31st March 2008THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD
Mr Richard Bastable, Ordinand of Westcott House, Cambridge
Isaiah 7.10-14; Hebrews 10.4-10; Luke 1.26-38
“Behold the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Lk 1.38)
As we uncover the mystery of the unique person God asks us to be, we need also to consent to become that person – it won’t often happen despite us.
Are you feeling a bit confused? You might well be. We’ve just
completed the Octave of Easter; indeed we have six more weeks of
Easter season to go. And yet, here we are with a feast that seems to
take us to that other climax in the Church’s calendar. We might
have had snow on Easter Day; well, today we have Christmas amongst the
daffodils. We are transported to Advent and Christmas again; to news
from angels, to virgins conceiving, to prophecies fulfilled…
It is no bad thing that these great feasts seem almost to run into each
other. For here we are, in what some piously call ‘the little
Christmas of Spring’. Having just celebrated the new life God
gives in the Resurrection, we celebrate too the new life he gives in
the Incarnation. That is what this feast is chiefly about – the
Incarnation; for, in the Annunciation to Mary the Word of God takes
flesh within her and, though no one can yet see it, there in the body
of Mary is the embryonic life which will be the Light and Life of all
people. On this day, the Son of God and the Son of Mary become one
person; the second person of the Eternal Trinity and the Child born of
woman are today a Union hidden deep within her womb. As the
Chalcedonian definition has it: “one and the same Son, begotten
of the Father before all creation, for us and for our salvation is born
to humanity from Mary, the Mother of God.” Today, Jesus Christ
becomes reality.
What a mystery for us to grapple with! Divinity and humanity are one.
It is mind-blowing for us – for us who have the advantage of 2000
years of doctrine, dogma, contemplation and reflection to draw on. What
of those who heard for the first time, as if from out of nowhere? What
of Mary herself?
Mary struggles to comprehend the baffling greeting and news brought to
her by Gabriel the archangel: “Hail, full of grace. You shall
bear a son.” Luke hints at Mary’s surprise: “How can
this be?” she asks. She is but a young girl, unmarried (though
betrothed), who has not known a man. For now, the hosts of heaven hold
their breath: will God be born in her? What will she give as her
response? All creation awaits her words.
From out of her confusion comes obedience to the will of God. She
speaks: “Behold the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your will.” Her faith and trust in God overwhelm her
doubt and confusion so that she is willing to commit herself to his
intentions, to deliver her will into his care. God enters her flesh to
take on our flesh; salvation history is changed forever, all the
heavens rejoice at the conception of the Divine Son.
It was the obedience of Mary that spoke to me when I was preparing for
the process that selects people to train for the priesthood. On the
cusp of discovering whether the wider church would confirm the vocation
I felt growing within myself, the vocation that others had recognised
in me, I looked to Mary and saw a model of Christian obedience. Mary
seemed to be the paradigm for finding one’s vocation in God.
“Behold, Lord your servant; let it be with me in accordance with
your will” became my prayer. Not that I should any longer
struggle to prove myself, or to grasp at understanding the complexities
of what it is that God calls me to. But that I should present myself to
God, in humility, in obedience, asking that I might discover his will
in me.
Discovering a vocation and learning to live it – whether it is to
priesthood, or simply to being the person God wills us to be –
won’t often be sprung upon us from out of nowhere. God calls us
each to live a life only we can live, and to live it for him. The
saints show us the great variety of lives, the great varieties of
holiness that God draws out of people: to be a monk, a nun, a priest, a
bishop, a teacher, a mother, a father; someone who feeds the poor, who
clothes the naked, who suffers because of their faith, who cares for
children, who cares for a friend; someone who doesn’t even ask
for a thank-you; someone who holds onto their life, who even manages to
hold onto their faith, despite the pains and struggles of their broken
existence.
As we uncover the mystery of the unique person God asks us to be, we
need also to consent to become that person – it won’t often
happen despite us. It probably won’t happen at all if we resist
it. The Fathers of the Church (Jerome, Cyril, Ephrem, Augustine and
Aquinas) all affirm that Mary’s consent at the Annunciation is
essential to redemption – the whole life of Christ only turns out
as it does because of her obedience, her willingness to become part of
God’s plan. Mary freely wills to cooperate with the will of God,
she agrees to be the person, and to do the thing, that God asks of her.
So it shall be with us. We stand in front of God wondering “How
can this be”, how can I do what he seems to ask of me? How can I
be the person he calls me to be? How can I take my place within his
Body, the Church, where saints before me have trod? As we stand before
him, somewhat uncomprehendingly, we offer him our obedience, we ask
that his will for us be done in us, and we offer ourselves freely to do
it: “Lord, behold you servant; let it be with me as you will
it.”
And, as the grace of God worked in Mary to prepare her for her role of
bearing the Incarnate Word, we shall find that the grace given to us in
baptism continues to work in us. The grace of baptism, which is renewed
in us again and again through this Mystic Feast, prepares us for all
that God calls us to be. This dynamic interplay between our will and
his grace is what we see at work in Mary, this dynamic interplay is
what he invites us to become a part of. So that, with Mary, we may bear
Jesus Christ in our bodies, bring him to birth in our lives, and
present his gospel to the world. With Mary we will make Christ known,
and with Mary we will know him in his fullness and nearer presence when
we are finally granted our reward.
Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us.
Amen.