The Story of Mary, our Heavenly Mother, began when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.” (Genesis 3:15) The identity of Mary is revealed in the New Testament when God invited her to become the Mother of Jesus, Son of God, who is God Himself. We can imagine how shocked Mary was when she heard of God's invitation. Yet, besides trying to understand how that could happen, she accepted the invitation without hesitation. She trusted in God completely and entrusted herself to Him. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Those who are parents would understand that being a parent is not a project with an end date. It is a lasting relationship and a responsibility for life. Think of Mary, then a teenager. How could she single-handedly handle such an insurmountable lifetime task by herself? Where did her courage come from? Trust in the Lord. Yes, of course. That is the fundamental aspect of it. But she also allowed God the Holy Spirit to help her say “Yes” to God. We can't simply rely on ourselves when we commit a YES to God's invitation. We need God's help, even from the very beginning. But God needs us to ask first before He will grant us enough faith to commit to Him. He needs us to surrender ourselves in order for Him to really take over the driver's seat. Then, it is not our concern whether we are safe along the way. It becomes the driver's responsibility to ensure His passengers are safe until they reach the final destination. That is what we call a genuine and complete surrender. It seems hard, but indeed it is as simple as making the decision to let him help us say YES.
Logic tells us that Mary would not be able to bring up the Son of God by herself, or even with Joseph by her side. It is impossible for her to be qualified for this task. No one ever would be. If Mary did not abide in God and God in her, she would have failed miserably! God wants us to succeed in accomplishing our mission on earth, and we do have an indispensable role to play in His masterplan. God wills it for us from the beginning of Creation. He is waiting for our YES to begin the next chapter of our life story. And we can turn to Him for help even for this first task of saying YES. Then we have nothing to boast… that even the process of committing this first YES cannot derail our direction from the very beginning of our journey, and putting a strain on our humility record. Such a clean record can continue to guide our intention to be pure along the way. We can completely let God be God. That's why Jesus said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) We know that Jesus does not lie and He really means it.
So, when Mary told the servants at the wedding of Cana to trust in Jesus, saying “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5), she was not saying something she didn't do herself. In fact, she uses her whole life to testify to it and her life is a living proof that it works!
