ADVENT Gospel for Thursday, December 12 Third Week of Advent Luke 1:39-47
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” 46 And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; 47 my spirit rejoices in God my savior”.
REFLECTION
When I was studying for my undergraduate degree in Theology, I would be given a passage to reflect on quite often. And more likely than not my college self would be overwhelmed by the task. So what I did was I find one verse that struck me and write about it. That’s where I am now. I’m overwhelmed but overwhelmed in the sense that all of salvation history was gaining even more momentum when Gabriel came to the Theotokos* and told her that she would become the Mother of God. Overwhelmed because how can I even begin to comprehend it all?
The Theotokos could have said no. She had free will. But she dealt a huge blow to evil’s grip through her fiat.
“Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
This is a hard sentence for me to get past. But it strikes me every time I read this passage. Because so many times in my life I’ve had to say this, or something similar. It means giving up control and moving forward into the unknown trusting in God’s plan. This surrender doesn’t come with a user’s guide. The Theotokos didn’t have a “User’s Guide to Being the Mother of God”. She just had to take it one day at a time and trust that God knew what He was doing.
Recently I was thrown into a “no user’s guide” situation. When I began my career in parish ministry, I quickly learned to expect the unexpected. But nobody and nothing prepared me to deal with the arrest of a priest I worked very closely with for something absolutely unthinkable. I expected the unexpected but never thought it would come to this. My emotions have ranged from confused, betrayed, and angry to sadness, violation, and emptiness. I get frustrated because I haven’t been in this place before. And, along with the others at Saint Joseph, I have had to learn that we should trust each other and in God.
Not every fiat is one that changes the course of salvation history. Sometimes fiats are things that change your own personal history. A fiat can be a married couple on their wedding day. A fiat can be a young woman entering a religious order. A fiat can be a man becoming a priest. It doesn’t always entail becoming the mother of God. I reflect on this passage as I prepare to make my own fiat in January. I am changing my personal history and the way that I am going to seek holiness in becoming one with another person. As an engaged woman, seeing the Theotokos risking absolutely everything is astounding to me and sets a precedent for who I am to be.
Every fiat starts somebody on a journey. But it’s up to us to say yes to beginning that journey and trusting that God knows what he’s doing.
* Theotokos = Mother of God
Ana Plumlee