I am ashamed to admit that I am just now getting around to reading all the homilies and speeches our Holy Father gave when he was in the Israel in May.
When he was preaching in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Pope made a remarkable observation.
He was recounting what happened at that spot, when the Archangel Gabriel awaited the Blessed Virgin’s response:
The narrative of the Annunciation illustrates God’s extraordinary courtesy. He does not impose himself, he does not simply pre-determine the part that Mary will play in his plan for our salvation: he first seeks her consent.
In the original Creation there was clearly no question of God seeking the consent of his creatures, but in this new Creation he does so.
Of course it is a beautiful thing to see the Archangel waiting on Our Lady’s free response–to see the Lord waiting on it, all creation waiting on it.
In the original Creation there was clearly no question of God seeking the consent of his creatures.
Of course there wasn’t. He created us out of nothing. You can’t ask nothing permission to create it, because there is nothing to ask.
You can only seek the permission of a free person who already exists. Existing is a given–literally. God gave us ourselves.
Then, He asks us to give ourselves back. Freely giving ourselves back is the one and only way for us to deal with having ourselves in the first place.
It is pointless and absurd to fuss about existing, because it never was, and never could have been, a matter for advice and consent.
But offering oneself back to God as an oblation of love–now that is something to fuss about…
…P.S. Just in case you were looking for White in the Grey Lady recently, Ben White has moved on from the NYT and is now contributing to a daily briefing on politico.com called “Morning Money.”
Father Mark White Blog 