Annunciation

Mar 24, 2014

One of the moments of Christian history most represented in Christian art, is the encounter between Mary, the future mother of the Messiah, and the angel sent by God. Today, March 25, we celebrate the feast of that encounter.

This is the moment when God became incarnate in human form on earth. While the most celebrated Christian moment is Christmas nine months later, today’s feast of the Annunciation marks the moment when God took on human form.

It is appropriate today, to reflect on the role of the Virgin Mary in God’s plan. Mary’s ‘be it done to me according to your word’ is rightly seen as the model co-operation with the divine plan. This is what we mean by “discernment.”

Note that Mary did not spend time weighing up the pros and cons of the angel’s greeting. Too often this juggling is what we wrongly call ‘discernment’. Instead discernment is simply our desire to know whether or not the nudging / voice / call we feel is that of God or of the evil spirit.

Mary wanted to know whether the message was from God or not. Mary’s discernment was simply to know whether or not it was God who was communicatingwith her. Once Mary knew that this was God, then the only answer she would give was “yes”.

This simple and clear desire is built into every human person. If we are healthy, and know ourselves well, then we are not too concerned with how something will turn out. Our sole desire will be to flow with whatever God proposes.

This awareness of the power and wisdom of God’s plan for our lives should not make us feel disempowered. Instead we can relax into the plan of one who loves us much more than we could ever love ourselves.

 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts

my word your home

my word your home

The heart of the home in years past was the hearth.
It was at the hearth that the family gathered for the warmth and light of the flame and the food that was prepared there.
The fire was treated with respect since the same flame which provided energy for the home could just as easily destroy it.

stand up look up

stand up look up

The Israelites in their forty years in the desert were journeying from captivity to freedom, but the struggle of their desert years made them vulnerable to attack from every temptation as today’s first reading continues

confident in God

confident in God

I’m not sure if children today are told the great story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, but if not let’s make sure that the parable is taught at all schools of higher learning.

the teenagers

the teenagers

A few years ago I discovered the wonderful way that God uses my imagination in my prayer.
Such openness to imagination when seeking God does not take us away from reality into fantasy but instead brings me into what is most real and inescapably personal and intimate.

Annunciation

Annunciation

A couple of thousand years ago, a young Jewish woman was going about her normal morning routines, perhaps with a mixture of house and garden work, chatting with parents and neighbours, aware of the local drought, the sickness of a neighbour and annoyed by the neighbourhood’s lack of sleep caused by the Romans’ noisy party the night before, when God broke into her routine and entered her life in a new and powerful way.