Just Fiat...

Just Fiat...
Originally posted: SUNDAY, JULY 08, 2012

I can't tell you how many times people have asked me, 'Now what does your 'fiat' mean?' This little four letter word has become the beat of my heart, the breath of my life, my strength, my peace, my joy, my protection and the source of deep union with sweet Jesus' Heart. 

Fiat.

Easy to say. Hard to do at first, although it quickly picks up momentum if you are willing to follow Jesus in 'losing your life to save it.' (Mt. 16:25)

Fiat is Latin, for 'Let it be done'. It is a prayer of surrender to God. It is a prayer of letting go of our will -our control -our understanding of what is best for our little world -and handing all back over to the hands of Our Creator where we should have left it in the beginning. Fiat. We pray it in the Our Father when we say, 'Thy will be done' or 'Fiat voluntas tua.' And Our Blessed Mother spoke it when the Angel came and asked her to be the Mother of Jesus as she said, 'I am the handmaiden of the Lord, let it be done to me according to Your word,' or 'Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.' This simple 'Let it be done' -an act of deep surrender of one's life into the Hands of the Father -is something that Jesus lived His entire life (read the Gospel of John and count how many times He said, 'I have not come to do My Own will, but the Will of the One Who sent Me!') Jesus said that not all those say, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven -but only those who do the will of His Father. (Mt. 7:21) Jesus did not only live this in His ordinary life, but He especially lived 'Fiat' on the Cross. He said to His disciples, “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour."(Jn 12:27)

Fiat. 

It can mean so many things as you speak it throughout your day. Like Jesus on the Cross, it can mean:

'Father, I accept Your will.'

'Father, I trust in You.'

'Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.'

'Father, into Your Hands I entrust my spirit, my life, my family, my heart.'

'Father, I thirst for Your will to be done.'

'Father, give me peace.'

'Father, enflame me with Your Love.'

'Father, mercy.'

'Father, You are God and I am not.'

'Father, You know best.'

'Father, please fix this.'

'Father, I love you.'

Not only are we called to hand over the reigns of our lives to the Father in a surrender of 'Fiat,' but we are supposed to do that in joy, as a gift of praise. Jesus followed John 12:27 (above) with verse 28:'Father, glorify Your Name." He glorified the Father's Name by doing His will. And in turn, His Heart could share (even mysteriously in the midst of His suffeirng) in the Father's very joy -the joy of the Father's Presence and Love. Mary's Fiat was followed by the Magnificat -the perpetual song of praise ever being sung in the heart of Her tiny Son within Her Womb. 'My soul magnifies the Lord! -by doing His will!' And Jesus' 'Fiat' on the Cross was anything but mumbled words offered in a begrudging way. He rejoiced in His surrender to the Father. Even in suffering. For Scripture tells us that 'rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!' (Nehemiah 8:10) Sometimes when something bad happens, the best thing we can do is break out in song praising and thanking Jesus for the present cross -making a joyful act of trust in His will -sometimes a chalice difficult to drink at the moment -but ultimately for our good. 

The world is one of complaints. Nothing has changed much from the time of the Israelites when God brought them out of Egypt and gave them great gifts and all they did is walk around judging and complaining about the people around them and their new life. Even when God did miracles for them in the midst of tragedy and dire need, they refused to trust, to be thankful, to find the good and His abiding presence in the midst of their lives. The world is no better now. But the true Christian must be joyful and thankful and looking for the good in every person and situation. They must be kind and merciful, patient and full of passionate love for all their neighbors (whether rich or poor.) A true follower of Jesus must live as He did on the Cross -rejoicing in suffering, begging for strength when life seems a little too hard to bear -and trusting Him with the control of all things. Fiat... its amazing when you can turn your first reaction to all things in life to 'Fiat.' Not a begrudging 'Fiat,' -but a joyful 'Fiat.' Full of a joy and peace that comes when one truly decides to turn over their thoughts, words, actions, encounters and relationships every day to the will of the Father. How free we allow God to be in shedding His Love upon us when we simply throw up our arms and say (in rain or sun) 'Whatever YOU want, Father. For You know best.' Then we allow Him to do great miracles in our lives. And the miracles we need in today's world -are the miracles of true, heroic virtue lived out in mundane, ordinary life. When your heart can compliment a neighbor who lives differently than you would choose -simply because you've allowed the Holy Spirit to find the beauty of His presence in their hearts -that's a miracle. When you can rejoice at a hermitage full of dead ants that you have to hand pick out of the carpet -that's a miracle. When you laugh when you're car breaks -simply seeing it as God's way of telling you to minister by smiling at the poor repair men at a car-fixing-shop -that's a miracle. When you truly don't care if the deer eat your tomatoes or not -since all is for the glory of God. That's a miracle. And when you can sing alleluia in the middle of the night when your baby wakes up for the 5th time -seeing that it must simply mean that God knows that child (or someone else) needs your prayers -that's a miracle.
You are always safe in imitating Mary and Jesus in their 'Fiat' -in the Cross and in the joy of God's Annunciations of great gifts in your lives. Think about the power of these words in the Our Father -'Thy Will Be Done'. If only God's will was done on earth as it is in heaven... what perfect healing and peace and joy would reign here. And we can help to make this happen -by surrendering the little space and time of our lives to the Hands of God -allowing (through 'Fiat') for Him to control and love us in our little piece of eternity within our souls.

Fiat gives peace -because it hands all problems, needs, hopes and desires over to the loving care of the most Perfect, Loving Being that exists. What a great sigh of relief to know that I'm not in charge of the universe. My loving Father is -and I can rest at night trusting Him to take care of everything, as long as I truly have let go of my own will and handed all things over to His care in faith. 

Thank You, Jesus, for 'Fiat.' Help us live this in union with You.

Now go... and 'Just Fiat!'