A week ago I came across a passage in a book called "Come, Lord Jesus," by Mother Mary Francis, P. C. C. of the Poor Clares.

I keep reflecting on the three-page meditation on the Annunciation (p 201ff). The following is a mixture of my own thoughts and those of Mother Francis.

We are all familiar with the story of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26ff.), when the angel Gabriel appears to the young Virgin Mary and presents her with God’s plan. Her answer, which in Latin is only a single word, has become very well known. She says “Fiat,” meaning “Let it be done.“ This Response has become Christianity’s shorthand for submitting to God‘s will in one’s life.

But this Fiat,was only the first one of many that she uttered throughout her life. For her Fiat, is not something passive. Mary shows us not just how to say, Fiat, but how to live it, not only in the large, dramatic occasions of life, but in the little hidden ones. She had many a hidden Fiat to say in her life. 

Fiat is a very active word. Her “be it done” was said over and over and over. She was a very active doer in letting it be done. 

In the beginning, God said, “Fiat!” to light and it came into being. Through God‘s Fiat,, the world came into being. He spoke that word for each of us: “Fiat! Let him be.” And there I was. There you were.

In our own human fiats, we too have to be active doors in letting it be done. Fiat was not just a lovely word of God. It was a word that galvanized into action.

Fiat made the light to be, 

Fiat made the world to be, 

Fiat made the ocean to be, 

Fiat made Adam and Eve to be.

In the same way, our own Fiat must be the action of our whole life, expressed in our loving. 

Then Fiat really is done; it really is LIVED!