Like Mary, with one “yes” you can know the true joy of Christmas

We must never underestimate the power of one “yes.” For example, in September 1946, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, then a member of the Sisters of Loreto and a teacher, was on a 400-mile train ride to a convent in Darjeeling for a retreat when she experienced a mystical encounter with Christ. “I heard the call to give up all and follow Him into the slums—to serve Him in the poorest of the poor,” she said. “I knew it was His will and that I had to follow Him. There was no doubt that it was going to be His work” (“Come be My Light,” 40). Mother Teresa said, “yes,” and that one “yes” changed the world.

Or, Oct. 16, 1978, during the conclave to elect a new pope after the death of Pope Saint John Paul I, the balloting seemed to be favoring the young Cardinal Karol Wojtyla from Krakow, Poland. Troubled by the turn of events, Wojtyla turned to his mentor, the primate cardinal of Warsaw, Stephen Wyszynski. The wise Wyszynski reminded Wojtyla of the story of Saint Peter who is leaving Rome in “Quo Vadis,” and he said, “Accept it.”

With the evening vote concluded, Cardinal Jean Villot asked Wojtyla, “Do you accept?” He replied, “In the obedience of faith before Christ my Lord, abandoning myself to the Mother of Christ and Church, and conscious of the great difficulties, I accept” (“Witness to Hope,” 254). Karol Wojyla—Saint John Paul II—said, “yes,” and that one “yes” changed the world.

Consider then, what a collective “yes” can do: In 1571, when the Ottoman Empire threatened to take control of the Mediterranean and prepare for an invasion of Christian Europe, Pope Pius V asked the faithful to pray one Rosary a day as the Christian naval fleet prepared for battle. Although outnumbered three to one, the Christians prevailed Oct. 7th, the feast of the Holy Rosary, at the Battle of Lepanto. In 1683, when the Ottoman Empire began their march again to wage jihad against Western Europe and were at the Gates of Vienna, Pope Innocent IX again asked the faithful to pray one Rosary a day for the success of the Christian army; Sept. 11th, although outnumbered three to one, King Jan Sobieski of Poland and his army repelled the Ottoman forces.

When our Blessed Mother appeared to the children of Fatima in 1917, she told them to tell everyone to pray the Rosary daily for the conversion of Russia; for years we prayed the Rosary, and Jan. 1, 1992, the Soviet Union—the Evil Empire—officially dissolved. The power of one individual “yes” joined to and collected with many others will change individual hearts and the world.

Take this spiritual challenge and join your brothers and sisters throughout in saying one “yes” this Advent. The greatest benefit is that we will find real joy this Christmas by saying Just One Yes. Our Blessed Mother said to Saint Elizabeth, “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Our “yes” too will magnify the Lord, and we will know his joy this Christmas.

Adapted from an article by Fr. Saunders, for the Arlington Catholic Herald, December 2019

Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Church in Potomac Falls and professor of catechesis and theology at Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College in Virginia, USA.