What image comes to mind when you think of the annunciation? A painting by Bellini or Da Vinci? A woman kneeling on ornate pillows? My friend and poet, Fr. Kilian McDonnell, O.S.B., wrote a poem, “In the Kitchen,” that offers a different view. “Bellini has it wrong,” it begins, as Mary gives her account. She wasn’t kneeling on a satin pillow. She was bent down, wiping up water spilled on the kitchen floor when she noticed a light on the wall “as though someone had opened/the door to the sun.”
Kilian’s Mary is down-to-earth. A young Jewish girl living in an occupied country, she would not have been surrounded by luxury when the angel came. She’d have been busy with everyday chores like drawing water from the well and getting food on the table.
Dorothy Day knew the danger in naming someone a saint. The title separates, making those great witnesses too easy to dismiss. They’re not like us. They’ re different. Their circumstances are far removed from our own. But as Kilian reminds us, neither is true: Saints aren’t a different breed, and all people are called to holiness.
It does take practice. Mary needed to be awake, tuned in to God’s Presence in ordinary life. For many on this planet, everyday life is a harsh battle to survive. For others, daily chores and choices are not matters of life-and-death but are so repetitive they can be done without thinking. How does one stay attentive to grace in the moment – to annunciations – when the moments are so fraught? Or so predictable?
We might think that ignoring an angel or bright light or voice from heaven would be impossible, no matter how one lived their life. But maybe not. In her poem “In the World I Live In,” Mary Oliver says that “… only if there are angels in your head will you/ever, possibly, see one.”
Throughout her young life, Mary of Nazareth was listening, expecting God to be present. God had a long history of working in the lives of her people and in hers as well. So, when the message arrived, she was ready to hear it.
Sometimes, Presence breaking into life is spectacular. Perhaps not an angel, brilliant light, or vision (though it could be – it’s happened before). But inbreaking can be jolting: a dreaded medical diagnosis, the loss of job, or an unexpected opportunity, all life changing. Inbreaking can be the realization that a wonderful relationship is blossoming or that one is dying and beyond repair.
Whether annunciations come through the ordinary or spectacular, one must be awake to recognize them. Once perceived, they present a choice: to let them in or not. Mary had a choice. The Creator of all that is waited for her answer. She could have said “no.”
Besides being awake to God’s presence, Mary was open and empty, like a monk’s begging bowl. She wasn’t full of herself and her plans but had room to receive what was offered. She could have thought, “Joseph and I are going to be married. No thanks. I’m happy with how things are going.”
Mary was humble. She had plans, but was willing to consider that God had others. She listened. When she was puzzled about the when’s and how’s, she accepted that reality is sometimes beyond understanding.
Mary had courage. She didn’t know what lay ahead if she embraced God’s call. But if she was needed, she’d give herself to something bigger.
We are all meant to be mothers of God…for God is always needing to be born.
Meister Eckhart
Mary had hope. Not knowing what her “yes” would bring, she trusted it would be good: not easy, neat, or predictable, but good because she knew God was good. She knew God’s track record in her life and the lives of her people. Even in their suffering, God was present.
Her birthing of Jesus introduced the world to God as it had never known God before. We, too, are called to birth Christ into the world.
When annunciations come, opening new ways to birth Love into the world, we will be better able to say “yes” if we’ve practiced. If we’ve been awake and listening. If we’ve worked to open our hearts and empty them to receive. We will be better able to do our part if we are humble and recognize that we can’t see the big picture, that there is something much bigger than what we can imagine. To trust God will not leave us stranded to face suffering and struggle alone.
And to have hope. Because God is good. And God is coming. Has always been coming. And indeed, is already here.
©2020 Mary van Balen
What goes on in Mary’s mind is worth our attention, as you and Luke point out.
Thanks for your comment, Wilfred. Have a blessed Christmas season!
Thank you Mary! Merry Christmas!
You’re welcome, Beatrice. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Thank you, Mary! I did not know that you were writing a column “Grace in the Moment”. I would say that sharing this is of much more value to us, and to you, than sending Christmas cards. I say this after spending hours this week carrying out the card- sending task. My husband has wrestled with the personal address list on the computer to create labels that supposedly make life easier. It is a stressful time even though as we review names it does bring back memories of special people who have been with us on our journeys. But during the process of applying address labels, writing and including a brief newsletter, applying return address labels and stamps, and then adding a personal greeting and our names, we have lost precious time. Will we do this again next year????
I think I want to use the time as you said above, “to stay attentive to grace in the moment – to annunciations.”
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Diana. I am sure those on the receiving end of your card-giving will feel blessed by your friendship and love, reminded in the reading as you were in the writing, of the years they have shared their journey with you and your husband. No act of love is sent out into the world without making a difference!
Exactly the message we need today, dear Mary. Thank YOU for being open and willing to give pen (or keystrokes) and voice to what you hear God calling from you.
You are so welcome, Anita. Sending love and Christmas greetings to you and your family.
Your words about Mary having the option to say “no” made me think of the rich religious leader who declared he had obeyed God in everything for years. He obeyed except for the “annunciation” that directly came from Christ to sell it all and follow Him. Mark 10:22 “At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” It’s probably one of the most depressing exchanges in the Bible-who knows what this man could have done to spread Christ to the world. Thanks be to God though for Mary’s obedient spirit and example to say yes to the impossible! Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them (his disciples) intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible, (to be saved), but not with God. Everything is possible with God” Everything!!! Thank you for wisely reminding us that Mary was very ordinary like us, and like us, she worshipped and lived for an extraordinary God! Let our yes be ever on our lips when His annunciations come to us through his Spirit and His Word!
Thank you for sharing your insights Wendy. A blessed Christmas to you.
Mary, Wonderful reflection! A very important message to keep in mind this Christmas season.
Thank you, Larry and Mary. It is good to be alert to the annunciations in our lives. We all have many. A blessed Christmas to you both.
Thanks, Mary. All I want to do is say “yes” to whatever God sends my way.
Not always easy…!
Ann, thanks for sharing your thoughts. You are so right. Saying “yes” to whatever comes our way is often difficult, requiring great faith and trust that God is in it with us no matter what it is, and that Grace is present in all things, in the dark as well as in the light.