Answering God's Call with a YES or a NO
Today is the Feast Day of the Annunciation in the Catholic Church. It celebrates the Virgin Mary's perfect YES to God.
As I was reading my meditations today, I was struck by the following quote and the idea of the significance of our response to the “visitors” often masked but purposeful that God places before us. Tertullian writes, “As Eve had believed the serpent, so Mary believed the angel. The delinquency which the one occasioned by believing, the other by believing effaced.”
Both Eve and Mary were “visited” and an announcement was made to each of them. Eve and Mary were visited by the perfect visual personifications of evil and goodness. Eve was visited by the serpent and Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel. As Tertullian notes, Eve was “delinquent” in her belief, believing what was announced to her, that she could defy God’s command…and it led her to unbelief or in other words, faithLESSness.
What exactly does the word delinquent mean? According to Merriam-Webster, delinquent is a Latin derivative meaning “ to fail, to offend or to neglect one’s duty or the law “. Eve failed God. She offended his infinite goodness in doubting his never ending love and care for her. Eve neglected her duty to serve God by obeying his laws. She was faithless in believing that God’s laws were NOT for her own protection. She was enticed by the serpent who assured her that she could eat from the tree and it would be to her benefit to do so, for she would become “like a God”, in charge of her destiny, making her own decisions, securing a magnificent future full of the very “knowledge” she’d been denied….or so she thought.
Mary on the other hand was not delinquent in her faithful response. She did not desire anything but to be faithful to her God. Unlike her ancestor Eve, Mary humbly and without delay, answers the Angel Gabriel announcement of God’s will with, "I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to thy word." Mary was victorious in answering God’s call. She pleased Him with her answer. She fulfilled her duty and the law given to Moses by God, to have no other God’s before Him……choosing not to place herself above God’s call.
My Mission of Mercy: God takes me to Cyber-Nigeria
For years, I have struggled through life more with as many Eve moments as Mary moments. I’ve had periods of fear and doubt that have crippled me. I’ve also had periods of self reliance that have nearly done me in. I realized a few years ago, that I most definitely had TRUST issues as a result of circumstances beyond my control. I also came to the personal revelation that I had a choice to make, to stubbornly be delinquent to God’s call or to meet Him right where I am, as I am, with a big, humble YES to whatever He asked of me, completely abandoning myself to complete TRUST in HIM alone. It wasn’t an instantaneous revelation, oh no, I’m much too stubborn for that! This has been a gradual revelation for me over the course of many years.
“I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.” was the inspiration for this blog, The Handmaids of Mercy, which I actually began working on in the spring of 2007, months before any of our children were diagnosed with health issues. The purpose was to spread the Divine Mercy Message, “Jesus, I TRUST in YOU” while chronicling our journey of faith with all its events and “visitors” (little did I know we would have to TRUST such visitors as Diabetes, Liver Disease and Cancer) as a family on the Handmaid’s blog.
I prayed fervently that God would use me, in any way He saw fit to spread His message….be careful what you ask for, as God will always be faithful to your requests if your requests are in accordance with His will. I was simply hoping to one day offer events , seminars and publications to assist families in their own faith journeys. I was just asking for a “little material, a little inspiration” to write about on my blog at the time!
I was blessed to make the cyber-acquaintance of a Nigerian Seminarian, Brother Patrick Omeh, almost two years ago when he visited my website. He is also devoted to Divine Mercy and my husband, John and I have been able to send him supplies for evangelization. My hope was to one day have other handmaids join me in my efforts and serve others with acts of mercy.
This is Brother Patrick actually passing out the DM supplies that I sent him.
Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet in the rustic church.
My Hope for the Future
My hope remains the same today, in spite of the upcoming demands of our daughter's impending radiation and physical therapy and our son's potential surgery to receive a diabetic pump, coupled with the demands of motherhood. I pray often, asking God for wisdom, discernment and direction as to how I can better serve Him. This morning while reading my meditations, I was completely surprised that today was the Feast of the Annunciation! I’ve not been paying very close attention to details these days, at least not details unassociated with medical jargon. I was overwhelmed with what I believe to be a call from the Holy Spirit.
