Want to be part of God’s family?

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

CHRIST clearly told us how to be part of God’s family. “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mt 12,49-50)

That was the response of Christ to someone who, impressed by the way Christ was, praised his mother extravagantly. He was actually extolling his own mother, not disrespecting or disparaging her. Mary, among the whole of humanity, perfectly identified her will with God’s will.

We have to understand that it is living by God’s will that, in the end is what is most important to us. It’s not just following our will which is, of course, indispensable to us. Otherwise, we would be undermining our very own freedom and our humanity itself. Whatever we do is done because we want it. It should be a fruit of our freedom.

But what is most important is to conform our will to God’s will, which is even more indispensable to us. Otherwise, we sooner or later would destroy our freedom and our humanity itself, since God is the very author and the very lawgiver of our freedom and our humanity.

Mary’s “Fiat” (Be it done), her response to the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement that she was chosen to be the mother of the Son of God, is the perfect model of how our will ought to be conformed to God’s will. We have to be reminded that by the very nature of our will, the very seat of our freedom, our will is supposed to be in synch with the will of its Creator. It just cannot be by itself, turning and moving purely on its own.

It is meant to be engaged with the will of God, its creator and lawgiver. It is the very power we have been given by God that enables us to unite ourselves with God, as we should since we are his image and likeness, in the most intimate way. All the other aspects of our life—physical, biological, chemical, etc.—are also governed by God-given laws but, by themselves, they cannot bring us into an intimate union with God.

We cannot expropriate our will to be simply be our own. We are meant only to be stewards of it, not its owner nor its designer, creator and lawgiver. It has to submit itself to the will of God, otherwise it would be working without its proper foundation and purpose.

Mary’s “Fiat” should be an all-time motto for us, a guiding principle in our whole life. The submission of our will to God’s will is never a diminution of our freedom. On the contrary, it is the enhancement of our freedom. It is where we can have our true freedom and true joy.

We need to be more aware of this fundamental need of ours to conform our will to the will of God. Very often, we behave like spoiled brats who do not yet realize the importance of this need. We have to correct this tendency.

We have to train ourselves in the art of deepening our sense of obedience to God’s will, basing it on our faith, hope and love of God and others, and making it intelligent, truly voluntary, prompt and cheerful.

That’s when we can become truly children of God, his image and likeness!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com