Just Say "Yes" - 4th Sunday of Advent 2.0 - a podcast by Fr John Ehrich, STL

God does amazing things through the people who say “yes.” Abraham is the one who makes a covenant with God initiates this pattern in scriptures. When finally the angel Gabriel asks of Mary to bear the son of God, she said yes to God's plan even without knowing the full story. Joseph also was asked to accept a difficult truth and to say yes to the idea of raising a foster child. Without knowing the entirety of the situation, these figures in the Bible represent an abiding trust in simply saying yes. And this trust might be interpreted as recognizing that this might be God's initiative, that it could be a beautiful gift in the making. Which is what it truly was for all of humanity.

We can never predict what our life will be like. We simply cannot know what will take place through all of our moments of saying yes. While it’s easy to look at other people’s lives and think our lives should be the same, the comparison is not a factor with a God who creates us all so uniquely and with different purposes. Perhaps if we feel stuck or lost, we could accept that we might need hardship and suffering to be used for our ultimate yes to God. It’s in those difficult moments that God can turn our lives toward Him and restore our own relationship with Him.

Further episodes of Fr. John Ehrich Catholic Homilies

Further podcasts by Fr John Ehrich, STL

Website of Fr John Ehrich, STL