It seemed clear to me, after prayer that God had chosen the Feast Day of the Annunciation to call me back to my goals for Handmaids. I’ve been waiting for some direction and was certainly not expecting anything regarding an answer to my prayers this particular morning. That is the way God speaks to me….it always seems to be either tiny nudges that won’t go away or an unexpected turn of my head, like a parent stating, “Look at me when I’m talking to you” turning my face towards “the light” during prayer. I believe that the Feast of the Annunciation is the appropriate time to “announce” my need for other women to join me as founding members of Handmaids of Mercy. So, as you log in today, to visit this blog, we have both an announcement and a request.
I recently received an email from Br. Patrick requesting more materials to be distributed to the sick and the poor, as he and other seminarians will be visiting remote villages spreading the message of God’s love and mercy. God’s visitors and heralds, indeed!
Women of all faiths are invited to join Handmaids and families, wishing to be Families of Mercy are welcome as well. You certainly do not have to be Catholic to become a member. Membership is simple. You just have to be dedicated to knowing, loving and serving the Lord in your daily interactions with others. Fortunately for me, I’m married to a very special guy who has agreed to form a partnership between Handmaids of Mercy and his business, Crossroads Professional Counseling and Family Life Center to let me use his conference room for special events. I have no planned meetings, agendas or events at this time in 2009 and I assure you it is highly unlikely anything would be offered before the Fall of this year. He also has the capability of doing e-seminars and podcasts for our blog audiences!
I’m not a “meeting” kinda gal… WE, (John and I) hope to instead offer seminars, book discussions , podcasts, an e-newsletter and special events concentrating on specialized areas of interest for women and men of faith, and living faith for families, once our lives return to some normalcy. Handmaids members and their families will also receive any information about any parenting or family related seminars being offered by Crossroads. We truly want our faith journey to help others and it is our goal to continue to offer as much as we can FREE to the public, as we have in the past.
If you would like to become a member, please visit scroll down on the left of the homepage, you will see a Paypal Donation button. I am asking that anyone interested in becoming a member of The Handmaids of Mercy, donate a small fee of $10.00 and you will be enrolled as a Founding Member or Family. This membership fee will be used exclusively for the purchase of religious materials to be sent to Brother Patrick in Nigeria as his need is quite urgent. The great blessing is that Nigerians can read English, the great burden is that shipping to Nigeria is quite expensive as I’ve learned in the past. In the “note” area provided, please include your name and email and/or physical address so that I can place you on our mailing list.
John and I have both had the desire to work together once our youngest child goes off to school. Very soon our life will again return to the “managed chaos” (as our friend Mary McPhillips has loving referred to it), that it once was. Your assistance in growing the Handmaids of Mercy through membership will only help our family move forward in what we feel is God’s call for us as a family, to share our journey as a living example of God’s presence in our lives, and our struggle to know Him, love Him and serve Him above all else.
My next blog entry will be dedicated to the continuation of the discussion of the nos and yeses to God, as well as the schemes and plots found in the bible.
Mary Kidd Flemming blogs for The Handmaids of Mercy , The Splendor of Truth and The Compass Rose (Parenting and Family Life Issues). You may also enjoy her husband's website: Crossroads Family Center The Flemming Family is facing the greatest challenge of their lives as three of their six kids have health issues and were all diagnosed within an eighth month period. The children's illnesses include: Auto-Immune Liver Disease, Type I Diabetes (insulin dependent), and Ewing's Sarcoma (a form of bone cancer). This has been an incredible journey of faith for the Flemming Family. While they don't fully understand why any of this happened to their children, they place their trust and faith totally in God's goodness. By sharing their faith journey, their hope is that other people will be drawn closer to The Holy Trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit). It is Mary's great hope that the sufferings of her children and family will be received by God for the conversion of souls. JESUS, WE TRUST in YOU!
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