Luke 1,26-38.
The angel Gabriel has already appeared in the preceding story of the annunciation to Zachary of the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist. Betrothal, the first stage in marriage, was as binding as marriage and took place a year before the marriage. Joseph was of the royal house of David and in 3,23f, Luke will trace the genealogy of Jesus through David. Twice already in Luke’s gospel, we are told that Mary is a virgin.
The angel’s greeting to Mary indicates her special favour in God’s eyes. She is full of grace, full of God’s love and favour. And the Lord is with her.
Mary is” disturbed”, startled, by the greeting, and wonders what the grace expressed in the greeting can mean. The angel’s message adds to her wonder and questions. How can she who is a virgin become the mother of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of the most-High God? The Holy Spirit “will come upon her” – a favourite Lucan expression, occurring 7 times in Luke’s gospel and Acts, and only twice elsewhere in the New Testament. It has a noteworthy OT usage referring to blessings conferred on David and others, and it also describes the conferring of the Spirit at Pentecost. (Acts 1,8). Power, (dunamis—dynamo), is combined with the Spirit by Luke 17 times, compared with only twice in Matthew. The “Power of the Most High” equates to the Holy Spirit.
Overshadowing in the OT describes God’s presence in the sanctuary, and in the Transfiguration the cloud of glory overshadows Jesus. Therefore, because of this overshadowing of Mary, the child to be born will be holy and called Son of God. To Mary, the sign of her cousin Elizabeth’s seemingly impossible pregnancy shows that all things are possible with God. To that all-powerful God, Mary will be a willing servant/slave.
It is fitting, during Advent, the time of preparation for celebrating the feast of the Birth of Jesus Christ, that we should reflect, too, on how God prepared Mary for that first Christmas. The angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary sums up the preparation – “Hail full of grace” or “Hail O favoured one,” describes how Mary has been favoured by God for her special calling to be Mother of His Son. In the feast of the Immaculate Conception, (8th December), we celebrated Mary’s freedom from sin from the first moment of her existence. She was favoured by God with this privilege in virtue of her special role.
We see two sides of Mary’s faith in the Annunciation story. She questions, challenges, one might say, as to how she a virgin, can become mother of Jesus. Unlike Zachary, who is punished for his doubt by dumbness, Mary is answered in detail and given the sign of her cousin Elizabeth being six months pregnant. Then Mary makes the perfect act of submission to God’s will. “I am the handmaid (servant) of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me.”
Mary’s questioning and submission to God’s will is a pattern of prayer, and a pattern of living, we can imitate. Our prayer, the Hail Mary, summarizes the whole of the Annunciation and the Christmas stories. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you, and blessed are you among women. Mary is unique among all women because the fruit of her womb -the child she is going to bear- is the Blessed Son of the infinite God. In the second part of the Hail Mary we ask this unique, divinely favoured, member of our race to pray for us at the two key moments of our life - now and at the hour of our death.
As a prayer it should be recited slowly and thoughtfully as we savour the amazing truths it contains.
Father Geoff O’Grady