Tuesday after Populus Sion, the Second Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 8, 2020 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 1:26-38 (NKJV)
1:26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Devotion
“Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word’.”
Our Lord chose Mary to be the vessel by which the Savior was brought into the world. In the movie “the Nativity,” the question is placed in Mary’s mouth, “Why me? Why was I chosen?” And she adds, “I am nothing.” We might ask the same questions. But the answer is,“exactly!” As we recognize our own “nothingness,” it is made all the clearer that whatever use God has of us is His doing, and whatever grace is given us is indeed His gift.
The angel Gabriel appears to the blessed Virgin Mary, and declares to her God’s intention. She does not doubt God’s Word, she inquires only about logistics; “how is this going to work?” Once the angel answers, she gives the faithful words we read above: “Let it be to me according to your word.”
The Lord has His use of our lives. Often, that is not what we had planned. God grant us, like St. Mary, to submit to the plans He has for us, to rejoice in them, and at the last to receive our heavenly reward through faith in Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Thine Only-Begotten Son, so that by His coming we may be enabled to serve Thee with pure minds; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
