Disposition in Vocation

"Yes, I have."
"Yes, I will."
With beaming smiles, the couple gives these replies to three questions asked by the priest during the declaration of consent at their wedding Mass. Thereafter, they make their vow to each other.

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This "yes" that a couple professes to each other marks the beginning of their lifelong commitment of love and fidelity, of being true to each other in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, a complete dedication of oneself to one's spouse, to love and honour him/her all the days of one's life.

As soon as the priest pronounces the couple as man and wife, the period of courtship officially comes to an end. Here begins the lifelong test of just how serious and real the couple was when they made their vows to their lifelong vocation, which has packaged with it a lifelong implication that perhaps, they knew as factual knowledge at the back of their heads, but never could have understood what they truly and wholly entail until they have to choose at every moment, day after day, to fight against all sorts of temptations just so that they uphold those words in the vow they made within those few seconds.

Don't you wonder at times if the wedding couple, as they make their vows to each other, really know what they are in for? The truth is there is no way they could have previously known what making that vow would wholly demand of them because it is the first hands-on experience after all.

When we are unable to predict the future, when we are uncertain of the challenges the future may present to us, the only thing we can control is our disposition in the here and now. Am I self-centred or am I always thinking and acting in the best interest of my marriage? How many miles am I going to walk with him/her? What is my response to suffering - fight or flight? What outlets do I choose when I need to release stress built up because of my spouse and family? Have I decided to seek pleasure in my daily living or discipline, self-denial and wholesomeness?

For us Catholics, we have an excellent model to teach us about our dispositions. She is none other than Mary, the mother of Jesus. She too made a vow to a lifelong vocation when she said "yes" to God's Divine Will to bring Jesus into this world through her. God became her spouse, to whom she would be totally faithful and dedicated for the rest of her life.

At that point in time, she, like a couple making their vow, probably did not know the full extent to which her "yes" would demand of her. Sure she knew of the possibility of being stoned to death for being found pregnant out of wedlock. She knew she was in for turmoil having to break the news to Joseph and her own parents. Perhaps, too, she could foresee the embarrassment and rejection from her neighbours. But she sure did not know that a King would be born beside the cattle, that King Herod would come hunting for her son, that she would become a refugee in a foreign land, and surely, she did not ever think that her son would eventually suffer such cruelty and die a public criminal - all these when God promised that her son will be the Saviour of the world. How does this promise align, by any human logical explanation, with reality? How could Mary, with all these "unfortunate" events unfolding, still believe that the promise made to her would be fulfilled?

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The faithfulness of Mary in her "yes" to God right to the very end falls back on her disposition. Her life is modelled in holiness, of a complete surrendering to God's Will, to anything and everything He will place before her. In her uncertainties of her future, she does not subscribe to an "ala carte" pick of what she will tolerate and what she will not. Rather, she opened her heart wholly to God, accepting everything that comes in obedience to her Father's Will, and trusting always, even in the most trying moments, in His love and providence. Living entirely on the graces of God, she journeyed, one step at a time, towards the perfection of God's Will in her life, and thereby, becoming the gateway to our salvation in her Son, Jesus.

As we celebrate Christmas this weekend, let us discharge our hearts of the encumbering façade of the glamour of lights, the excitement of gifts, and not forgetting, the vast selection of food that covers our tabletops... so that we can have some silence to delight in Mary's steadfastness to God's Will in her vocation as spouse of God, mother of God, mother of our human race. That from her, we too may learn to dispose ourselves to accept and live out God's Will in our own vocation as Christ's disciples in our families, workplaces and even in public with strangers. With our focus readjusted, our purpose refined and our strength renewed, this Christmas will find us in deeper joy and peace, just as He meant it to be.

19 December 2011, Monday
10.55pm