The First Joyful Mystery // The Annunciation
Fruit of the Mystery // Humility
Reflect
Last year, so many of our dreams and hopes for our lives changed dramatically. Weddings, graduations, pregnancies, postpartum seasons, jobs, vacations... time and time again, we were forced to set our plans aside or completely rethink them. And it hurt. It was hard. In many cases, those drastically changed plans still sting.
Just as it felt our lives took a dramatic turn overnight, Mary’s life transformed in mere minutes. If there is someone who knows what it feels like when plans are completely turned upside down, it’s her. The beginning of the Gospel of Luke recounts:
“Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’
But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.’
Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:30-38
In a breath, Our Lady released her plans for her future and any vision she may have had of her life. She did not know if her soon-to-be husband was part of God’s plan. She did not know if she was being called to live and face her first-century community as a single mother. She knew nothing beyond what the angel Gabriel told her and what the faith she had been cultivating all her life reassured her: that God’s plan is always perfect, even when it looks nothing like our own.
I hold few things as tightly as my carefully laid plans. I tell myself I trust God, but when His plans differ from mine, it takes every ounce of my faith to convince myself that He knows what He’s doing. It is only with humility that I have the grace to admit: He is God and I am not. He sees infinite possibilities where I only see the handful of options in front of my feet.
Fiat, I whisper. Fiat, fiat, fiat. Mama Mary, intercede for me.
Let Us Pray
Our Blessed Mother, in perfect humility, you laid down your plans for your life and embraced all that God called you to. Pray for us, that we may follow in your footsteps, always trusting that His plan is infinitely greater than we can imagine.
For Discussion
What plans did you have the hardest time letting go of over the last year?
Share a time in your life when God’s plan has proved better than your own.
Praying the Rosary
Throughout the Prayer Pledge and beyond, we really encourage you to pray the Rosary! Since we will be looking at the fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary, it only makes sense to actually pray it!
Here is a guide on how to pray the Rosary.
I like this podcast and this podcast for praying the Rosary.
Hallow also has a marvelous Rosary meditation.
And if you want to go even deeper in to the Rosary, check out Mystery!
By Their Fruits: The 2021 Prayer Pledge // Day 4 #BISblog #prayerpledge //Click to tweet
Lisa Kirk is a regular contributor to the BIS blog. New York City-born and internationally raised, she now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her study-abroad-crush-turned-husband and their two children. A former wedding magazine editor and fashion copywriter, she now writes primarily for Something Pretty, the Catholic living and classic style blog she began in 2010. She loves learning about the Saints, wandering the city with coffee in hand, and making new friends on Instagram. Read all of Lisa's posts here.
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