Tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent. Let us enter Advent with Mary's attitude of reverence, humility, and surrender to the will of our God for us. Mary, our Mother who gave the Son of God his humanity, is told in Luke 1: 28 that she has found favor with God and that the Lord is with her. The angel's message greatly troubles Mary. The angel says to Mary: "Do not be afraid, Mary." Gabriel then goes on to say that Mary "is to conceive in her womb and bear a son....[H]e will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." A bit taken back, no doubt, Mary asks: "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel explains that her conception of Jesus will be through the Holy Spirit: "[T]he power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." She is then told that her elderly cousin is six month's pregnant, "for "nothing is impossible for God." Mary's response: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word," and she conceives Jesus, the Son of God, in her womb!
And the waiting period, Advent, begins! May your Advent, and mine, also begin with Gabriel's visit to us, remind us that we, too, have found favor with God through Jesus Christ!
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