Fourth
Sunday of Advent (B) [Lk 1:26-38]
24.12.2023
The
Annunciation
1. Theme in brief
Our faith-response to God’s will
2. Focus Statement
Like Mary, we are
called to freely submit ourselves to God’s designs with an unconditional ‘yes’
to do his will, in order to let Christ be born in our hearts and in our world
today.
3. Explanation of
the text
Today’s gospel is
about the annunciation by angel Gabriel to Mary about her special vocation and mission
in the history of salvation. By her unreserved ‘yes,’
Mary freely consents to God’s call to become the mother of “the Son of the Most
High” (1:32) and co-operates with him in
executing his plan for our salvation.
This text highlights her perfect submission
to God’s will. By accepting God’s offer of salvation, she becomes a model for all Christian disciples.
Though our daily
prayer “Hail Mary” comes from today’s text, angel Gabriel does not greet or
hail Mary by using her proper name but as “one who is full of grace” (1:28). Her
name is substituted with the title “full of grace”
or literally (in Greek) “O favoured one”
(1:28). Even the first word of greetings “hail” literally means “rejoice” in Greek language. Hence, the angel’s
greeting, “Hail, full of grace” literally means: “Rejoice, O favoured one.”
This form of greeting has its obvious reference to some prophetic writings of
the OT such as: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter
What is Mary’s response? At first she is perplexed or troubled at the
angel’s words, because she does not understand what sort of greeting is this
(1:29). The angel explains to her that the greatest favour bestowed on her by
God is to bear a son whom she will name ‘Jesus’ (which means God saves in Hebrew).
He will be called Son of God and Son of David
(1:32, 35) because the Jews believed that the Messiah would be born in David’s
lineage. Mary’s objection, “How can this be,
since I am a virgin” (1:34), is commonly found in most of the other vocation
narratives in the Bible. Normally, those who are commissioned by God find
themselves ‘unfit’ or unworthy for the task
entrusted to them, or they find it unbelievable or impossible. But in all those
vocation narratives God does not accept their objection; instead assures them of his companionship
and gives them a sign. Here too, Mary’s
objection that she is a virgin is not accepted by the angel. Instead, she is
assured of the action of the Holy Spirit on
her by whose power she will conceive (1:35). The sign given to her is her
relative
Finally, Mary submits herself to God’s will
or designs by saying, "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord” (1:38). She
considers herself as the humble handmaid
(or a female servant) of the Lord ready and willing to do her Master’s will. Thus, she freely
responds to God’s designs with an unconditional “yes”
to do according to his word or to totally trust in his word (1:38). As a handmaid of the Lord, she
puts herself at the service of the Almighty, to be at his disposal, and to do what he commands
her. In submitting herself to the divine authority and will, she does not mind
taking the risk of spoiling
her good reputation (of a virgin bearing a child) as well as prospects of an
honourable marriage.
4. Application to life
On the second and
third Sundays of Advent, the Church placed before us the message, example and
testimony of John the Baptist to help us prepare the way of the Lord before
welcoming Christ at Christmas. On this last Sunday of Advent, she places before
us the shining response of faith given
by Mary which we need to imitate to prepare ourselves for Christmas. In order
to let Jesus be born anew in our hearts, families and society or community at
Christmas, like Mary we have to receive the word of God in faith and unwavering trust in God. As she did, we need
to surrender ourselves fully into
God’s hands and venture into an unknown
future by relying solely on God’s assurance
and word. Faith, as exemplified by Mary, involves a total surrender to God in obedience to his Word (1:38). By her faithfulness to God she proves that nothing is
impossible for a person of total
faith and trust in God (1:37). Considering ourselves God’s humble servants
(‘handmaids’), like her, we are called to freely respond to God’s will with
total trust in his Word. Like her, we are called to offer our entire life to
God, give up all our securities with
an unconditional ‘yes’ to do his will, and venture into an unknown future.
