LUKE 1:26-38
A FEW YEARS AGO, MY
GRANDDAUGHTER DID SOMETHING I HAD TOLD HER NOT TO DO. SINCE THIS WAS
THE THIRD OR FOURTH TIME THAT DAY THAT THIS HAPPENED, I RAISED MY
VOICE AS I BEGIN TO LIST WHAT FEARSOME PUNISHMENTS I WOULD DOLE OUT
TO HER IF ANYTHING LIKE THIS HAPPENED AGAIN. SHE CALMLY STARED AT ME
WHILE I CAUGHT MY BREATH, AND SAID, “I’M JUST A KID, YOU KNOW.”
MARY WAS JUST A KID. SHE
WAS A TEENAGER, WE SUSPECT, BECAUSE NO WOMAN GOT THROUGH HER TEEN
YEARS WITHOUT BEING MARRIED, AND OF COURSE WE KNOW MARY WAS ENGAGED.
IN MEDIEVAL TIMES THERE WAS A LOT OF SPECULATION ABOUT HOW MARY HAD
BEEN TURNED OVER TO THE PRIESTS IN THE TEMPLE WHEN SHE WAS VERY YOUNG
SO THAT SHE COULD BECOME EDUCATED; HOW JOSEPH WAS AN OLD MAN, LONG
PAST THE POINT OF BEING ABLE TO FATHER A CHILD; AND IN FACT THERE ARE
STORIES ABOUT JOACHIM AND ANN, THE NAMES GIVEN TO MARY’S PARENTS.
THOSE SCHOLARS FROM THE MIDDLE AGES COULDN’T GET THEIR HEADS AROUND
HOW MARY COULD HAVE BEEN CONCEIVED IN THE MANNER THAT ALL OTHER
PEOPLE ARE CONCEIVED, SO THEY MADE UP SOME PRETTY INTERESTING STORIES
ABOUT HOW IT COULD BE THAT MARY COULD BE THE CHILD OF HER PARENTS,
AND YET HER PARENTS CONCEIVED HER IN SOME MIRACULOUS WAY.
BUT SHE WAS JUST A KID.
SHE WASN’T EDUCATED – EVEN RICH AND NOBLE WOMEN WEREN’T
EDUCATED – AND JOSEPH WAS YOUNG ENOUGH TO HAVE CHILDREN; THE PEOPLE
OF THAT TIME, UNLIKE OUR OWN, VALUED CHILDREN, AND MARY’S PARENTS,
WHO HAD A BIG SAY IN WHO SHE WOULD MARRY, WOULD HAVE REALLY WANTED
GRANDCHILDREN, JUST AS MARY WOULD ASPIRE TO BE A MOTHER. NO
DODDERING OLD MAN FOR HER. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT MARY –
THE LORD WAS WITH HER. WITH ALL THE WONDERS OF HEAVEN, WITH ALL THE
BEAUTY OF THE UNIVERSE, WITH ALL THE ANGELS IN THEIR MAGNIFICENCE TO
SEE, THE FATHER LOOKED AT MARY AND LOVED HER AND WAS WITH HER. THIS
DID NOT HAPPEN AT THE TIME THE ANGEL APPEARED TO HER; THE ANGEL WAS
JUST MAKING AN OBSERVATION. NO, THE LORD WAS WITH HER FROM THE
BEGINNING, FROM THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION, AND SHE WAS HIS LOVE, THIS
KID, THIS 12 OR 13 YEAR OLD GIRL.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE
THE LORD WITH YOU? AFTER ALL, MARY’S LIFE WASN’T SO DIFFERENT
FROM ANYONE’S. SHE CERTAINLY SUFFERED, SHE GREW OLD, SHE DIED.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
WHEN THE ANGEL TOLD HER
THAT SHE WAS TO BE THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR, SHE REACTED AS ANYONE
WOULD. “HOW CAN THIS BE, FOR I HAVE NO RELATIONS WITH A MAN?”
