Friday 3rd Week of Advent
Advent Mass for Seminarians and Families
St. Mary’s Seminary & University
December 20, 2024
Unexpected Messenger
Most of us have had the experience of an unexpected messenger bringing unexpected news. Imagine Mary’s surprise at the visit of the Angel. As pure and prayerful as she was, Mary was nonetheless astonished when the Angel Gabriel appeared before her and addressed her as we do: “Hail full of grace!”
Full of Grace
What was the meaning of this greeting – “Hail, full of grace!”? Was the Angel merely speaking about Mary’s freedom from all sin or was he saying something more about God’s plan for humanity? Surely, the Angel’s greeting spoke to Mary’s soul, luminous with grace, luminous with the beauty of divine glory and perfect virtue. Yet, the Angel’s greeting did indeed mean something more. That a creature would be filled with God’s own life, full of grace, signaled God’s decision that sin and death were not to be the last word, the final verdict, on creation, history, humanity, and each and every person. It was a signpost of hope, a marker in history – that love would prevail over hate, grace over sin, life over death.
What of Mary’s reaction? The Gospel says she was greatly troubled by this greeting and pondered in her heart what it could mean. Indeed, this greeting filled Mary’s heart with fear. Was her fear like that of Adam and Eve who hid themselves from God because of their disobedience? Or was she afraid lest God ask her to do something really difficult –something that might interfere with the plans she made for herself?
Hardly! Mary’s fear was vastly different. Her fear was wonderment, awe, amazement, born of the Holy Spirit, for she found herself in the presence of the God of glory and majesty, aware that she was about to receive a message through his Angel. And what news it was –news that she would become the Mother of the Savior while remaining a virgin. The humble maiden of Nazareth found herself at the fulcrum point of history.
Mary’s Question
She questions the Angel: “How can this be since I have no relations with a man?” Mary questions the Angel not because she doubts God or because she is afraid her personal plans will be upended. She questions, because she believes – fides quarens intellectum –and because she wants to cooperate with God’s plan, even though his plans remain shrouded in mystery, even though she could touch those plans only by faith. In response to her question, the Angel elaborates but what the Gabriel said must have only deepened Mary’s wonder and awe: She would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Child born to her would be holy, the Son of God, the Savior. The Angel did not remove the mystery but deepened it. Mary was being asked to accept what was humanly impossible.
Mary’s Response
The destiny of humanity hinged upon her response – Had she hesitated or refused or fled in fear – who knows? But full of grace and full of faith, she uttered her immortal response: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your Word.” It was a union of “yeses” – the “yes” of God who decided to redeem a fallen humanity by sending His Son, and the “yes” of the Virgin through whom the Redeemer would be born. Mary did not fully understand but so fully did she believe in God’s Word that in the power of the Spirit she would conceive the Word in her womb. Her very being – body, mind, spirit – became God’s dwelling place. In her, the hope of humanity dawned.
Model of Discipleship
Mary’s response to God’s plan and call remains the model for every disciple. Whether called to marriage and family or consecrated life or the priesthood, we find in Mary the model and source of discipleship: her humility, her holiness, her sense of wonder and awe, her harmony with God’s plans, her faith seeking understanding, her surrender in the face of mystery – “Blessed is she who trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled.” Blessed are we when we trust that the Lord’s words to us will be fulfilled!
In these days, as we prepare our hearts anew to celebrate the Incarnation, let us ask the Holy Spirit to purify us of sin and to shape and mold our hearts, that we response to our calling as Mary responded to hers: in humility, in a spirit of holiness, full of wonder and awe, a readiness to cooperate with God’s plan, a faith that seeks understanding, a heart, a mind, a body, a soul that surrenders to God’s plan and indeed to the part he is asking us to play in fulfillment of his plan. Only when we are able to say to God, “I am your humble servant. Let it be done to me as you say!” – only then are we truly free, truly at peace, truly joyful – for only then are we at long last the friends and disciples of the Lord.