When Mary said,
“Yes, let it be done unto me according to your Word,” she must have been
unaware of all its implications. Her
first ‘yes’ to God gradually unfolded in various events of her life where her
faith was severely tested. Like her
our faith also is tested now and then: (1) we too sometimes undergo humiliation, misjudgment, unjust criticism and
disgrace as she did in her Jewish society because of her virginal conception;
(2) we too are sometimes rejected and
side-tracked by our own people in our needs or difficulties as they had done to
her at the time of her delivery; (3) some of us may face deprivation and utter material poverty, and
some others poverty of peace and love (being unloved and uncared for) as she
experienced in the manger; (4) some of us may face the shock of a sudden
transfer to a distant/ dangerous/ interior place, or the necessity of fleeing
one’s native place to become refugees
in a foreign country or distant place due to wars/ riots/ natural calamities or
displacement by the Government as she had to flee to Egypt like a refugee; (5)
some may suffer loneliness in family
life (due to death of a spouse, separation, divorce, incompatibility) or in
religious life (due to feeling of abandonment) just as she might have felt when
Joseph died and Jesus left home to do his Father’s work; (6) some may face ridicule and mockery of neighbours because of their
uncompromising behaviour as she might have faced in her Jewish society
due to Jesus’ revolutionary ideas and behaviour; and finally (7) some of us may
face the agony of witnessing the sudden and untimely
death of one’s own family members (in accidents, natural calamities,
terrorist attacks, etc.) as she witnessed her son’s crucifixion. Mary faced all
these tests of faith which we face in our daily life and remained faithful unto
death. Thus, she demonstrated in her life that nothing is impossible for a person of deep faith. We can
identify similar situations in our lives and in our world today. The Church
invites us to prepare for Christmas by imitating the quality of her faith as
well as her faithfulness to God.
Before we give our unconditional ‘yes’ to God’s will and plan,
like Mary we too will have questions like: “How can this be (1:34)? Why should
I be highly favoured by God (1:28)? Who am I after all? How can the Lord be
with me, a sinner? How can anything that seems impossible become possible
(1:37)?” Like Mary we too are very much “perplexed”
(1:29) with God’s surprising ways. The journey from advent to Christmas is a
faith-journey like Mary’s, moving from “How can this be” to “Let it be done
unto me,” and from what humanly seems impossible to “nothing is impossible to
God” (1:37).
Hence, the question
we need to ask as we prepare for Christmas is whether our faith remains as
strong as Mary’s in impossible situations and whether we are able to repeat her
‘fiat’ (‘yes’): “I am ready
and willing to do his will” at each of such moments. Since her ‘yes’ to God
involved a total faith-surrender into
God’s hands, she allowed herself to be led by him and his word. Like Mary,
married couples need to repeat (in minds at least) their original ‘yes’ given
at the altar during the matrimonial ceremony, priests during ordination and the
religious at their final profession, when their faithfulness
to God, to each other (in marriage) or to the Church (in priesthood and religious
life) is tested by saying, “Be it done unto me according to your word.” This is
how we can let Christ be born in our hearts and in our world today. We can
apply Mary’s ‘yes’ to God’s call and
mission in another way. In Advent we are waiting for Christ’s coming. He wants
to come into our hearts and life-situations. But he will not come by force.
Like Mary he waits for our ‘yes,’ our cooperation
in his plan for us. Are we willing to offer ourselves to him so that he can use
us according to his plans and designs?
As we mentioned in
the explanation of the text, when the angel greeted Mary, he asked her to rejoice for two reasons: (1) because of God’s choice of her as the most favoured one, and (2) because, with the
background of prophetic writings, it implies, she was chosen to be the new daughter of Zion through whom the heavenly
King would come into the world. What a wonderful favour God did to this simple
and ordinary woman of
5. Response to God's Word
Are we preparing
ourselves to welcome Jesus at Christmas with Mary’s faith? What is the quality
of our response to God’s loving choice of us as highly favoured ones? Does our
faith remain as strong as hers when things go against our expectations? Like
her, do we co-operate freely with God’s plans for us? Do we always seek God’s
will in everything and submit ourselves to it, or are we busy in doing our own
will? Like Mary, when our faith is tested now and then, how do we respond: with
doubts in God’s faithfulness, or with total surrender before his mystery? How
can we expeience inner joy at coming Christmas?
6. A prayer
O God, the Lord of our destiny and future, like Mother Mary, we offer our entire lives to you and give up all our false securities with an unconditional ‘yes’ to do you will. Trusting in your faithfulness alone, we are willing to venture into an unknown future. Be with us as per your assurance to Mary and all those whom you called to do your mission. Grant that we may remain strong in faith like Mother Mary when it is severely tested. Like her, send on us also the power of the Holy Spirit that we may be able to spiritually give birth to Jesus in our world today by our faith-commitment and joyful service. Amen.
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