‘’I am the handmaid of the Lord’, said Mary, ‘let what you have said be done to me.” (Luke 1:38)
Today’s, the fourth Sunday of Advent, reading begins the Incarnation history of Jesus where Mary was approached by the angel Gabriel who bore the news of her conception of Jesus. This is the most important part of the Gospels as we are brought to the knowledge of the mystery of God in working in and through us in not only seeing how God’s will makes nothing impossible, but also how we are called upon to use the Gospels as inspiration for how we live.
When Mary received news of her virgin conception, she was ‘deeply disturbed’, but the angel Gabriel assured her, ‘Do not be afraid.’ Upon understanding the will of God, Mary then acknowledged her position as ‘the handmaid of the Lord’ and accepts her role humbly in doing God’s will.
Such an encounter in the Gospel is highly significant, but not uncommon. We see this being played repeatedly throughout the Gospels, especially during the prayer in the garden of Gethsemane by Jesus before he was betrayed by Judas.
Such acceptance of God’s will is also once again seen when Jesus embarked on his path of spreading the good news, was crucified and died at the cross, and Mary never once rose in anger at his enemies or at Jesus’ fate. Instead she allowed God’s will to play out and understood her role in God’s plan.
Here, we ask ourselves as we prepare for Advent, if we have actually learnt and reflected upon the Gospels. Following God’s will requires us to let go of our self-centred desires and ego. Following God’s will as seen in the lives of Jesus and Mary, provides us with strong evidence of how we ought to respond to events around us.
We wait actively and respond to God’s will, with the help of the Holy Spirit to discern what God wants of us to do. We practise the act of surrendering and letting go. We acknowledge that with God’s grace, the Lord provides us with what we need to grow to be Christ-like, in the love of the Lord, and to truly understand God. In order to do so, we need to be conscious of what and who we are. We need to ask ourselves if this person, I, is truly the Self, or the Ego.
There are moments when I am aware that what I desire, and how I respond, is not what God desires of me. This is the struggle, the cross that I have to take up, and I pray for the Lord to forgive me. And I start all over again after my confession to the Lord to strive to do His will.
God is perfection. But God does not seek for us to be perfect. In the journey that Mary took, we can imagine her fears and worries for Jesus. We can also understand her initial bewilderment towards Jesus when he first embarked on his arduous journey to spread the Good News. There could be moments when Mary stumbled too.
Mary is seen as the new Eve. Mary is called virgin because she was pure at heart as she strove to do God’s will. As we strive to also do His will, we are just like Mary, who embodied the virginity of being touched by God’s love. We are born again each time we do the will of the Lord. In being born again, we are filled with the purest feeling of love, and that is when we feel more alive than usual.
To do so, we must learn to let go and be vulnerable to God in sharing with the Lord our deepest, and even darkest, thoughts and feelings for God to help us love ourselves, and our neighbours once more.
