Tomorrow is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, exactly
two weeks from Easter. The readings and prayers will begin to point more
directly toward the events of Holy Week. Today, the Feast of the Annunciation
calls us to shift our focus for a moment to the encounter of the angel with
Mary in Nazareth. This is a grace, because this encounter has much to teach us
as we take up the final ascent to the celebration of the Paschal mystery.
The first word spoken to Mary in the Bible
is “Hail.” The Greek is chaire, which literally means “rejoice”. Of
all the things that the angel has to communicate, this is the first: “Rejoice.”
In my opinion, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of this word.
There is much exegetical evidence that Luke
intended his listeners to hear in this word a reference to the great prophecies
of Zephaniah and Zechariah announced to the remnant faithful of Israel:
Shout for joy, daughter Zion! sing joyfully, Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, daughter Jerusalem! 15 The LORD has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear. (Zep 3:14-15)
Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he, Humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey…he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. (Zec 9:9-10)
As daughter Zion, these words are being
fulfilled in her, in her the messianic age is being inaugurated. Mary will have
to undergo many trials but the command to rejoice in this knowledge is to
accompany her throughout. Not always on the level of feeling, but as a
disposition of faith that will give her the trusting plasticity to allow God
the freedom to shape her “yes” according to his needs. In this obedience, the sword that will
pierce her son’s heart will pierce hers also. Because of it, she will be
perfectly conformed to his perfect sacrifice, and to his resurrection joy as
well. Through her obedience she will be virgin, mother, and bride, and be prepared
for the role of our spiritual mother who will accompany us as we are, as St.
Bernard puts it, reformed, transformed and conformed to Christ her Son.
As daughter Zion, Mary’s mission is deeply
rooted in the tradition of God’s holy people. Her soul and God’s daughter Zion,
Israel, are one. In her Israel passes over into the Church. Likewise, God’s unique
word to us is always wholly ecclesial. It is through the Church that we too are
called to rejoice, and it is through the Church that we are to be conformed to
the suffering of Christ in his perfect sacrifice. Therefore, in these coming
days we will encounter the fullness of Christ insofar as are to place ourselves
wholly at the disposal of his self-communication in our celebration of his
passion, death and resurrection.
In his next word, the angel does not call Mary
“Mary” but “full of grace”. “Full of grace” points us to the fact that Mary’s
whole life has been a preparation for this moment. Here, at the visit of the
angel, Mary draws from the whole of this preparation. Likewise, our Lenten
preparations and our participation in the events of Holy Week cannot be
isolated from the rest of our life in God. They have their place in a larger
context in which God has been at work in our lives, offering us grace that has
been forming our character, our capacity for listening, for digesting and
responding to his Word, most especially as given in the beginning in the
sacrament of baptism in which we were cleansed from the stain of original sin. Like
Mary, we draw upon the whole of this divine work as we prepare to enter into
the celebration of the Paschal Mystery.
Next, the angel tells her “The Lord is with
you.” These or similar words are given many times throughout the Old Testament
to people whom God is calling to a great mission, one in which the future of
Israel is dependent on how well they will play their role. God, for example,
tells Isaac when he had to leave his land and go to Beersheba, “I am with you” and
assured him that he will be blessed with a multitude of descendants, as he
promised his father Abraham. (Gen 26:24). When Jacob is fleeing his brother
Esau, God promises him that one day he will return to his own land and assures
him “I am with you.” He gives the same assurance to Moses, Joshua, Gideon,
David and Jeremiah. Each of them is about to be stretched like never before and
will need to rely on God like never before. You are not alone, God tells them,
he removes their fear and gives them the strength they will need.
Mary is addressed
within in this tradition of the great patriarchs and prophets of Israel and
knows that something big is about to be asked of her, although she doesn’t yet
know what it is. Likewise, Each of us has been entrusted with a mission that is
uniquely our own, with a task no one else can fulfill in the same way, which
will be played out in a particular way in this sacred time. How we play our
role has a real effect in the community, the Church, and among our families and
friends, in accordance with our call’s hidden apostolic fruitfulness. Like
Mary, our vocation calls us to a great responsibility, but also like her, the
Lord says to us “I am with you.”
Despite being “greatly troubled” at the angel’s greeting, Mary doesn’t allow her initial emotional reaction to rule her, she doesn’t turn away, but holds firm and enters into an interior dialogue with the Word, “pondering what this greeting might be.” Likewise, we will encounter much that is “greatly troubling” in the weeks ahead, which will confront us with a choice: we can turn away and interiorly flee like the disciples, or we can look to Mary and be led like her by her son to the foot of the Cross. As our model and spiritual mother may she help us to stand firm.
