Virgin Mary | English Devotion | NHFCSG

Virgin Mary 

 "God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.' Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.'" (Luke 1:26-31) 

Is there anyone in the history of the world who was asked to have more faith than Mary? She was young. She was a virgin. She was probably expecting her days to continue to follow the course of a normal life in a no-name Galilean town in an era that didn't even know it was an era. And then came the message from heaven. 

To be visited by an angel, that would be enough. But the words! Those troubling, confusing, ineffable words. 

"The Lord is with you." Yes, certainly that's true of all of us, generally speaking. But in this case the emphasis was, "The Lord is with YOU." 

The God who chooses had made another choice. As with Abraham, and Moses, and Isaiah, and Ruth, and David, God chose his instrument to do his work in the world. High favour indeed. "You will be with child" in a way that no woman before or since has been with child. A virgin, and yet, with child. Is that too hard to believe? 

Is it too much to ask 21st century people to believe that there was one day when God did something--not too hard for him to do, not too complicated to understand--but utterly unique? 

Is it too hard for the Creator of the universe to cause a woman to have, by an act of creation, a complete zygote which would become an embryo which would become a foetus which would become a new-born baby?

 No, the virginal conception is only too hard to believe if you think that the Creator can never do anything just once. But who can make up such a rule for God? 

Mary must not be worshipped, but she must not be ignored. She stands at the crossroads between the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New.

 She was asked to believe something that none of us could even imagine. And in her whole life, from stable to cross, she pointed to Jesus.

 Stop and ask yourself this question

 If Mary were here today, how would she celebrate Christmas? 

Prayer for today: 

Lord, help me to believe that when you choose to show your favour in your unique choices, you are doing what is right and normal for you. Help me to have even a measure of the faith of Mary that would say: Lord, do whatever you choose to do in my life.