Fiat! I Come to do Your Will!

 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,  to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:26-28)

Imagine Mary's surprise when an angel greeted her. As a devout Jew, she is one of those waiting for the coming of the Messiah, who will rescue them from their enemies (at that time, the Romans), who will bring back David's Golden age of Israel and will bring unity and peace throughout the land.  She cannot imagine that the woman who will bear the Messiah will be her and she cannot understand how will it happen since she doesn't know any man who touched her. It is impossible to understand in human logic how, the Creator will be inside his creature or how a Powerful God will dwell in a womb of a simple girl.

And, how will her close friend and protector, Joseph react when he finds out that she is pregnant without him making intercourse with her? What will her parents Joachim and Anne feel if they see that their daughter is pregnant by someone else other than whom she was engaged to? How will the people of Nazareth understand this? What will they say about Mary's family?

In the Mosaic Law, adultery is punished by stoning. So, will Mary's fate as she betrothed to Joseph, if people find out that she is pregnant and Joseph is not the father. Mary must be frightened of the announcement. Sometimes, it is different from how painters picture it: Mary's face serene or smiling while an angel is speaking to her inside a small room. Mary must have doubts: If I am favored by God, why will he let me suffer? Why will he lead me to a difficult trial of faith if I am his favored one? Why...?

But the angel replied: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God!" (Luke 1:35-37) Mary, a simple teenager, who doesn't know much about the wisdom of the scribes and Pharisees then understood that it is through the mysterious work of God.  She knows it is beyond her intellect. She cannot understand but there must be a good reason for this because this is an act of God.

She then answered: "I am God's servant, let it be done unto me according to what you have said. " (Luke 1:38) She knows humility. She knows she understands little. She doesn't know what will happen to her. But, since God works through her, she knows she will be taken care of him who calls her for a mission. Yet, she knows everything will be all right. She believes that indeed she is his highly favored one.

After the annunciation, she gave birth to her God. And the night of her faith continues. In the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures which Mary must have read, it has never known for God to be helpless or could undergo suffering. Yet, she sees God crying and will only stop after she gives him milk, a God falling on his first steps while learning how to walk, a God who cannot speak and needs to be taught his first words, a God peeing on diapers and a God who must be carried on her arms in order to fall asleep. When Jesus grew up, she will see him different from other children and will speak to them in some words they cannot understand: When asked why he stayed in the temple after the Passover, Jesus answered her: "Why do you search for me? Didn't you know I must be in Father's house?" (Luke 2:49) How difficult it must be for a mother being answered by a son like that! Yet the Gospel says that she reflected all these in her heart. (Luke 2:51)

The obedience of Mary came with a price at last. But it is still painful, her son dying on a cross with her beneath him. The sword which Simeon foretold has pierced her heart. Who will understand the pain she was bearing at that time? Who will be the mother who can bear to see her son covered with wounds and is dying in front of her? I cannot forget that scene in the move The Passion of the Christ where Mary cries deeply, while her son is being nailed to the cross. Yet, she is looks brave if you look at her eyes. Mary said to the dying Christ: "Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, let me die for you." If only she could help him carry his cross or remove the nails on his hands out of love for him, she will do so. But, she knows, although cannot fully understand, that it is the will of God to redeem mankind through his great suffering. That is why she stood at the foot of the cross. Mary surrendered everything to God in oneness to the Perfect Sacrifice of her Son.

In the end, Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The Father has given him all authority in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18) And later, after Mary's journey on the earth is over, she was taken up to heaven. Such is a reward for a person who fully surrendered her whole life to the will of God. 

The story of Mary is our story as well. There are things we cannot understand. There are trials that make us fall even consume all our strength. We may feel doubts and discouragements. But we are called like her to say "FIAT--- so be it. I am your servant. I come to do your will!"

 "You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings but an open ear. You do ask for holocaust and victims but instead--- Here I am!" (Psalm 40:6-7)