Chosen for This Moment

"As he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him." // Ephesians 1:4

The skipping footsteps and tiny voices grew louder as my children tramped down the hall to my bedroom. I sat on my bed and stared at the crucifix on my wall, knowing I only had a brief moment before the laughing bodies burst into my room. I exhaled and admitted to the Lord what it took me months to admit. I couldn't fix it. I had run out of human solutions. I had done everything "right." And still I sat in the suffering.

It was in those final quiet moments of prayer that the truth from today's Second Reading rang true: I was surprised by this refining fire, but the Lord was not. He had chosen me before the foundation of the world to be holy. He saw my weakness, my failure, my inability to be holy on my own. He loves me enough to give me what I need to accomplish His will.

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception in which we celebrate Mary's conception without Original Sin. God chose Mary before the foundation of the world to be His mother and He gave her what she needed to accomplish His will.

Mary isn't without sin because of her own striving or grit. I'm not made holier by white knuckling and just "trying harder." He calls us to be holy and without blemish before Him, and Mary shows us what this means. It does not mean that we can make ourselves worthy (we can't). It doesn't matter if I do everything "right" if I'm not relying completely on Him.

Just as Mary gave Him her whole life as a response to His grace, we can give Him our whole lives in holy surrender. It is in this that He will make us holy.

God chose you for this moment. What is He asking of you today? How is He inviting you to be holy and without blemish? How is He inviting you to plant seeds and bear the fruit of the Word?

Ask Him; He knows what you need to be holy.

He will make us holy. // @to_the_heightsClick to tweet

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