The Black Friday sale has ended, but Cyber Monday is already looming. I’m trying hard not to get swept up in this season’s pandemonium of shopping frenzy. With Christmas only twenty-five days away, I want to prepare my heart, mind, and soul by reflecting on the birth of Christ and on what Mary’s fiat—her courageous “yes”—means for me and for the world.
Yet everywhere I turn I’m bombarded: sales in my inbox, sales on social media, sales in flyers, on the radio, on every news site. All of it stokes our materialistic passions. And I have to confess—I fell for it too. I filled my Amazon cart with beauty products during the Black Friday rush and lingered over jewelry ads on Instagram, tempted by things that struck right at the heart of my vanity.
At the end of the day I have to ask myself the hard question: Do I really need any of this?
Scripture is clear:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:7–8, RSVCE)
Satan knows exactly how to entice us with the glittering things of this world. The only remedy is to resist.
Mary’s Yes in the Midst of the Noise
Every advertisement whispers its own distorted annunciation: “You deserve this. Say yes to yourself.”
Mary heard a very different message from the angel. Her yes was not to comfort, not to beauty, not to security—it was to God’s wild, inconvenient, world-altering plan.
“Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38, RSVCE) cost her everything the world counts as success, yet it gave us everything that matters.
In these weeks of Advent, when the culture shouts “Buy now!”, Mary teaches us to whisper “Be it done unto me.” That single, quiet fiat is still powerful enough to silence every siren song of consumerism.
So this past week I’ve been returning packages, undoing the damage of my little shopping spree, and quietly asking for God’s mercy.
An Advent Grace
Advent is not the season to get everything we want; it is the season to want the One who is everything.
When the world screams “Buy!”, the Gospel whispers “Behold.”
Behold the Virgin who said yes.
Behold the manger that held the treasure no sale can match.
Behold the Christ who comes—not to fill our carts, but to empty Himself for us.
Lord Jesus, help me resist the frenzy and seek first Your kingdom.
May Mary’s yes echo in my own heart this Advent:
“Let it be to me according to your word.”
Amen.
God Bless 🙏💕
Be Inspired! 
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