Fiat

“And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’”

-Luke 1:38

Today marks the Feast of the Annunciation, an occasion of joy for the Church in the midst of the penitential season of Lent.  This year especially, I have grown a lot in love for the Annunciation according to Luke and in love of the Blessed Virgin Mary out of this beautiful mystery.  The part of the Annunciation that I want to focus on here in Mary’s “fiat”, literally in Latin, “let it be done”.  This is what Mary says in response to the angel Gabriel announcing to her that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  This is something I have been reflecting on a lot lately and I have found this reflection to be very valuable in my spiritual life.

First of all, I want to look at the fiat in and of itself.  Mary’s declaration first strikes me as an exclamation of faith.  It is difficult to imagine being told by an angel that you are going to conceive a child by the Holy Spirit, and Mary acknowledges this when she says, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” (Luke 1:34)  The angel Gabriel answers that, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)  Mary immediately gives her assent of faith, pronouncing her beautiful fiat.  Her complete faith in God’s power and His plan is incredible to me.  This faith that places all of its trust in God and surrenders to Him without hesitation is something I think we should all strive to better imitate in our own lives.

The second aspect of Mary’s fiat that I have reflected on is her profound humility.  Through Mary’s total acceptance, telling the angel to “let it be to me according to your word”, I have learned a lot about what true humility is.  Humility, in this context and in my new understanding after much reflection, can simply mean acceptance: acceptance of ourselves, acceptance of God’s plan, etc.  In short, humility accepts everything, every aspect of life, as a gift from God that He has given with our best interest in mind.  Mary is the model of this virtue, and I would suggest that her humility is what allowed her to crush the head of the serpent, the devil, as is depicted in many Marian sculptures and paintings.  My spiritual director here at Conception, Father Xavier, often says that the devil is defenseless against humility.  Once again, let us learn from Mary the humility it takes to pronounce “Let it be done” in response to all of the events, good and bad, in our lives.

Finally, I want to look at the fiat extended to the foot of the Cross.  As the mother of Jesus, Mary loved Him more dearly than anything else.  I think that this is common to all mothers – once they have children, their kids become their prized possessions.  In my own experience and hopefully yours too, our mothers hold us closer to their hearts than anything else, loving us above all.  This is the same love Mary had for Jesus.  Now imagine Mary standing at the foot of the Cross, helpless as she watched her Son die one of the most torturous deaths anyone could possibly face.  Imagine standing there and looking at your Son, knowing that He could save Himself if He wanted to, but being so resigned to God’s will that you just silently watch as He gives Himself up.  Mary was not just a bystander to the Crucifixion – in Jesus giving Himself up, she too gave up the part of her that she loved the most – her Son.  The faith and humility modeled in Mary’s appearance at the foot of the Cross, where her fiat is fully realized, is an incredibly powerful reflection for me.  There, at the foot of the Cross, we can learn from Mary what fiat truly means – acceptance of God’s plan in total faith even in the greatest physical and emotional suffering.  May we model Mary’s fiat everywhere in our lives, especially where it is most difficult.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

In Jesus’ love through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

Hayden