“And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.’” (Luke 1:38).
I have always loved studying history. Both modern and ancient history has always intrigued me. And one of the reasons that I have been interested in this area is because when we consider history so many things seem self-apparent with the advantage of hindsight, but at the time there was simply no guarantee that things would resolve themselves in one way or another…
Take, for example, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 16 October 1962 to 29 October 1962. During that time, Communist Cuba pointed their Missiles at the southern coast of the United States. In response, the President of the United States issued a warning that unless the missiles were re-directed within a certain amount of time, the United States would retaliate with a nuclear attack.
With the hindsight provided by history, we know that the weapons were redirected, and no nuclear war ensued. However, at that time, the world held its breath. There were so many variables. Perhaps the Dictator of Cuba (at that time, Fidel Castro) would change the direction of the missiles, but also, perhaps there would be no redirection and nuclear war could have ensued and the world as we know it would have been different…
And this is not the only time in history that something very confronting has happened and a response has changed the course of the entire world…
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.’” (Luke 1:26-38).
In that moment, the Angel offered the Blessed Virgin a choice. She was able to accept the Holy Will of God, or – as Eve had done at the beginning of humankind – she could have chosen to reject the Holy Will of God. And that choice was REAL. And it was serious. The Blessed Virgin’s faith had to be such that she could accept what the Angel was proposing even though the last man to be born without the involvement of another man (or woman for that matter) was Adam himself… And then she had to be willing to entrust herself entirely to God. The penalty for adultery was death by stoning. The Blessed Virgin knew this and STILL consented to conceive of the God-Child.
And I have been reflecting on that today, because the entire history of the world turned on the consent of the Blessed Virgin, and it occurs to me that God has a plan for me too. And it is up to me to ask for the Grace to consent to the Holy Will of God as the Blessed Virgin did…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.