ALMOST LIKE DYING, HER WHOLE LIFE FLASHED BEFORE HER EYES. WHAT
ABOUT JOSEPH, WHOM SHE LOVED, WHOM SHE PLANNED TO SPEND HER LIFE
WITH? WHAT WOULD HE SAY? WHAT ABOUT HER PARENTS, WHO WOULD BE
HEART-BROKEN? WHAT ABOUT … BUT THE LIST WENT ON AND ON. HER MIND
RAISED A MILLION OBJECTIONS. THIS COULD NOT BE. BUT THE LORD WAS
WITH HER, AND WHEN THE LORD IS WITH YOU, YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO
CHOOSE WHAT IS RIGHT, EVEN WHEN IT IS LIKELY TO HURT. AND MARY CHOSE
THE GOOD; SHE ROSE ABOVE ALL THE OBJECTIONS HER MIND WAS THROWING UP,
AND SAID, “FIAT, VOLUNTAS TUA!” AND I SAY THAT IN LATIN, BECAUSE
IT IS MUCH STRONGER THAN THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION WE JUST READ. MARY
SAID, “DO YOUR WILL TO ME.” SHE DOES NOT PASSIVELY ACCEPT WHAT
GOD HAS IN STORE FOR HER; SHE EAGERLY EMBRACES IT. SHE IS NOT GOING
TO OVERTHINK IT, SHE IS NOT GOING TO PUT CONDITIONS AROUND IT;
BECAUSE GOD IS WITH HER, AND SHE KNOWS IT, SHE CHOOSES TO ENTER INTO
HIS WILL.
AND DO YOU KNOW THAT GOD
IS WITH YOU? HE IS WITH YOU JUST AS HE IS WITH MARY, BECAUSE YOU
WERE BAPTIZED, AND AT THAT MOMENT OF BAPTISM, HE LOOKED AWAY FROM THE
SERAPHIM AND CHERUBIM AND ALL THE GLORIES OF HEAVEN, AND LOOKED ON
YOU WITH LOVE, AND BOUND HIMSELF TO YOU, HIS FAVORITE CHILD. BUT
WAIT? HOW CAN YOU BE HIS FAVORITE? WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT SAINTS?
WHAT ABOUT SO MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE SO MUCH HOLIER THAN YOU AND I WILL
EVER BE? BUT THAT’S THE WAY GOD IS, YOU ARE HIS FAVORITE CHILD,
AND SO ARE YOU AND SO AM I. AND HE IS WITH YOU, AND HE GIVES YOU THE
FREEDOM TO BE GOOD, AND MARY SHOWS US THAT THIS IS POSSIBLE. AND GOD
HAS WORDS FOR US AS WELL. WHEN YOU ARE QUIET, WHEN YOU TURN YOUR
MIND TO GOD, SOMETIMES YOU FEEL AN IMPULSE TO SOMETHING HEROIC,
SOMETHING WONDERFUL, SOMETHING DANGEROUS, BUT ALWAYS, SOMETHING GOOD.
AND, AS WITH MARY, OUR MINDS THROW UP EXCUSES. ONCE IN A WHILE,
SOMEONE REMEMBERS THAT GOD IS WITH HER, AND CASTS ASIDE THE EXCUSES
AND ENTERS INTO THAT GREAT ADVENTURE OF DOING GOD’S WILL. A MOTHER
THERESA, A PADRE PIO, A JOHN PAUL. BUT MOST OF THE TIME, THE EXCUSES
MAKE SENSE, AND IF WE TURN OUR ATTENTION TO THEM, AND AWAY FROM WHAT
GOD IS SAYING TO US, THE MOMENT PASSES, AND WE RETURN TO OUR REGULAR
LIVES. BUT GOD WILL CALL YOU AGAIN, AND AGAIN, LEAVING YOU PERFECTLY
FREE, BUT ALWAYS HOPING THAT YOU WILL SAY, “DO YOUR WILL TO ME!”
AND LET THE CONSEQUENCES FALL WHERE THEY MAY.
AND MARY HERSELF URGES US
ON. SHE WHO FREELY CHOSE TO DO GOD’S WILL, SHE WHO WAS READY TO
GIVE UP ALL HER PLANS, TO RISK ALL HER RELATIONSHIPS, TO PUT HER
TRUST COMPLETELY IN GOD WHO WAS WITH HER, POINTS TO JESUS AND TELLS
US AS SHE TOLD THE SERVANTS AT CANA, “DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.”
THERESA OF CALCUTTA SAID
THIS PRAYER: “MOTHER MARY, PRAY YOUR FIAT AND MAGNIFICAT IN MY
HEART.” LET THAT BE OUR PRAYER AS WELL.
