Thoughts for the Day

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

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 for ever, 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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

During Advent we shall look at the people, places and symbols that invite us to prepare for the coming of the Christ-child at Christmas. They will not necessarily occur in the right order! Today we look at 'Mary, the mother of Jesus'.

Each week we say 'The Lord's Prayer', and these words in the traditional or modern language, trip lightly off the tongue:

"Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven,"

Saint Teresa of Avila once said: "Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours". For God's will to be done it requires humans to put aside their selfishness, their doubts and their fear, and carry out God's will! He never forces them to obey Him.

Today in our scripture reading God's great plan for the salvation of our world continues apace. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary, and tells her she will give birth to the Son of God. She is to lay aside her fear for herself and for the future, and humbly submit to God's will. Effectively she says "Thy will be done!

Sometimes as we contemplate our future or the future of loved ones, and we too can be scared. It would be unnatural if this were not so. But we need to bear in mind that God never gives his sons and daughters more than they can cope with. If we live in faith, we can still say, as Mary did to the greatest challenge of all, “Let it be with me according to your word.”

Words by Mother Julian of Norwich, 1342-1416 CE

I learned that love was our Lord's meaning.
And I saw for certain, both here and elsewhere,
that before ever He made us, God loved us;
and that His love has never slackened, nor ever shall.
In this love all His work has been done,
and in this love He has made everything serve usl
and in this love our life is everlasting.