Gospel: In today's story of the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will give birth to the "Son of the Most High" (Lk 1).
Mary's experience may seem far removed from our own. After all, none of us will ever have an encounter like hers. Yet much of what...
Mary's experience may seem far removed from our own. After all, none of us will ever have an encounter like hers. Yet much of what...
...Mary experiences intersects with our own lives.
To begin with, God takes the initiative, as God does in our lives. But often change is frightening. So we question. Then, as the Angel does for Mary, we are reassured.
As I see it, when the Angel speaks about her cousin...
To begin with, God takes the initiative, as God does in our lives. But often change is frightening. So we question. Then, as the Angel does for Mary, we are reassured.
As I see it, when the Angel speaks about her cousin...
Elizabeth's pregnancy ("who was called barren"), the Angel is not so much telling her something new (Why wouldn't Mary have known this after six months?) but saying, "Look what God has already done..."
Sometimes all it takes in times of struggle is to look back, to see how God has been with us in the past.
Then, newly confident, Mary can say yes to God, as we can too...
Then, newly confident, Mary can say yes to God, as we can too...
Finally, Mary's yes brings new life into the world.
A few years ago I was speaking to a Catholic sister about this story and she said, "You're forgetting the most important line: 'Then the angel departed from her!'" That's the time of faith. We may have an encounter with God..
A few years ago I was speaking to a Catholic sister about this story and she said, "You're forgetting the most important line: 'Then the angel departed from her!'" That's the time of faith. We may have an encounter with God..
...and then have to live from the experience for days, months, even years. Mary knows who Jesus is, but his first miracle, a definitive demonstration of his identity (prescinding the Finding in the Temple), doesn't occur until the Wedding Feast of Cana....
Most likely, between the Annunciation and Jesus's first miracle, Mary goes on faith, as we do. In all these things, Mary can be our model.
Image: Henry Ossawa Tanner, "The Annunciation," @philamuseum
Image: Henry Ossawa Tanner, "The Annunciation," @philamuseum
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