MARY'S "YES"
Do we want to live
a grace-filled life? God freely lavishes His grace upon all who believe in Him.
Nothing will be
impossible for God! Today we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation. St. Luke
tells us that in the sixth month after the conception of St. John the Baptist
within Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin Mary at
Nazareth, a small town in the mountains of Galilee. Mary was of the house of
David, and was espoused to Joseph, of the same royal family. She had, however,
not yet gone to live in the household of her spouse, but was still in her
mother's house, working, perhaps, over her dowry. And the angel having taken
the figure and the form of a man, came into the house and said to her:
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." Mary, having heard the
words of greeting, did not speak; she was troubled in spirit, since she knew
not the angel, nor the cause of his coming, nor the meaning of the salutation.
And the angel continued and said: "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found
grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a
Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called
the Son of Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David
His father - and He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of His
kingdom there shall be no end." Mary understood that there was question of
the coming Redeemer. But why should she be elected from amongst women for the
splendid dignity of being the mother of the Messiah, having vowed her virginity
to God? (St. Augustine). Therefore, not doubting the word, but filled with fear
and astonishment, she said: "How shall this be done, because I know not
man?"
The angel, to
remove Mary's anxiety and to assure her that her virginity, which she had vowed
to God, would be spared, answered, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee
and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the
Holy One which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
In token of the
truth of his word, Gabriel made known to her the conception of John, the
miraculous pregnancy of her relative, now elderly and sterile: "And
behold, thy cousin Elizabeth; she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and
this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall
be impossible with God." Mary may not yet have fully understood the
meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with
her vow of virginity, but clinging to the first words of the angel and trusting
to the omnipotence of God she said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be
it done to me according to your word." This was Mary's "Yes"
that continues to resonate down the "arches of the years."
The Annunciation is
the incipiency of Jesus in His human nature. Through His mother Mary, He is a
member of the human race. About to establish a new generation of "children
of God," the Redeemer does not arrive in the way of earthly generations:
the power of the Holy Spirit enters the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary, forming
the humanity of Christ. Many holy fathers (Sts. Jerome, Ephrem, Augustine) say
that the consent of Mary was essential to the Redemption. It was the will of
God, St. Thomas says, that the redemption of humankind should depend upon the
consent of Mary. This does not mean that God in His plans was bound by the will
of a human creature, and that his people would not have been redeemed if Mary
had not consented. It only means that the consent of Mary was foreseen from all
eternity, and therefore was received as essential into the design of God.
I would like to
finish by asking this question for us to ponder this morning: Do we want to
live a grace-filled life? God freely lavishes His grace upon all who believe in
Him. We see the unfolding of God's plan of redemption in the events leading up
to the Incarnation, the birth of the Messiah. Mary's prompt response of
"yes" to the divine message is a model of faith for all of us. Our
Father gives grace and He wants us to respond with the same willingness,
obedience, and heart-felt trust that Mary had. When God commands, He also gives
the grace, strength, and means to respond. We can either yield to His grace or
resist and go our own way. Do we believe in God's promise and do we yield to
His grace?