There is an intriguing painting of the Annunciation by an artist named Henry Ossawa Tanner. It shows Mary as a young girl sitting on her disheveled bed, and there is this light in front of her. It must have been right after the angel has spoken to her. And Mary is just sitting there, looking at the light with her mouth open, dumbfounded. She has the look on her face that says, “What, are you kidding? How can this be? She is stunned, confused, scared to the point that the angel is compelled to say, “Do not be afraid.” There is a similar fresco at St Michael’s Chapel at Rutgers University. It depicts the topsy-turvy aspect of the event, as the angel appears to Mary upside down, uttering the word “blessed” backwards, indicating that Mary’s life would be thoroughly upended.
It is all too much: so much at stake, too much to ask. Yes, like so many others before her, Mary has just experienced the truth: that it is a fearful and messy thing to be encountered by God, to discover a mission, a conscience, to stand at the crossroads. As a Jew, Mary knew well enough the ancient stories. She thinks of Moses, who tried to duck his call by saying he was no natural leader like his brother Aaron. Pick him. Or Isaiah, who protested his call to be a prophet by saying he’d make a lousy one. Or Jonah, who ran the other way when told to go to Nineveh. They wanted to be close to God ---- but not that close!
There are Mary Moments when we are confronted with an opportunity to choose, to realize that we can be better persons. We don’t always have to use people. There are people who live on the edge, are poor and suffering and need our concern. There’s a bad habit we need to deal with, an indifference we need fired up, an addiction that calls for attention, a relationship that needs healing, a priority that needs to be put in place. We need to embrace the holiness we secretly desire, no matter how much others make fun of us. The “me” life, the shallow life, the surface life, is killing our souls, and yet, all the while, in the background, we vaguely sense that an angel is confronting us.
Can we say yes? It’s not easy. There will be a cost --- Mary knew that and hence, her fear --- and there will be indescribable peace and joy. Mary also knew that --- when later she sang to Cousin Elizabeth, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant … for the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is his name.”
May Mary help us, perplexed and fearful as we sit on the edge of our beds, that we too may find courage to say “yes,” to surrender, to live simply, give generously, care deeply, and speak kindly, to walk by faith and not by sight, to utter fearfully but firmly, “Be it done unto me according to your word.”
God bless! Have a wonderful week! A blessed Christmas!