Consent

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Daily Reading: Matthew 1:16 – 24

Focus Passage:
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (Matt. 1:24)


God continually works to bring about oneness. Our tradition says that union is the goal of the Christian spiritual life. We are being transformed over time, brought into union with God, others, ourselves, and the world. This is the action of God’s grace and mercy within us and in the world.

It is clear in Scripture – and I suspect your personal experience bears this out – that this work of oneness and union is God’s work. We don’t have the tools to accomplish it. In fact, our brokenness and inability to produce this oneness for ourselves is a part of our human condition.

We don’t know what we need to be fully human and most intimately connected to God. Further, even if we did know what we need for ourselves and for life with God, we would be powerless to produce it. And if we did know, we would try to make it happen in our own way and on our schedule.

So God accomplishes this work. It is beyond human doing, beyond our capacity. We, as persons, are invited to participate in it. The invitation is open-ended. We may choose to participate, we may resist, or we may refuse.

In a word, we are invited to consent to the action of God within us.

We are invited to consent to the reordering of our life-world.

We are invited to consent by opening ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit.

We are invited to consent to God, allowing the Spirit to initiate God’s work within us.

We are invited to consent to God, content to be a conduit through which God’s grace and mercy flow.

In Luke’s Gospel, Mary consented to what God wanted to do in her and through her. She said, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

In Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph consented to his role in the divine drama, waking from a visionary dream to step into God’s design for him.

Consent is a good word, a word of opening, allowing, and participating. It is a necessary word for those who desire a more intimate connection with God.


For Reflection:
Consent is an opening . . . saying “yes” to the whatever-is-yet-to-come . . . without knowing the shape of that whatever.

Spend some time reflecting on your willingness to consent. In what ways do you regularly consent? What is difficult about consent for you?



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