(The eleventh in a series of meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary by Rev. Addisalem T. Mekonnen, Spiritual Director of the Philadelphia Senatus).
Do you agree with the modern proverb “if something is too good to be true it probably isn’t”?
Just imagine the Pennsylvania lottery raised the prize money to one billion dollars and it was stated the odds are one in a billion that someone could win this time around. Let’s say you never played the lottery but you got a ticket as a gift from your best friend. However, you are not interested in winning and you didn’t even check your ticket. Your friend comes over to your house and asks you if you checked your lottery ticket and you say no. Your friend checks your ticket and then screams out loud that you just won a billion dollars without even buying a ticket. You think to yourself that perhaps this is too good to be true, so this can’t be happening. What needs to be judged is not simply the truthfulness, but rather the goodness of what has been given to us. I read in the newspaper that 70% of lottery winners are more likely to declare bankruptcy within three to five years than the average American. Also, studies have shown that winning the lottery does not necessarily make you happier or healthier. We might all think that if we only had more money, most or all of our problems, or at least the majority of them, would be solved, but the truth is, it could actually multiply our problems in ways we didn’t imagine.
Everything God created is good but the temptation we experience is to use the good that God gives us to serve ourselves rather than Him and so it no longer becomes good or true to the purpose God created it for in the first place. Consequently, the good that we pray for could end up becoming harmful to our relationship with God and others. However, when we use the good he gives us according to his will, our desires are fulfilled in ways we could not imagine.
Similarly, I can imagine that our Lady wanted to be a consecrated virgin for God and it was her hope to serve God secretly in the holy Temple offering up prayers and fasting for the coming of the Messiah. Our Lady can relate to us in that God didn’t simply give her exactly what she wanted in her prayers, but rather called her to surrender to what He willed to give her in order for her to become the Mother of God. Our Lady had good desires because God planted those seeds, but God couldn’t think of a greater good to give than the Gift of Himself. In the Annunciation, our Lady is greeted by the archangel Gabriel “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women…” according to St. Jerome’s Vulgate which is his translation of the Holy Bible. This greeting perhaps at first made her think this is too good to be true but then she realized that it’s not only true but that God’s will is greater than our simple desires or understanding as we try to serve Him faithfully in whatever He calls us to do with the help of His grace.
Fr. Addisalem Mekonnen