Behold the Handmaid of the Lord: The Solemnity of the Annunciation

THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY.
Image from en.wikipedia.org

Mary said, 

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. 

May it be done to me according to your word." 

- Luke 1:38

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation, which was supposed to be commemorated last March 25 but due to its falling on the Monday in Holy Week, the Annunciation was transferred today.

The Annunciation is full of important messages. But we shall focus today on the Blessed Virgin's response to the announcement of Archangel Gabriel that she will bear in her womb the Messiah. Of course who would not be honored to become the mother of the Second Person of the Divine Trinity. However, young as she is, Mary would have been so overwhelmed by the call to become the Mother of God the Son that if she was just any other girl, she was about 15 years old at that time, she would have probably proudly proclaimed to everyone that singular honor of being chosen to bear the Father's only begotten Son!

And yet she remained the very girl that made her the chosen one to become the mother of Jesus: simple, humble and obedient - the very qualities that made her worthy of the honor to become the Theotokos. Amid the great honor entrusted to her by the Father, she humbly accepted it without so much manifestation of external joy, in contrast to many young people today who even at the mere thought of acquiring the newest gadgets would already proclaim to the whole world about it [like posting it on Facebook or Twitter for others to see and comment on]. Her conception actually even put her in danger: being promised to be married to Joseph, she exposed herself to the penalty of being stoned for conceiving a child which is not of his future husband. Even with this possibility, she still accepted God's call. However, she simply declared her "Fiat", in English, "Let it be" to God!

But of course, God would not let His plans be jeopardized. He also made arrangement with that man to whom she was betrothed, named Joseph, who was himself a simple, humble and obedient person, to take her as his lawful wife and kept her from being subjected to humiliation and death by stoning [see Matthew 1: 19-25]. 

Mary 's FIAT, her "YES", was a very significant ingredient to the history of salvation, to God's design to free man from his bondage to sin. Her response was not forced upon her, she could have rejected the offer. She could make any excuse just to let the cup pass [refer to Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42]. As we say in Tagalog [base language of Filipino: the Philippine National Language], "Kapag gusto, maraming paraan. Kapag ayaw, maraming dahilan!" [To someone who is interested, there are many possible ways; but to someone who is not interested, there are many available excuses!"] She could have made use of the so-called false humility ["Oh no, my God, I am not really, really worthy!"]. Or simply commit a single sin [God and sin cannot be united: see our reflection on the Fourth Last Word]. But she did not: she simply declared her "Yes!"

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord," she said. "Let it be done to me as you said!"

Everyone of us is called to our respective mission in life. Everyone is free to say, "Yes" or "No". Of course, whatever each one's response will be, there naturally is a corresponding consequence to it. 

Eve, the mother of all the living [see Genesis 3:20], was the first to face the challenge of saying "Yes" or "No". The Tempter provided her the occasion to make her decision and instead of siding with God with a "Yes" or obedience to refrain from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, she consented to the Tempter's deception, consequently losing the privilege of a blissful life in Paradise, and causing all her offspring to be bound by sin. In contrast, Mary, the new Eve and the mother of all the faithful [see John 19:27; CCC  963], with her simple, humble and obedient "Yes" provided the Son of God an earthly mother to carry Him in her womb, and additionally, Joseph's equally simple, humble and obedient "Yes" though silently made, provided the Lord a human family to raise Him just like any other human being. Thus He became man in everything, except sin, for in their home only God's love reigned! And being man, He was able to fulfill the requirement for the atonement of man's sins, freeing mankind form the bondage to sin and allowing humanity to once again have an access to gain eternal life in the Father's Kingdom.

We too must respond to the call of God to either say "Yes" or "No". We are free to decide but we must be responsible enough to accept the consequence of whatever we decide on. Some might say that it is not fair to threaten us with the fires of hell if we decide to say "No". Fact is, it is not a threat; it is the natural and logical consequence of rejecting God for if one says "No", he or she actually rejecting the free offer of a blissful life in the Father's house. Just think of a simple human law about driving on the proper lane. One who obeys the law and drives on the proper lane will almost perfectly avoid any accident. Why only almost and not fully perfect? Because of those who choose to disobey the law and decide to drive on the wrong lane which could cause accidents! We might say that those who obey the law are also subjected to accidents. Yes, but at least not of their own will but because of the fault of others. And in the final analysis, the one who disobeys the law does not only meet an accident, but also gets penalties and punishments in accordance with the law violated while the one who gets involved in the accident thought obedient to the law will be awarded the necessary assistance relative to the degree of damage. If death becomes the ultimate result of such an accident, then it would be the worst for the one causing the accident!

We have just finished the Season of Lent, a season wherein we celebrated the greatest "Yes" ever: the Lord Jesus Christ's, who did not deem equality with God but came down and became a man and even accepted death on the cross! [see Philippians 2: 6-11]. Mary's "Yes" is closely linked to the Lord's "Yes" and their "Yeses" have made the world a better place for all men - especially, for men of goodwill! [see Luke 2:14]. 

How about you, when are you going to finally say, 

"Lord, behold your servant, your friend. Let your will be done in my life!"