Hajja Salesjana - Oct-Dec 2021

H AJJA S ALESJANA 4 Choose to do it afraid! Gradually 2021 is waning away as we begin our last three months of the year. As the previous year, this one too has surely been scared by the pandemic which has truly brought an upheaval to our normalcy as we strive and struggle to learn how to live in this new normal where all we took for granted, now needs to be done with caution, prudence and much forward planning. Nevertheless, I have learnt that at a certain point, we cannot let fear continue to rule over us anymore. While as good Christians and honest citizens we continue to abide by the Health Authorities’ regulations not only for our good but also for the common good of society as a whole, for we are all interconnected in some form or other, there comes a point where we have to somehow learn to step beyond our comfort zones and do what we have to do afraid. Only in this way will we be able to learn how to be in this new mode of being, otherwise we will remain huddled in an existential corner terrified of what could or could not occur. Sure enough, life must be fully lived for it only comes once. Furthermore, Christ came that we may have life and have it to the full not by the trickle. Calculated risks are part and parcel of our growing up. I am sure we can all look back at our lives and acknowledge the moments were we had to step beyond the known into the unknown. The more we push ourselves beyond the boundaries which fear erects in our hearts and minds making us believe that we can only go so far or that something is beyond us, the more we mature and develop in all aspects of our being. While being practically wise and prudent as above mentioned, doing all that is necessary to keep ourselves, our loved ones and others safe, we must then trust that God will see us through and will not abandon us on our own. In the Holy Scriptures we have it written down 365 times, once for each day of the year, to not be afraid! This is surely no coincidence. We do not journey alone. We are not abandoned to our blind fate by a distant God because God is with us. He walks with us. He is closer to us than the breath we take and this is what we will be celebrating once again at the end of this year as we recall the wonder of the incarnation where our infinite and immense God freely chooses to become one of us, one like all of us except sin. The Eternal chooses to enter time and transforms it once and for all. God could have come in many ways but he opted to do so in the most normal and inconspicuous way by incarnating Himself and growing in the immaculate womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary herself chose to do it afraid and accepted to become God’s Mother, even though she did not exactly know what this would entail and what she would have to undergo because of her ‘Yes’ throughout all her earthly existence. We know that like all of us, she had her fair share of joys and sorrows, but God never abandoned her, she who was, is and will always be His precious, beloved daughter, mother and spouse. Hence let us learn from Our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and many other saints after them, to let go and let God, trusting that while we do what we have to do afraid, we hold firm to the belief that God is for us, with us and within us. With Him, we will see this difficult period of time safely through. I wish you and all your loved ones a healthy, serene and blessed 2022. Fr. Sandro Camilleri sdb