God who calls us and he calls us according to the purpose he established for each one of us.

Many times too we look for affirmations in what we do, we base our self-appreciation and esteem on our accomplishments, in what we have achieved in our lives.  But here is something deeper, here is something that does not depend on the flimsy praise, appreciation and recognition of men.  It is in the knowledge that I was born and called for a purpose, and it is not just any purpose but God’s purpose and because of this purpose everything works for the good, be it adversity or prosperity, be it sickness and even death.  All work for the good, because all serve God’s purpose.   This is the birth of Mary, and of every disciple of Jesus for that matter.  And this is the optimism that gives us the energy, the drive and the joy of living life everyday. 

Many times we only claim and acknowledge this reality of which St. Paul speaks during those times nga tayan na lang ta like during accidents or near death experiences.  Masiling kita baw tayan na lang ako siguro may misyon pa ang Dios sa akon.  Tani indi ta lang paghulaton ina to acknowledge this reality kay basi bala madayunan na kita.  So every morning it might be good to claim this, saying, praying as we wake up:  Lord thank you for giving me another day of life.  I would like to affirm that you created me for this day on purpose and with a purpose and that all things that will happen to me will be for the good.  It might not be what I want, but it will always be for the good for they will conform me to Jesus, to become more and more like him in everything that I do and say.  Amen.

May the birth of Mary help us to claim with faith our own purpose and mission in life.