Sr. Sharon CMC
READING: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
REFLECTION: Someone said, “The same sun that melts the wax, hardens the clay.” The after effect of problems of our day today lives differs according to our attitude with which we approach them. The same experiences will impact people differently. Problems will either soften us and help us to conform to God’s will or they will harden us with bitterness and anger. A crisis in life will either help us to deepen our trust in God or more hostile to Him. We might have come across with the people who are turned bitter against God because something unpleasant had happened in their lives. We also might have experienced people who have gone through similar or even more difficult experiences in their life, but found to be happy, contended and in deep love and of great admiration of God and His plans for them.
We always have our freedom to choose and to respond the way we want towards our problems. They will help us either to come closer to God or to distance from God. In the gospel passage we have one such person MARY who turned her problems into great blessings through her wise choice. We know that Mary grew up as a young Jewish girl, as she was born into Judaism. We can assume that she knew very well all the rules and regulations of Judaism. When the Lord’s messenger approached her, she didn’t understand anything but she chose to accept the Will of the Father, even at the cost of her own life. Mary entrusts herself to God completely, with full submission of intellect and will. The scripture witnesses how the choice she once made led her on the path of God’s Will.
PRAYER: Mary our mother and refuge, who is the perfect model of faith, you know how weak and fragile we are in our decision making. Often, we are misled by our intellect and end up in confusions and disappointments. Help us to strengthen our faith in God and to submit God’s will completely.
CONTEMPLATION: With the help of Mary our mother let us make an inward journey. Assume that our Heavenly Father is standing before with open arms. Let us call to mind all the bitter experiences of our life where we felt helpless, confused and lonely. Where we failed to see the hands of God and thought negative of oneself, others and of God. Have faith that God is gracious and full of compassion; He never keep our past accounts but always willing to forgive us, with this confidence let us sincerely feel sorry for those moments and be reconciled to God.
ACTION: Remember next time when you face a problem, you have the freedom to turn that problem into a blessing, moving little more closer to God or a curse, distancing yourself even more from God. Like Mary let us make a wise choice.
