Mary’s
response to God’s call is a Perfect “Yes” after a reflective silence and her
question asking for further clarification. She gives her consent to the Lord’s
invitation: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done to me
according to your word. Mary wholeheartedly embraces the divine plan. To
understand the simplicity and depth of Mary’s response, we have to reflect on
it in detail. Her response consists of
two parts that imply and complement each other.
“Behold,
I am the handmaid of the Lord” which is Mary’s Ecce that expresses her total
availability to serve the Lord. Mary offered herself as the “handmaid of the
Lord”. The word “handmaid is a term that
indicates an unlimited generosity, an expression of ardent love of God’s will,
the responsible love of a mature personality.’ By calling herself “a servant of
the Lord” Mary expresses her availability to place herself unreservedly at the
service of the Lord and His salvific plan. Mary was fully aware that her
vocation to be the mother of the Saviour was God’s unmerited gift to her, that
she was not at all worthy of it. But the
Lord had “looked upon the lowliness of his servant and therefore she would
place herself at His service. As stated in the Lumen Gentium,(LG 56) “she devoted herself totally, as a handmaid of the Lord, (emphasis by
sharer) to the person and work of her Son, under and with Him,… serving the
mystery of redemption”. Mary takes her place within Christ’s Messianic service.
Therefore to be called means fundamentally to serve God’s plan of salvation
like Mary. Mary’s attitude was by fixing
her eyes always on the Lord in order to serve Him unconditionally. Mary’s humble service reminds consecrated
persons that they are no master of their vocation, but only servants whom the
Master has entrusted with a special mission. Together with Mary, the handmaid
of the Lord, they are called to partake in the salvific mission of Jesus, the
“servant of the Lord” who did not come to be served, but to serve. We are
reminded of the Lord’s and His mother’s utter humility.
Mary’s
Fiat is by joyously consenting to co-operate in God’s salvific plan. We have to know that the “fiat” of Mary at
the Annunciation, “genoito” in Greek, expresses “a joyous desire to”; never a
resignation or a constraining submission before something burdensome or painful. It is rather a joyous desire to collaborate
with what God foresees for her. It is
the joy of total abandonment to the good will of God.
Throughout
history, man is called by God to co-operate in His plan of salvation, and the
former has responded in various ways. Among those called, however, no one has
ever given such a perfect and complete response as the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her
“fiat” not only sums up and perfects the manifold responses given to God’s
call, but it is also the sublime model of response to this call. (Source:
“What you should know about Mary by Charlene Altemose, MSC)
God
comes to us not in the dramatic way the angel comes to Mary, but in those
deep-felt inspirations, in our quiet, in our listening to the promptings of
God’s grace within. God calls each of us to a certain task and, like Mary, we
are to be conformed to the divine will. We too need to discern, need to
question and need to be open for “impossible possibilities” for which only God
has the solution.
Mary’s
Annunciation challenges us to consider our own annunciations. Although no angel
speaks to us, God does send those who announce God’s will for us. It may be a
knock on the door from a needy neighbor; it may be the cry of someone asking us
for a favour; it may be the demands and obligations of our job or state of life
urging us to complete what we have begun; it may be a prompting deep in our
heart that inspires and guides us. No matter what God asks of us, we need only
look to Mary for guidance and the example of doing God’s will most perfectly.
In
Mark 3:34-35, Jesus’ reply was, “ Whoever does the will of God is my brother,
sister and mother” . In Luke 11:27-28, a woman cried out with a
blessing for Jesus’ mother and Jesus’ response to that cry was, “Blessed rather
are those who hear the Word of God and obey it”.
Mary
shows us how to prioritise the details of life, always pursuing the will of
God, with no personal gain in mind.
