Mary is the second most important person in the story of Christmas. Artists, more than theologians, have understood her prominence in the Christian tradition and have painted and sculpted and written many of the artistic treasures of our civilization with her as subject—Michelangelo’s Pieta—a mother cradling the body of her dead and beloved son; Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation—in the monastery of San Marcos in Florence, and of course, musically, Ave Maria.
The Biblical narrative reveals that everything started when she said yes to the angel who appeared to her to announce that she has been chosen to become the mother of the most high .
Some have suggested that her response, particularly the servant or slave of the Lord part is a product of masculine domination and the submissive subjugation of women and the culturally mandated submission of women to men.
I argue , however, that Mary’s response, her ‘Yes’ to God is the deepest affirmation of who she is. Her ‘Yes’ to God, her willingness to be an instrument of God, suggests her own grace and faith, a model for you and me.
Given the mysterious annunciation to Mary and her brave, definitive “yes,” the question for you and me is this—what gift have you been given which is awaiting your answer: where has God come to you with a gift, an agenda, a task to do? What music is in you that needs to be sung?
What poetry is in your heart that needs to be written? What love is in you—that God is waiting for you to be vulnerable enough to express, courageous enough to say, graceful enough to demonstrate?