Leave the Details to God
December 22, 2021
Fr. John Riccardo
No. Thing. Is. Impossible. To. God.
“How can this be?”
Such was Mary’s question to Gabriel, after he delivered the message that she was going to be the mother of the Redeemer.
I’ve been pondering this response deeply of late. Aside from the question, “Why?” “How?” might be the next most frequent question many of us ask of God.
How can this happen?
How will this marriage ever change?
How will my children ever come back to the Church after all that’s taken place?
How will I ever break free of this sin?
How will the world ever be made right?
How will there ever be peace?
How can we ever escape from the tyrant’s grip?
How can we be rescued from Death?
How can a virgin conceive?
How can God become a man?
How can the One the universe cannot contain dwell in a woman’s womb?
How can bread become Flesh?
How can wine become Blood?
How can the dead be raised?
How? How? How?
God. That is the answer. God will act. God will do it. Because He wants it. He wants us free. He wants us fully alive. He wants us home. He wants us reconciled with Him and with each other.
Who is God? God is Love. This is so much more than simply “God loves.” God is Love. And love acts, it gets involved, it moves.
Are any of us really aware of who God is and what He has done and what He will yet do? No. Not really. There’s always more to learn, always more to know, always more to ponder, always more to be awed and overwhelmed by. O, Father, forgive us for how often and how easily we have gotten used to the mysteries we are about to celebrate!
God has become one of us to rescue us, a rebellious and fickle race.
As a priest friend of mine put it recently:
“God, You are crazy!”
Let’s beg for the grace in these days ahead to enter ever more deeply into the mysteries we’re celebrating. As we do so, let’s pray for one another that we might grow in trust in the One for whom nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible.
Come, let us adore Him!
