Where Are You?
After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" Genesis 3:9
"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. Luke 1:28-31
Piety
Mary of the Immaculate Conception and the Annunciation, you are a woman of courage. Be with us as we try to follow the challenge presented to us by your son – a God-man who loved you until eternity and loves us with the same spirit.
Study
So much of our spirituality seems to revolve around how we seek God. Yet, what comes through today is that the search is not a one-way street. God is seeking us, too.
Just like God sought out Zechariah to father John the Baptist, he seeks out Mary. Mary is going through the same emotions that faced Zechariah when he got the news that Elizabeth, his wife, would get pregnant. In both scenes, the angel Gabriel appears to the parent who is troubled by the vision and then told by the angel not to be afraid. Then, the angel gives a sign to confirm the announcement. Where the two instances become distinct is in Mary’s humble acceptance of God’s will. While it is popular to ask WWJD, maybe another expression is WWMD – “What Would Mary Do?”
What should Mary do? If she listens to the unconventional call of God to accept an unexpected, unexplainable child, she stands to lose it all – her honor in the community, her future security, even her pending marriage. The neighbors will talk. No other man will marry her when Joseph leaves. She will be a barnacle on the bottom of a boat on the human ocean. Ostracized. Unwanted. Unkept. A woman without an honorable future.
But because she was brought up on the psalms, she had meditated on the law of God all her life. Mary did what she was asked. She trusted that God’s will was more to be followed than her own. Whatever the cost. Mary of the Annunciation is a model for the kind of courage it takes to follow the call of God in life.
Action
What does Mary do upon getting this news?
Weighed down with the unexpected seed of God and how her condition threated every fiber of her meager existence in Nazareth, did Mary drop everything to have a pity party for Mary?
NO! She dropped everything to run and take care of her aging cousin Elizabeth, also pregnant with an unexpected child by a now blind and mute husband. The no-longer barren woman about to have her first child just like her virgin-cousin about to have her first child. Each full of tension, but each full of compassion, giving hope – a cardinal virtue – to the other.
God certainly does not come to us at a convenient time. He did not come to Mary that way either. There is too much to do. Trees to decorate. Cookies to bake. Dry cleaning to drop off, no pickup, we dropped it off already. When we are mired in our own life’s challenges, it is very difficult to think like Matthew 25 and put a priority on everyone else’s needs. We are far too busy wallowing in our own problems.
Where are you this Advent season not only physically but emotionally and spiritually, too? Let Mary of Advent inspire your piety, study, and action. Despite, nay because of your own busy-ness, reach out to others who need a visit from you no matter what news you just got.
What is God’s Annunciation to us today? Pick up your cross daily and follow Him.
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