to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
| — |
Luke 1:26-38 Ever wondered why God doesn’t send an angel to tell us what He wants us to do? It seems pretty unfair; afterall, Mary had angel Gabriel to lay out God’s plan for her life - all she had to do was to say yes. I asked myself the same question today at mass when the gospel was being proclaimed. I guess we all wonder where God is leading us - everything seems so murky, so distant, so uncertain, from where we are in the fog. Sometimes we hope that everything will be revealed in a flash, just as it happened to Mary. Upon reflection it struck me that if God HAD sent me an angel to tell me of His plan for me my reaction would probably be very different from Mary’s. I don’t think I would have had the grace to say “May it be done to me according to your word”. And that is precisely the answer! Only Mary who was full of grace and conceived without original sin COULD have said yes to God upon the full revelation of His plan for her. Very often OUR plans are not HIS plans, and what we think is good for us is nothing compared to what He knows is best for us. We would probably reject God’s plan if He laid it out in front of us, because the mere thought of accepting something so radically different from what we have perceived in our minds is too distressing. And thus our loving God decides to let us go on an adventure - one that never really ends till we die. As such we’ll never fully understand or grasp His plan for us, but He asks us to do something easier than to say a full and outright “yes”. He only asks us to trust. Through the stumbling, falling and picking ourselves up we learn that it is the only thing we can do to get out of the fog. Slowly but surely we learn to allow God to wrest away the control we have over our own lives, and it is through this gradual process that He reveals His beautiful plan for us. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart… Jer 29:11-13 |
