December 8, 2003
Genesis 3:9-15,20 + Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12 + Luke 1:26-38
We are tempted to think sometimes that Mary’s call was so special that it has nothing to do with us,but to do that reduces her role to little more than a convenient body for the Incarnation. The consequences of pushing Mary into some semi-divine and barely human existence are disastrous for the Christian message. Her role goes far beyond her physical function for the birth of Christ. She is the one who teaches us by word and deed what we are created for. She is the one whose desire to do the will of God shows us the perfect life of a disciple. Luke gives her to us as the perfect disciple who says: “Let it be done according to your will.” John give her to us as a guide and a teacher who says at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you” When a woman ran up to Jesus and said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that gave you food, Jesus said on the contrary, that those who do the will of God are the blessed. If the will of God is Peace, then are peacemakers. If the will of God is Justice then we will not rest until it is universal. If the will of God is forgiveness, then we will run to those we have offended to make amends and embrace those who have offended us without condition or delay.the will of God is a generous heart, we would be stewards of the gifts we have without limit or fear. If the will of God is that we be servants to one another, there would be no homelessness no hunger no loneliness.
Those who do the will of God then, are truly blessed. This feast and the woman who is its focus affirms the holiness of human life, its sanctity and its origins in the divine. This feast and the woman who is its focus confirms the divine plan and our participation in it.
This feast and the woman who is its focus reveals the human vocation in holiness. This feast and the woman we honor this day gives us reason to remember that we are here to do the Will of God; that we are holy and blameless in God’s sight, and that praise of God’s glory is our purpose and our vocation.