Fancy that! Jesus' Birth Depended on Human Will

Let’s all be humble and nurture an interior life that recognizes when God speaks. Who knows when we will receive a calling? And what it shall entail for the future safety of mankind?

The road of humility, wisdom and a strong interior life is the summary of the Annunciation.

How else can one fathom the story of Mary, who “did not understand well,” but “[entrusted] her soul to the will of God.” Or, that of Joseph who was humble as he “lowered himself” to take on the “great responsibility” of the bride who was with child.

This is a summary of God’s love. He could have used any of a gazillion ways to reach mankind and hand them the much needed salvation but what do we see? Jesus being born in a manger under the worst of circumstances and his business on earth handled by an obedient, but I must say, poor couple.

I can easily see Mary saying to Angel Gaby*(yeah, that’s what we would be calling him today) , “Hey there, flee from me! You! How dare you suggest such a thing ….that I will bear a baby, whose baby?!? Gerroooouutaaa here!!!!”

Yet that was God’s chosen pathway. And as such the annunciation went a different way. A more nuanced way. Met by a coupe that knew and recognized God, knew the promised word, recognized God’s voice and somehow, his angel(s).

This was the same way that Jesus later walked. His walking was a way that humbled itself even unto the Cross. “[T]his is the golden rule,” according to which progress and advancement always come through lowering oneself. “One can take no other road,” he said, adding, “if I do not lower myself, if you do not lower yourself, you are not a Christian,” says Pope Francis.

Yet, being humble does not mean walking with “downcast eyes.” No!?Such was not the humility of Jesus, or his mother or his foster father, Joseph. Humility leads one to great triumphs. Let’s ask a politician….. no I digress….let’s get serious.

The fact of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is related in Luke 1:26-38.

In the sixth month after the conception of St. John the Baptist by Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin Mary, at Nazareth, a small town in the mountains of Galilee. Mary was of the house of David, and was espoused (that means she was to be married) to Joseph, of the same royal family.

She had, however, not yet “entered the household” (this term has been used loosely) of her spouse, but was still in her mother's house, working, perhaps, over her dowry. (Bardenhewer, Maria Verk., 69).

And the angel having taken the form and shape of man, came into the house- we are not told if he knocked the door, he might as well have entered from the roof (lol)?and found Mary hosting a single lady’s chama to buy a plot in Ongata Rongai.

And he was quite something this gentleman. His salutation went like this: "Hail, full of grace (to whom is given grace, favoured one), the Lord is with thee."

Mary having heard the greeting words did not speak. I mean…would you? And say what? Is this beau talking to me? Do I know him from campus days per harps?

She was troubled in spirit, since she knew not the angel, nor the cause of his coming, nor the meaning of the salutation.

And the angel continued saying: "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end."

Mary understood that there was question of the coming Redeemer. But, why should she be elected from amongst women for the splendid dignity of being the mother of the Messiah, having vowed her virginity to God? (St. Augustine). Therefore, not doubting the word of God like Zachary, but filled with fear and astonishment, she said: "How shall this be done, because I know not man?"

Aha indeed. How? The plot had thickened!

The angel to remove Mary's anxiety and to assure her that her virginity would be spared, answered: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."

In token of the truth (you know you must guarantee these things) he made known to her the conception of St. John, the miraculous pregnancy of her relative who had been old and sterile: "And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth; she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God."

Mary may not yet have fully understood the meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with her vow of virginity, but clinging to the first words of the angel and trusting to the Omnipotence of God she said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word."

The Annunciation is the beginning of Jesus in His human nature and through humans.

Through His mother He is a member of the human race. If the virginity of Mary before, during, and after the conception of her Divine Son was always considered part of the deposit of faith, this was done only on account of the historical facts and testimonials.

The Incarnation of the Son of God did not in itself necessitate this exception from the laws of nature.

Only reasons of expediency are given for it, chiefly, the end of the Incarnation. About to found a new generation of the children of God, The Redeemer does not arrive in the way of earthly generations: the power of the Holy Spirit enters the chaste womb of the Virgin, forming the humanity of Christ. Many holy fathers (Sts. Jerome, Cyril, Ephrem, Augustine) say that the consent of Mary was essential to the redemption.

It was the will of God, St. Thomas says (Summa III:30), that the redemption of mankind should depend upon the consent of the Virgin Mary. This does not mean that God in His plans was bound by the will of a creature, and that man would not have been redeemed, if Mary had not consented.

It only means that the consent of Mary was foreseen from all eternity, and therefore was received as essential into the design of God.

Let’s all be humble and nurture an interior life that recognizes when God speaks. Who knows when we will receive a calling? And what it shall entail for the future safety of mankind?

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Written by RICHARD KITHEKA, Communications Committee, Consolata Shrine, Email: [email protected] @goldfishpr?@ConsolingEye