Promise

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus’.” (Luke 1:38).

Highly Favoured (Kwan Fong)

Since the beginning of time God has known that the Blessed Virgin would become His mother and that she would be perfectly free of sin.

And yet, thousands – tens of thousands – of years went by as the world waited for her.

It is even said that Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and not Adam, because he mistakenly believed that Adam was Christ and Eve being only human and not human and divine would be easier to tempt.  In other words, Satan thought that God would implement the salvation of humanity starting with the very first humans.  But this was not the case.  Instead, God had a plan and His plan lasted thousands of years.  And so many things happened along the way.  First the people had learn to know God a little more.  The they suffered trials and all the implications of the Fall and sin.  Then, God saved them – over and again.  And during this whole time, the people were convinced to love their God.

And then – in the middle of nowhere, among people who were considered completely unimportant…  The Messiah was conceived and born.

“The angel 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).

And I have been thinking about the significance of this moment.  Because really, everything that has happened since that point in time – that moment when the Blessed Virgin consented to become the Mother of God – changed.

We went from a hopeless world, to having the Hope of the World born into Human Flesh.  That consent of the Blessed Virgin was a promise to be a Mother to me now.  When Christ was on the Cross the Blessed Virgin consented to be our mother by taking the Disciple John as her son.  She effectively traded God the Son for all the sinful human children that would come after Him.  She effectively consented to advocate to God on my behalf despite my sinfulness. 

And I have been thinking about that promise today.  Because the Blessed Virgin’s faith was so great that she made a promise before she even knew what the question would be.  She made a promise to obey beyond her understanding, beyond her human endurance.  And she was able to do this thing – this miraculous thing – simply because she was able to understand that anything is possible through God.  And knowing that I believe that there is not a more clear way to explain that the Blessed Virgin is the greatest soul ever created.  For I cannot begin to imagine a promise like that…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.