Today, as we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, not her Son, we should be reminded that we, like Mary, were called by God before we had any idea that we were being called by God. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, taught that God "chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world." Recall that Jeremiah also learned that he, too, was chosen before he was aware of God's will. "Before I formed you int he womb I knew you. Before you were born I dedicated you."
Though we are not sinless, as was Mary, we should never forget that she was not hidden from temptations to sin. We gather from the gospels that Mary found the request from God a challenge. She struggled with the decision.
We, too, may find the "invitations" that God places in our lives to be challenging ... seemingly impossible at times. Nonetheless, we need to struggle, like Mary, to reply to God's will for us with words similar to her response: Fiat voluntas tua! Let it happen as you wish.
