Handmaid Of The Lord Views

General Goods

We celebrate today what seems to be at first glance another “Christmasey” feast during Lent. It’s all about the conception of the Son of God in the immaculate womb of Mary of Nazareth. But the other readings (the epistles—Heb. 2:11-18 and 9:11-14—and also the Gospel for the 5th Sunday of Lent—Mk. 10:32-45—which is read along with the Gospel of the Annunciation) help put it in context and direct us to the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us first take a look at the mystery itself. The highest honor or blessing that one can receive, in biblical terms, is to have found favor with God. Mary is thus honored three different ways (or four, if a variant reading is accepted as canonical) within a few verses of the Gospel. First, the Archangel Gabriel addresses her as “Full of Grace,” which is sometimes, though more weakly, translated, “highly favored.” Then he says, “The Lord is with you!” Then (according to some ancient manuscripts) he adds, “Blessed are you among women,” which, in the Hebrew idiom, means: “You are blessed above all women.” (Even if that reading is not in the original, Holy Spirit says the same words through Elizabeth later in the chapter.) Finally, the Archangel comes right out and says: “Mary, you have found favor with God.”

Though she led a devout and holy life, she could not have been quite prepared to hear news like this. Not only would she be the Mother of the Messiah—for Gabriel had said that He would receive the throne of David and reign forever—and this was something that all devout Hebrew women dreamed of, but the Messiah would be the very God of Israel, whom her people had worshipped for millennia, God becoming man inside the body of this devout girl from a non-descript (and even somewhat contemptible, see Jn 1:46) village in northern Israel. Too much to grasp? You bet! But God, through Gabriel, didn’t ask her to grasp it all, only one thing: “with God nothing will be impossible.” She did, and so she said: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Satisfied with a successful mission (and probably overflowing with joy at the young virgin’s loving acceptance of the will of God), the Archangel departed at that moment.

The Most High has always looked upon you with complacency and He willed to give Himself to you in a unique way. The Lord is with you, O Mary! God the Father is with you, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Triune and One God. God the Father, whose noble Daughter you are; God the Son, whose most worthy Mother you are; God the Holy Spirit, whose gracious Spouse you are. You are truly the Daughter of the sovereign, eternal God, the Mother of the sovereign Truth, the Spouse of sovereign Goodness, the handmaid of the sovereign Trinity (cf. Conrad of Saxony). But from all these titles, you choose the last, the humblest and the lowest, and call yourself the handmaid of the Lord.