As I was preparing a lesson on the Annunciation of the Lord, I was hit with a beautiful realization….our Lord is so gentle with Mary….almost romantic in a way. This of course makes sense because she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit and the mother of his Son, so of course He loves her. But I began to think of all the other times that God or angels approached humans and they were never as kind and gentle as they were with Mary. Think of Moses. Bush set aflame. The voice of God thundering. Orders being given. Not gentle. Then we think of Abraham. God is more matter of fact with him. There is no gentle questioning, just commands. Many tests were given to prove Abraham’s faith and then Abraham seems almost afraid of angering God as he asks for God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. So, we do not see God as gentle with many of the people we read about in the Old Testament as He was with the Blessed Mother.
Flash forward to Mary.
Our Lord sends a beautiful angel, Gabriel, to Mary. To ask her (or you might say) to propose to her a situation. Gabriel’s first words were “Hail Full of Grace the Lord is with thee”. This heavenly being bows to a mere woman and bestows upon her a new name, “Full of Grace”. This is now Mary’s identity. Grace = the life force of God, God’s saving power wrapped in a gift He freely bestows upon us, pure love that burns in the heart of the one He gives his grace to. No testing. No trials. He proclaims what everyone in heaven has already known that Mary was full of grace, spotless in the eyes of God, before she ever consented to take Jesus into her womb.
Then Gabriel, proposes a situation to Mary. Would she bear the Son of God? The Savior of the world. Would she become the Mother of the God?
And he then he waits on bended knee to see if she will accept the proposal of God. How romantic!
But Mary is perplexed. How can she be the mother of a child, when she does not know man? When she has taken a vow of celibacy? **This moment explains what the Church and the Church Fathers have always proclaimed, that Mary was ever Virgin. Consecrated entirely to our Lord. We learn from this scripture that Mary had taken a vow of celibacy in her marriage to Joseph (which was common in those times) because otherwise she would have just assumed that the child would naturally come from her relations with her husband. Read about the Essenes if you would like to know more on vows of celibacy in the Jewish faith.**
Gabriel does not sigh or lose his patience. God does not thunder from Heaven or overwhelm Mary with big signs to win her over. He uses words. Gentle words to explain to this gentle woman how the story will unfold.
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most High will overshadow you.”
The Lord will gently cover her with His presence. Her virginity will remain intact. The Lord has the ability to pass through closed doors (as we see in the Upper Room with Jesus at Pentecost)
Gabriel goes on to even give Mary more evidence of the power of God. He shares that her elderly, infertile cousin Elizabeth is with child and is in her sixth month.
He tells her that with God nothing is impossible.
Then he waits again for her decision. The heavens and all of earth went silent as they waited for Mary’s decision. The most important decision that would ever be made on earth….
Would Mary say yes to God’s proposal and bring the Savior into the world…..the one who would defeat Death and open the Kingdom of Heaven to men again. The one who would crush the serpent’s head.
Mary quickly gives her consent, “Behold I am the handmaiden of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word!”
Then the angel departed.
In silence.
How gentle our Lord is with our Lady!
He left her to ponder her new reality and then run to share her news with the only other woman on earth who could understand…. Elizabeth. God gave her a beautiful wedding gift in Elizabeth. Someone who Mary could share her secret with. Someone would completely understand her situation and bear physical proof that God can do the impossible and would do the impossible in Mary’s life as well. How well our Lord knew the needs of His beloved!
The story of the Annunciation should fill you with hope. Hope that one day we too will be one with God as our Lady was. Because our Lord takes such gentle, loving care of His beloved if we but say yes to Him.
Amen.
Clinging to the Little Way 