A friend, who has suffered for years with the burden of a chronic illness and has tried every therapy imaginable to no avail, told us not long ago that he sometimes feels like a gangster in an old movie. After a furious gunfight, there is an eerie quiet and his house is surrounded. And then a cop outside the door starts shouting to him, “You might as well just come away quietly.” The message is clear: “Give up; you’ve got no choice. Just surrender.” Surely it is an honest response but tinged with resignation, un-freedom, and real sadness.
In her response to the Angel Gabriel, Mary offers us a far more breathtaking alternative. For she surrenders to God’s desire with serenity, dazzling availability and even quiet joy: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
Drawing by Giuseppe Cesare.
