Today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In today's Gospel, Luke 1: 26-38, Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel. he greets her with the following words: "Hail, full of grace!" Mary is taken aback. She was "greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be." Noticing her fright, the angel says to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God."
Recall that Mary is a teenager, perhaps 14, 15 or 16 years of age! Put yourself in Mary's place. Imagine yourself going about your morning chores and all of a sudden, in front of you stands a heavenly visitor such as the angel Gabriel, who says to you: "Hail, full of grace!" "What? Who are you? And what does this greeting mean," you wonder out loud! And Gabriel responds: "Do not be afraid, insert your name, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. He 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." And Mary responds: "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"
Blustered! Confused! Scared! Any one of these emotions would be an appropriate response to that experience! We have all been there! God suddenly allows our lives to be turned upside down, so to speak. Our response: "How can this be?" "This can't be happening to us! This can't be real!" And, however or in whatever way God entered our lives, we know when it is about God, not about us! No other explanation is possible! What is happening is happening through God' design! Period! Because, as the angel Gabriel said to Mary when he told her that her elderly cousin was six month's pregnant: "Nothing is impossible for God."
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