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

Each week when we say 'The Lord's Prayer' we repeat these words (also in the modern language): "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven," and they trip lightly off our tongue. We've probably said them thousands of times without particularly noticing them much.

Saint Teresa of Avila said in one of her great prayers "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. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary, who may well have been as young as 13 or so, and tells her she will give birth to the Son of God. Her answer is one of humble submission. Effectively she says "Thy will be done!"

Lord Jesus,
when You call us to to a task,
help us to be as open to the possibility as Mary,
and not simply to turn our back on the challenge.
May we have the courage to say "yes",
despite knowing the difficulties.
You are our King,
may we be ready and willing
to do Your bidding whatever the task.
Amen.