A key theological idea about Mary is that she is like the Church:
that there are close analogies between what is true of Mary
and what is true of the whole Christian community.
Today’s gospel has the familiar dialogue between Mary and Gabriel.
To paraphrase, Gabriel says:
‘The Lord is with you,
You’re going to have a baby:
and he is everything the world is hoping for.’
Mary is deeply disturbed,
and responds with puzzlement. ‘How?’
I used to think that Mary’s response
suggested she hadn’t heard the second part of what Gabriel said,
the part where he says who the child will be.
However, this year I realised that Mary’s puzzlement
probably applies to the whole announcement.
My first application of the general principle I started with
is that it can be OK to be disturbed or puzzled about how God works.
Trust in God, even the total trust in God that Mary shows,
does not mean everything makes sense.
My second application, is that every time we hear
‘The Lord be with you’ in the liturgy
we might think of Gabriel’s words ‘The Lord is with you’
and rejoice that we, like Mary,
are to be bearers of God’s presence and God’s Word.
Gabriel addresses Mary’s ‘How?’ with:
The Holy Spirit will come upon you
and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.
God will overshadow her,
and God’s eternal Word is made flesh within her.
The Word of God, God’s definitive communication,
enters into the world,
is conceived by Mary,
in silence.
Just as, at the end, on the cross,
the Word of God communicates by becoming silent,
by entering into death, with Mary at His side,
so now, at conception, his human life starts in silence.
The depths of God,
his desire to share fully in our life,
his identification with humanity,
are communicated most fully
in these two silent moments, these two emptyings.
This is a day to be Mary,
to believe that we are overshadowed by the Holy Spirit,
to listen to the silence,
the silence that is God communicating His depths
by being present deep with us,
and then to let our hearts rise,
saying ‘the Almighty works marvels for us’.