December 1999

When Mary asked the Angel at the annunciation: “How can this be?”, the answer she heard was, “Nothing is impossible for God,” and to confirm it, she was given the example of Elizabeth who in her old age had conceived a son. Mary believed and she became the Mother of the Lord.
God is all powerful. He is frequently called by this name in the Scriptures, especially when expressing the power he has of blessing, of judging, of directing the course of events, and achieving his designs.
There is only one limit to the omnipotence of God: human freedom, which can oppose his will and thus render man powerless, whereas he was called to share the same power of God.

«Nothing is impossible for God.»

These words opportunely come to conclude the year dedicated to the Father, in the Catholic Church, before the Jubilee of 2000. They open us up to an unlimited confidence in the love of God the Father, because if God exists and his being is Love, complete trust in him is nothing but the logical consequence.
All graces are in his power: temporal and spiritual, possible and impossible. And he gives them to those who ask and also to those who do not ask because, as the Gospel says, the Father “makes the sun rise on the bad and the good” (Mt. 5:45). What he asks of all of us is to act the way he does, to have the same universal love, supported by the faith that: “Nothing is impossible for God.”

How should we live these words in our daily lives?
At one time or another we must all face difficult, painful situations both in our personal life, and in our relationships with others. And we sometimes feel helpless because we realize that we are attached to things and to people which enslave us and from whose ties we would like to be freed. Often we find ourselves up against walls of indifference and egoism and we feel discouraged in the face of events which seem to be more than we can deal with.
Well, in these moments, the Word of Life can give us a hand. Jesus lets us experience our own incapacity, certainly not to discourage us, but in order to help us understand more deeply that “Nothing is impossible for God;” in order to prepare us to experience the extraordinary power of his grace, which is manifested precisely when we see that we cannot manage on our own.

«Nothing is impossible for God.»

If we repeat this word of God in the more critical moments, it will give us the energy it contains and make us participate in some way in the very omnipotence of God. On one condition, however: that we live his will, seeking to radiate around us that love which has been put into our hearts. By doing so, we will be in unison with God’s all powerful Love for his creatures, for whom everything is possible, and this will contribute toward realizing his plans for every individual and for all of humanity.
But there is a special moment which enables us to live this Word of Life and to experience all its effectiveness: it is in prayer.
Jesus said that he will grant us whatever we ask of the Father in his name. Let’s try then to ask him for what is most important to us now, firmly believing that nothing is impossible for him: solutions to desperate cases, peace in the world, cures to grave illnesses, peace and unity in family and social conflicts.
Moreover, if we ask united with others, in the full accord of mutual love, then it is Jesus himself in our midst who prays to the Father, and according to his promise, we will obtain what we ask for.
With this faith in the omnipotence of God and in his Love, one day we too asked that a tumor seen on an X-Ray would “disappear”, almost as if it were a mistake or a phantasm. And it did.
This boundless trust which makes us feel that we are in the arms of a Father for whom everything is possible, should always accompany the ups and downs of our life. This doesn’t mean that we will always obtain what we ask for. His is the omnipotence of a Father and he always and only uses it for the good of his children, whether they know it or not. What is important is to cultivate the certainty that nothing is impossible for God; we will experience a peace we have never known before.

Chiara Lubich