Word to the Wise
Wednesday, March 25, 2020 - March 25: The Annunciation of the Lord (tranferred if 3/25 is a Sunday, or if it falls during Holy Week or Easter Week - see the table below)
[Isa 7:10-14; 8:10; Heb 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38]"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
If there was ever an "Uh oh!" moment in history, the angel's appearance and greeting to a humble Jewish girl in first century Palestine has to be it! The greeting states a physical and spiritual reality which we refer to theologically as the Incarnation! The Lord is quite literally with her! There is no "with-ness" closer than pregnancy! This is the scene in the Gospel According to Luke. We might look, too, at the "Uh oh!" moment from Joseph's side in the Gospel According to Matthew, when Mary's pregnancy creates, to put it mildly, a "delicate situation." As with Mary, the angel has to tell Joseph not to be afraid! This whole story would continue to challenge the Christian community after Jesus was risen, because the early preachers had to deal with his origins!!
History is for humans. Eternity is for God. When God intervenes in human history, it will always be for us an "Uh oh!" moment, which means God is always a God of surprises. It is our task to take the intervention and run with it. Ask Moses or Isaiah or St. Paul, let alone Mary and Joseph!!
The witness of more than 2,000 years of Christianity tells us a lot about what we have done with that "Uh oh!" moment in Nazareth. We will tell the story over and over again but we will live it, as well, over and over again as we say that prayer, "Hail, Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with you!" AMEN