"LET IT BE DONE TO ME"
Two of Mary's statements at the Annunciation are important for
understanding our relationship with God: "I am the handmaid of the
Lord" and "May it be done to me" (Lk 1:38).
God
uses signs to communicate His purposes, His presence, His righteousness and His
favor to His people. When God offered King Ahaz a sign, the king refused. God,
nonetheless, gave Israel a sign to assure His people that He would indeed give
them a Savior Who would rule with peace and righteousness (cf. Is 7:11). The
greatest sign God has given us is His Son Jesus Christ, Who took on flesh for
our sake and for our salvation. We see the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy and
the unfolding of God's plan of redemption in the events leading up to the
Incarnation. The new era of salvation begins with the conception of Jesus in
Mary's womb. This Child to be born is conceived by the action of the Holy
Spirit upon Mary, who has "found favor with God" (Lk 1:30b).
Two of
Mary's statements at the Annunciation are important for understanding our
relationship with God: "I am the handmaid of the Lord" and "May
it be done to me" (Lk 1:38). First, "I am the handmaid of the
Lord." A handmaid is one who's totally dependent on her master, and Mary,
in her humility and honesty, recognized that she was totally dependent on God.
As such, not even Mary could have given her consent without God's grace. And we
are so totally dependent on God that we, too, cannot freely consent to our
salvation unless God moves us to do so.
Then we
hear, "Let it be done to me." Sin came into the world through
mankind's free will and God wanted salvation to come into the world equally
through one's free will. And so the angel was sent to Mary to seek her consent
to the Incarnation. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that Mary is the "new
Eve" - the mother of all the living, because she gave her consent in the
name of the whole human race. Even though Mary said "yes" to
salvation in our name, we must confirm that consent personally. God wills the
salvation of all people, but He respects our freedom, so much so that He will
not force His salvation on anyone. God will not give us salvation without our
willing it.
But it
is not quite that simple. We must remember Mary's first statement. When we pray
the Creed, we make a Profession of Faith - we believe in this great mystery.
"For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, and by the
Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man." God gives
us sufficient graces and His Heart longs for our response with the same
willingness, obedience, and heartfelt trust as Mary did.
Sound
complicated? Yes. But it is vital to recognize that while we must work for our
salvation, it is still a gift since the work itself cannot be done without God.
Salvation is so gratuitous that without God we cannot even say "yes"
to the salvation He freely offers us. Like Mary, we ought to say, "Let it
be done to me," but all the while we must realize that, like her, we are
totally dependent on God!