Understanding the divine design

December 23, 2007 -- Fourth Sunday of Advent

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What role do you play in God's plan? 2. Why is surrender to God's design so difficult? 3. Who are the people in your life who live God's plan to the full?

Many individuals in the business world take courses in time management. They are advised by consultants to do serious planning, setting up objectives and then devising means for implementation. The Franklin Planner is one tool that helps people structure their time and energy, indeed, their lives.

A d v e n t Time of Preparation

God, it would seem, is a Divine Planner. The opening prayer for this last Sunday of Advent begins: "Father, all-powerful God, your eternal Word took flesh on our earth when the Virgin Mary placed her life at the service of your plan." The word that comes to mind: surrender! Mary said "yes" to God's plan, the plan of salvation. She would do whatever the Lord asked of her no matter how difficult, no matter how mysterious. In her great "yes," Mary cooperated in an intimate way in the mystery of the Incarnation.

There were other "players" in God's plan too. Joseph, Mary's husband, was one of them. Though not understanding and deeply perplexed, he surrendered to the message received in a dream. The angel's homily to Joseph revealed God's design: "She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Joseph's great "yes" provided an environment in which Mary's response could be fulfilled. Though probably not owning a Franklin Planner, Joseph recorded in his heart a rule of life: "I will do whatever the Lord commands me."

Unlike Mary and Joseph, Ahaz had a more difficult time implementing God's plan. Though of good will and not wanting to tempt God, Ahaz wearied God by refusing to ask for a sign, be it deep or high. Ahaz's own agenda precluded miracles or anything out of the ordinary. Any talk of a virgin bearing a son or of God becoming man was just too much for the good-hearted Ahaz. His failure to say "yes" to God's request did not thwart God's plan of salvation but reminds us that we too can weary God by our narrow rationalism and our shallow faith.

St. Paul probably had a palm pilot besides a Franklin planner. This man was prepared and willing to do whatever God had in mind. St. Paul was well aware that Jesus, through his life, death, and resurrection, was the center piece of God's plan. It was in Christ Jesus that St. Paul received the obedience of faith. His surrender and "yes" was grounded in his relationship with the Lord. St. Paul not only understood this divine design of salvation in Jesus, he cooperated with the plan by receiving the grace of apostleship. We have in St. Paul the great evangelist, the great implementer of God's purposes and concerns.

It was Robert Burns who wrote: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley [often go awry] / An' lea've us naught but grief an' pain, / For promised joy!" God's great scheme of our salvation cannot fail because God is Emmanuel, God is with us and the Holy Spirit will see to it that life will conquer death, light will dispel the darkness, and love will triumph over hatred and indifference.

(Bishop Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)