Anunciation, He Qi (www.heqigallery.com/index.html)

Two: Mary is visited by an angel

Over successive Mondays in advent I will look at extraordinary meetings involving Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth and some angels. And in these, as the first advent reflection on 24th November said, we shall see that all of life is indeed intrinsically and intricately bound up with the ever-present God/man Jesus as we see in the stories of these three very ordinary and unremarkable people how heaven and earth are becoming joined as one in human hearts.

Opening prayer

May I, with Mary, hold my astonishment at the extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary. May I know that heaven and earth meet every day and that the ordinary is indeed extraordinary.

The story unfolds

Read Luke 1:26-38 ending with... And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her.

Reflection

Like Joseph, Mary - surely utterly bewildered at this astonishing turn of events - faces disgrace. Joseph is within has rights to get rid of her as she is pregnant and not by him. And yet, like Joseph, she instinctively does the best thing she can: holds the space and goes with what is happening. And with great calmness and presence, proclaims the immemorial words of presentness and given-ness – “let it be with me just as you say”.

Exercise

Find a still and quiet place and read the story of Mary’s encounter with the angel. And in your imagination, let that story play out as if your are in it. Are you observing? Or are you Mary? Are you the angel? What do you see and feel? What moves you and challenges you? What changes as you see the scene unfold?

Gus MacLeod

Click here to print out a single sheet PDF of the above reflection.