The story of Mary, Mother of God, is intimately tied to the mystery of the Incarnation. The Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to announce that she had won God’s favour and was chosen to be the Mother of Jesus, God-with-us.

Mary said “yes” to God. But what if Mary had said “no”? The Bible tells us that Mary was “greatly troubled” when visited by the Angel Gabriel. And Mary did have the gift of free will.

Would God have intervened to convince Mary as God did with an excuse-filled Moses; or with the fear-filled Jonah who took off in the opposite direction he was told to go? Countless times in the Bible God uses the most unlikely people to accomplish the most extraordinary things.

When God told Moses he was being sent to Pharaoh to lead “the Israelites out of Egypt”, Moses’ first reaction was disbelief, followed by the claim he was a slow and hesitant speaker. Even when God reassured him, Moses still begged for God to send someone else. [Exodus 4:13]. With God’s help, Moses stood before Pharaoh and delivered God’s messages, performed signs and miracles, and led his people to freedom.

Jonah heard God call him to a mission in life and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. He did all he could to avoid his calling. But God was relentless and even organised an unwanted three-day retreat for Jonah to get his act together – in the belly of a whale! In the end, Jonah went to Nineveh to preach.

You can run from God, but you can’t hide. God never gives up on you.

If Mary had known what lay ahead…

• A birth with no midwife, in an overnight shelter for a bunch of animals – a stable – with a box of straw as the first crib for her new-born baby.
• Fleeing to a foreign land as a refugee to escape a rampaging, jealous King Herod.
• A son who spent three years wandering homeless, around the countryside.
• A son betrayed by a friend and who suffered at the hands of the Jewish council and a whipped-up mob.
• A son beaten within an inch of his life by Roman soldiers who hated him because he was Jewish.
• A son who died an agonising criminal’s death on a cross.

For Mary, the prophecy of Simeon came to be: “a sword will pierce your soul too…” [Luke 2:35].

So, if Mary had known what lay ahead, would she still have said “yes”?

There was no gift of hindsight! God wouldn’t and didn’t intervene. Mary, of her own free will, took a giant leap of faith, even though “deeply disturbed.” She boldly stepped into the unknown and her “yes” to God led to the fulfillment of God’s plan from the beginning – “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” [John 1:14].

Mary embraced God’s plan without needing to know all the details. Mary was most likely troubled because of her humility. An angel visited her, addressing her as “full of grace”. A truly humble person doesn’t recognise their humility and Mary’s concern is an illustration of that virtue. Her thought may well have been like that of Moses, “Why me?”

Happily, we know that Mary, in a wonderful expression of humility and obedience said “yes” to the Lord, and the rest, as they say, is salvation history.

The late Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan of Vietnam said that Mary’s entire life can be summed up in three words: Ecce, Fiat, and Magnificat – Ecce: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” Fiat: “May it be done unto me according to your word.” And Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

Mary said “Yes.” “Let what you have said be done to me” [Luke 1:38]. Mary, although hesitant, says the biggest “yes” in all of history. Consequently, God takes on human nature…. By her immaculate conception, Mary’s very being is oriented to saying yes to all that is good – all that is from God. Again and again, we see Mary’s other yeses: her journey to Bethlehem, her flight into Egypt, watching Jesus on the cross. Mary’s life is one big yes – to all that God asks. We can join the ranks of the saints simply by our daily yes to whatever God asks, however difficult it may be. … our each little daily yes can bring about the birth of Christ in our own obscure part of the world.” [Sr Anastasia Reeves OP].

The New Testament begins with a ‘YES.’ This new era is ours when we allow grace to take root and grow to maturity within us. God wishes to take up residence in you. Will you say “yes.”

Have a golden day and treasure life!