It is nine months to Christmas! Some parts of the church celebrate the annunciation today.
Saturday’s gospel –
It is one of the impossible to answer theological questions: what would have happened if Mary had said no to the Archangel Gabriel.
It demonstrates the great relationship between God and humankind in that he has given us freewill that we may decide what we will do (which in itself can lead to great grief and despair as well as joy) but also that when he asks something of us, however difficult or even impossible it appears, he never asks of us more than we could possibly achieve.
So when God asked Mary to be the carrier of Jesus he knew that she would say yes, but she still had to make that commitment! And what a commitment it was. We should rightly never stop giving thanks and praise to Our Lady for her decision because it changed the lives of every single one of us. It enabled the Saviour of the World to be born, but it also caused great pain for her as it resulted in her dream wedding to Joseph being scuppered, her early days with her child spent on the run to Egypt, the prophesies of a sword piercing her own heart and the anguish of seeing her son, the one she knew to be sinless, being hung on the cross like a common criminal.
So it wasn’t a decision to be made lightly and her yes to God came with a price, but it also provided great rewards. What must she have been thinking when she met Elizabeth and John leapt in the womb? Or when Jesus was presented in the temple and Simeon prophesied about the coming of the Messiah or when the wise men came with their gifts to pay him homage – a double-edged sword of praise but also prophesy of the times to come. Or when the crowds followed him and listened to every word he said, through to his final ascension into heaven and finally her own assumption into heaven.
What a moment that would be: when Gabriel, Mary, Jesus and the Father could be together to rejoice in the fulfilment of the Annunciation: to overcome sin and bring humankind to God.
So let us rejoice in Mary’s, “yes”. When God calls us, let us be open to him, let our first and lasting response be “yes” and, just like Mary, let us trust God implicitly that he will take us on a journey which may be challenging but never demanding anything that we cannot do for him.
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
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