Good Morning Gentle Readers
I would love to take credit for this one but I can't
Take Care and God Bless
Good Enough
Luke
1:26-38
In
the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in
Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
“Let
it be with me according to your word.”
Thus everything changed. Perhaps contrary to our cultural idiom, Mary’s fiat is not the domesticated, tired tale that we see enacted by children each year at Christmastime. Rather, it is a “yes” that sits at the very centre of Christianity’s theo-drama—for as we know, Mary’s unhesitating, perfect cooperation with God’s grace initiates that glorious mystery of our redemption.
For centuries, the Christian imagination has been captivated by the strange amalgamation that surrounds Mary’s humble yet resonating “yes”—the angel’s Ave, the paradoxical juxtaposition of God’s transcendence and immanence, the clear references to Scriptural fulfillment. From St. Irenaeus’ defense of Mary as the New Eve to Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetic reminder that this fiat “gave God’s infinity/Dwindled to infancy/Welcome in womb and breast,” the Christian mind continually, and rightfully, returns to her “let it be done.”
But as members of a society that has hyper-emphasized a muddled understanding of freedom, we struggle to respond to our daily callings with Mary’s ready, “Here am I.” Unlike Mary, our modern culture compels us to say, “Let it be done according to my word.” But today’s Gospel challenges us to imitate Mary’s faithfulness—despite the reality that our own “yes” is often hidden behind what is seemingly mundane or routine. Nevertheless, each response to the good, from changing a dirty diaper to working with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Mercy, is ultimately a response to the one who is the source of that good; today’s Gospel refreshes us with that certainty.
And because we are celebrating Mary’s Immaculate Conception, let us remember that God has given the Church this “favored one” not only to be the Theotokos, the Mother of God, but also to be our gracious advocate. We, who so frequently neglect the movements of grace in our lives, are invited to seek the intercession of the one who is “full of grace” so that all our souls may “proclaim the greatness of the Lord…[and] rejoice in God [our] Savior” (Luke 1:46-47).
Thus everything changed. Perhaps contrary to our cultural idiom, Mary’s fiat is not the domesticated, tired tale that we see enacted by children each year at Christmastime. Rather, it is a “yes” that sits at the very centre of Christianity’s theo-drama—for as we know, Mary’s unhesitating, perfect cooperation with God’s grace initiates that glorious mystery of our redemption.
For centuries, the Christian imagination has been captivated by the strange amalgamation that surrounds Mary’s humble yet resonating “yes”—the angel’s Ave, the paradoxical juxtaposition of God’s transcendence and immanence, the clear references to Scriptural fulfillment. From St. Irenaeus’ defense of Mary as the New Eve to Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetic reminder that this fiat “gave God’s infinity/Dwindled to infancy/Welcome in womb and breast,” the Christian mind continually, and rightfully, returns to her “let it be done.”
But as members of a society that has hyper-emphasized a muddled understanding of freedom, we struggle to respond to our daily callings with Mary’s ready, “Here am I.” Unlike Mary, our modern culture compels us to say, “Let it be done according to my word.” But today’s Gospel challenges us to imitate Mary’s faithfulness—despite the reality that our own “yes” is often hidden behind what is seemingly mundane or routine. Nevertheless, each response to the good, from changing a dirty diaper to working with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Mercy, is ultimately a response to the one who is the source of that good; today’s Gospel refreshes us with that certainty.
And because we are celebrating Mary’s Immaculate Conception, let us remember that God has given the Church this “favored one” not only to be the Theotokos, the Mother of God, but also to be our gracious advocate. We, who so frequently neglect the movements of grace in our lives, are invited to seek the intercession of the one who is “full of grace” so that all our souls may “proclaim the greatness of the Lord…[and] rejoice in God [our] Savior” (Luke 1:46-47).
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