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Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
“The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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The Gospels are bookended with prayer.
In the beginning, we find Mary dialoging with the angel Gabriel. “How can this be?” she says. How can I give birth, “since I have no relations with a man?”
Understandably, she’s surprised and afraid by what Gabriel announces. This wasn’t the path she traced for herself. Mary planned on marrying Joseph, perhaps starting a family with him, raising children of their own.
Yet Gabriel proclaims something radically different. Mary is to give birth to the Son of God.
As improbable as this sounds, and as life-changing as it will be, she concludes her prayer with the words, “let it be done unto me according to your word.”
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Here, she teaches us how to pray.
First, we dialogue with the Lord. We share our fears, our desires, and ask our questions. We express our wants and needs.
Then we conclude our prayer with an openness to another direction. As Mary says, “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”
Meaning, we open ourselves to another path, to a different plan, to a more obscure future, one open to God’s grace.
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Jesus prays the same way at the end of the Gospels.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night before he’s killed, he kneels down and states his desire: “Father, let this cup pass from me.”
But like Mary, he concludes his prayer with an openness to a different direction: “Not my will, but yours be done,” he says.
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May we learn to pray like Mary and Jesus, who tell our Father what we want, but accept whatever he gives, trusting it’s always best.
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Image credits: (1) pursueGod.org (2) artsheaven.com (3) Agony in the Garden, Heinrich Hofmann