By Sr Alina Geagea
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Arguably, the most significant and powerful words ever uttered by a human, is the assent of Mary, her yes to the angel Gabriel’s announcement, that she would be the Virgin Mother of God.
In their many yeses, the prophets of the Old Testament foreshadowed the Yes of Mary, from Abraham to Moses and from Isaiah to Jeremiah, her yes is an echo, a sort of summit on the mountain of theirs. “And I said, Here I am; send me!” (Isaiah 6:8b).
This is part of our life’s purpose, to allow the love of God to enable us to give our own yes, in the daily small ways and the big vocational ones.
This is the great mystery, that God almighty wants to work with, in and through us, to bring about His life and salvation in the world today, so our yes is of infinite value.
Mary is highly exalted in our Maronite tradition, and rightly so, especially on this day, because of the salvific impact of her yes.
The prayer of forgiveness sings, “Blessed are you, O Mary, because of you Adam has been freed! Blessed are you Mary, because you are the glory of the nations and the pride of all generations”.
The entrance hymn sings “From this day, on earth, the peace of God is planted, and the heights and depths cry out: ‘O come, Lord Jesus’”.
She is exalted today, by all the faithful, because in freedom she chose to embrace the will of God and through her yes has come our salvation.
How then can we take Mary as our model in saying yes to God? From this week’s Gospel, we can learn five things.
Firstly, we need to be filled with humility and faith and constantly ask God for these virtues, living them out in imitation of Our Blessed Mother.
Coming before God in humility is acknowledging that he is Lord, all we have is a gift from him and that he is the giver of all graces.
We need to have the faith that she had; there’s no point in saying yes to God if what we believe about him and his plans are false.
God is Love, God is goodness itself, God’s plans for us are better than any life that we could imagine, a life in accordance with his will is what brings true and lasting peace, joy and satisfaction.
Secondly, Mary teaches us to hold onto God’s promises. The angel Gabriel reveals to her what is to come, that Jesus will receive the throne of David.
To reach the point of fulfillment of this, Mary had to hold steadfast to her faith throughout her life, that these promises would eventuate.
Sometimes God might invite us into something, we might say yes, and it might take some time to arrive at the fulfillment of God’s plans.
Thirdly, she asked Gabriel a question, “… How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). This question is distinct from Zechariah’s question which we heard last week. His was from a place of doubt, he was questioning God’s ability to work such a miracle.
Mary rather has full faith that God is able, and in absence of doubt, she is genuinely asking the question of how God will allow that to happen. We too then, can have a dialogue with God about his invitations, asking him questions, like how, when and what will I do about this or that?
Fourthly, Mary is filled with the Holy Spirit. His presence comes to espouse her, and she conceives of Jesus, God’s own son.
Likewise, we need the Holy Spirit to enable us to act, speak and make decisions in accordance with the will of God. He leads us, guides us and give us the grace to say yes to God’s invitation.
Finally, Mary teaches us to walk into the unknown.
The final sentence of this Gospel says, “Then the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38b). She said yes to this almighty plan, and then the angel just left her. He didn’t stay with her every day until the fulfillment of his words, answering her questions and telling her every detail.
There were many obstacles and challenges, and uncertainties that Mary faced, how was Joseph and her community going to respond? How would she make it to Bethlehem heavily pregnant?
How would they prevent Jesus from Herod’s massacre of the first-born infants? The unknowns go on and on through her life.
But one thing was certain, her faith and hope in God, so she was able to trust and continue to give her yes even when she was walking in the unknown.
May we, in this season of preparation to receive our newborn King, take Mary as our model in giving God our radical, free and uncalculated yes to whatever his daily or vocational invitation may be.
Sr Alina Geagea is a novice with the Missionaries of God’s Love Sisters, currently in their Canberra formation house.