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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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There’s no way Mary could’ve reasoned her way to “yes.”
This was a trial of the heart.
At the Annunciation, Mary is faced with the greatest – yet most necessary – challenge that every believer faces: to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, body, and soul.
In saying to the angel Gabriel, “Let it be done unto me according to your word,” Mary proves that she loves God more than anyone – more than Joseph, more than the opinion of others, even more than herself.
If any other person, hope, dream, or thing occupied first place in her heart, then God’s plan for salvation would’ve come to a screeching halt.
Thus, this is Mary’s greatest moment. Her “fiat,” her “yes,” is greater than the moment she gave birth to Christ at Christmas; it’s greater than the moment she found Jesus in the Temple at twelve; it’s greater than her standing at Calvary or seeing the empty tomb.
It’s greater because her “yes” fulfills all of religion, leaving us a model to follow.
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Mary smuggled God into this world, first sheltering him safely within her womb for nine precious months. She experienced the surprise and joy of motherhood while facing an uncertain future, living under the political darkness of Herod’s tyrannical reign.
She then carried the Christ-child in her arms out of her homeland into the unknown, into the strange and foreign land of Egypt. As the child aged, Mary remained docile, attentive to Jesus’ every word.
She was his first, and most devout, disciple.
I imagine Mary proudly claimed Christ as her own, until that providential wedding in Cana when she knew it was time to let go and share him with the world.
“They have no wine,” she said to Jesus, and so the Lord revealed his glory, turning 150 gallons of water into wine, initiating his public ministry. Christ then followed the sacrifice of his mother, who thirty years prior surrendered her own body to the will of God.
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Mary asks us today, “How have we welcomed Christ into our own lives? How have we enfleshed him for others?”
As Saint Teresa of Avila reminds us, “Christ has no body now, but yours.”
May the example of the Blessed Mother not only inspire us, but also compel us to welcome Jesus – in a sense, to be Jesus – bringing peace, hope, and love into a world desperate for it.
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Image credits: (1) Madonna and Child, William Bouguereau (2) Exeter Cathedral (3) Aldersgatechurch.com