He raises the lowly

IMAGE: Mary Praying.
If you've been studying your bible a while, there comes a point when you are faced with a dilemma.
This dilemma is brought about by the realisation that our salvation is rooted in doing the will of the Father.
Up to now, we have been doing mostly our will. And so the question arises " What is the will of God for me?"

The very importance of doing the Fathers will is revealed in Matthew 7 where Jesus says; "[21] "Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

But what is God's will for us? we ask, " How can we find it?".
As we try to figure it out, It's easy to get caught up dreaming of grand schemes and racing thoughts at this point, for example; winning the lottery and giving it all away to the poor!
Our desire to respond to this newly found revelation can be an impatient one. Impatience will trip us up, leading us to act in ways that are mostly of our own will. (Like being attached to the expectation of winning when we buy a lottery ticket!)

Getting it right takes time, mistakes will be made as we search.
I like to compare Elijah's experience on mount Horeb to that same rush of enthusiasm. He too expected God to reveal himself with some kind of fanfare -
1KINGS.19: 11-12
[11] And he said, "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
[12] and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice."

In trying to do God's will, the initial spontaneous response arises " I'm going to do A, B, and C, for you Lord!- We feel like a strong force that will shatter mountains.
Then with time it mellows to "What can I do for you, Lord?" - The rumblings of an earthquake, the fire of presumption.
And eventually, we can re-address that initial question to:
"O.K. Lord, I surrender - let me live according to your will, not mine."
here we identify with the words of John the Baptist "He must increase, and I decrease."
And with our minds and desires quieted, and our hearts ready to be molded - we are ready to hear that " Still small voice." As Elijah did.
(Though the voice is not always audible to the sense of hearing.)

Image: Madonna (c)G-nets art. 1989
In Mary's immaculate conception, we have the perfect model of a human who receives the word of God.
Her intention of life was pure, desiring to live it for God alone. To work for His glory, and not her own.

It seems that to "Hear" God, Elijah needed to listen for Him in the silence, when all the noise around him had ceased.
A pentecostal convert to Catholicism was once having real trouble with this concept of silence, of being still. She was young, and when we are young, these things don't always come easily.
She had experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit (as do many Catholics) through a charismatic approach to worship, and thought that was the one and only way.
Image : Martha and Mary (by Luberoff)
To sit before the Tabernacle in silence did not bode well with her; even though scripture describes the presence of God as covered by a Tent (tabernacled) in the Old Testament. Catholics are not inventing anything new in their awareness of God's presence within the Tabernacle.

The beauty of the Tabernacled presence of Jesus in Catholic churches is, that He is made present to us unconditionally, and for all time as He promised.
We can go sit in His presence today, and at any time of the day because Jesus is God, he is beyond the restrictions of time.
Because all of His actions while on earth had infinite value, He was able to reach forward in time at the last supper to minister to the Apostles his crucified, resurrected and Glorified body and blood.

During the mass, we have offered our own lives as a gift to God along with the bread and wine. When the priest calls down the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine, to "Make it Holy" then we are praying in union with him for the Holy Spirit to make the gift of ourselves (which we have just offered)"Holy" also.
We are asking to be transformed as a people into the Body of Christ in a mysterious way, known to God alone.

Though we may never reach the Sanctity of Mary, we can pray for purity of intent.
This purity of intent will enable us to discover the work God made us for.
In surrendering our will to His, and accepting with trust that all things are
possible with God - we will discern that His will for us is to be Holy.

We need only trust in Him to help us in this; as "He will raise the lowly, and fill the hungry with good things", as Mary declared in her Magnificat.
When Elizabeth greeted Mary she said:(Luke 1 :45-46)"Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.
Blessed then are those who are lowly enough to believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Tabernacle. Body, blood, soul and Divinity.
After all, He promised to be with us for all time, is it not possible that here we might listen to the still small voice which calls us into a deeper understanding of His will.