Fourth Sunday of Advent Reflection

December 24, 2023

2 Samuel 7:1 - 5, 8 – 12, 14, 16

Romans 16: 25 – 27

Luke 1: 26 - 38

Do you think that the word “will,” as in a future action, echoed around twenty times in today’s Scriptures, had much influence on the Jewish mind and heart of the young Mary we find in Luke’s Gospel account? Would someone with intellectual challenges, without opportunities to read Scripture as we’ve had, comprehend what’s going on? That’s where my red-headed, Elvis-loving friend, Cindy, might be a “small” way God’s speaks with us today.

While out on our weekly drive through the countryside one day, something prompted me (perhaps my presentation on Mary at that night’s RCIA session) to ask, “Cindy, do you remember Mary in the Gospels?” I already knew she loved Jesus, having been raised in a Christian Church. When she affirmed that she knew the “Mother of the Lord Jesus,” I went on to ask if she remembered what Mary’s answer had been to God’s question voiced by Gabriel about becoming the Mother of Jesus.

Without hesitation, Cindy answered, “Mary said, ‘Why not?’”

That should not have surprised me, given those were Cindy’s own words almost any time she was asked whether she’d like to do something, be it a visit to the zoo, or get an ice cream cone. A cheerful “Why not?” was her reply.

But somehow, hearing those same words coming from Mary in Cindy’s “language” put a whole new “spin” on Luke’s account. Can we imagine the absolute joy such a reply would have generated in God’s heart? For once, a human being simply said, “Why not?”

Ready to bring joy to God’s heart today?

Maureen O’Reilly, ASLW (Michigan Associate of the Sisters of the Living Word)