There is great courage in saying yes.
Over the last couple days of my seminars in Phoenix, discussions on Mary and her courageous yes have come up again and again. In the reflections, many of us seemed challenged by how she was able to say yes so easily and so readily in that moment. We often doubt we have the courage to say yes ourselves, particularly when we are afraid.
I was so nervous yesterday to give my talk. My hands were shaking all morning, though I kept blaming the cold winds. I had thought about chucking the whole thing several times, wondering if a talk on my cannonball moments (those life changing moments that change your direction) would resonate with anyone. But it seems it did.
I think that is because we have all had those moments of life altering change followed by the choice to say yes to the conversion following it. The annunciation was Mary’s surprising moment of life altering change. Perhaps if we can consider she felt what we do in those moments, we can find the courage to say yes to our own conversions.
After all, as St. Teresa of Avila says:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Will you have the courage to say yes today?
Will you invite Mary into that experience?
